7 Unsolved Mysteries and Their Potential Meanings

Warning: Main spoilers for WeaponsZach Cregger’s gripping horror hit Weapons solved its central thriller by the top of its runtime, but it surely left so many extra unanswered questions. Starring Julia Garner, Josh Brolin, and Amy Madigan, Weapons emerged as an immediate box office and critical hit upon its launch.

The film follows the fallout in a small city after 17 children disappear from their homes without a trace, working into the darkness on their very own accord. In the end, the kids’s whereabouts are found, however within the course of a thriller unravels surrounding the explanation for the mass disappearance.

In actuality, the city is suffering from a parasitic evil, which ultimately meets its personal grisly finish, however not earlier than several upsetting deaths happen. The decision is satisfying in some methods, however some viewers will undoubtedly discover it irritating given what number of threads are left unexplored, and what number of questions go utterly unanswered.

7

What Does The Floating Gun In Archer’s Dream Imply?

Maybe probably the most talked-about mysterious component of Weapons is the floating assault rifle that Archer Graff (Brolin) sees hovering over the Lilly home (the place the youngsters are being stored) throughout a dream he has whereas sleeping in his lacking son’s mattress. The gun itself shows the time when the kids all acquired away from bed and left, 2:17.

Many theories have flown in regards to the gun, with the most well-liked usually tying the gun to the film’s title, and tying each to symbolism round college shootings. The lone surviving (bullied) youngster, mixed with the anger and trauma that engulfs your complete city because of the disappearance, actually offers sufficient of a path to attract that conclusion.

The fact of the scene, as Zach Cregger meant it, is much much less simple. In an interview with Variety, Cregger spoke instantly in regards to the scene:

It’s an important second for me on this film, and to be frank with you, I feel what I like about it a lot is that I don’t perceive it. I’ve a couple of totally different concepts of what it may be there for, however I don’t have the proper reply. I like the concept that everybody might be going to have their very own sort of interplay or their very own relationship with that scene, whether or not they don’t give a s*** about it and it’s boring, or whether or not they assume it’s some type of political assertion, or whether or not they assume it’s simply cool.

Cregger did not intend the second, nor the film as a complete, to be politically charged, though it is actually doable to interpret it that manner. The floating gun will stay a lightning rod for dialogue, particularly as a result of there is no such thing as a “appropriate” interpretation.

6

Why Did The Kids Depart At 2:17 Particularly?

The kids all leaving at a really particular, seemingly random time has additionally sparked loads of dialogue. As soon as once more, the most well-liked concept appears to level in the direction of a college taking pictures connection, with the two:17 referring to the 217 profitable votes within the Home of Representatives’ ban of assault rifles in 2022, though that by no means grew to become a actuality after failing to move the Senate.

As soon as once more, Cregger has thrown chilly water on the sociopolitical connection. In an interview with Far Out Magazine, Cregger famous that the two:17 time should have been his personal unconscious reference to room 217 in Stephen King’s novel The Shining, which is the place probably the most diabolical haunting happens. The quantity was modified to 237 for Stanley Kubrick’s film, however Cregger caught to the unique.

I’m a Kubrick man with regards to The Shining; I undoubtedly worship that film, and I considered altering it to 2:37. However then I used to be like, ‘ what? My first impulse has acquired to be the one I follow,’ so I stored 2:17.

It is doable that there’s a deeper which means to attract from it, however with Cregger confirming his personal choice course of on the quantity, it looks like one other thriller that’s left up for interpretation for every respective viewer.

5

Who (Or What) Is Gladys, Actually?

Aunt Gladys (Madigan) is clearly some type of witch, though we’re solely given delicate clues about her origin. Cregger initially meant to offer Gladys her personal chapter in an early draft of the film, however opted for thriller over readability along with his fundamental villain.

Gladys has doubtless been round for much longer than a median human lifespan, utilizing her capability to empty the life pressure from others as a solution to keep her vitality. Her reference to “consumption”, which is an outdated solution to seek advice from the widely-eradicated tuberculosis, hints that she has most likely been alive since at the very least the late 1800s.

It is not clear if Gladys is definitely Alex’s great-aunt. Actually, it appears deliberately complicated on condition that she’s referred to at a number of factors as Alex’s aunt and his mom’s aunt. His mom and father appear to have met her earlier than, however whether or not the creature that exhibits up at his home is the truth is his aunt or a witch pretending to be his aunt stays unclear.

4

Why Does Gladys Seem In Desires?

As a witch, Gladys appears to basically “infect” your complete city. She seems to a number of individuals who haven’t truly met her, together with Justine and Archer of their desires and James within the woods, which simply rank as three of Weapons‘ scariest moments. That is the results of her general magical/psychic affect in town: she seems to individuals in moments of stress or concern.

3

What Is The Creepy Little Tree?

Gladys’ blood magic is executed with the help of a darkish and dastardly-looking bush or small tree that she carries along with her. Utilizing its branches, she pricks her personal finger and smears her blood over the thorny branches, that are wrapped in or related to a private merchandise of her goal. By snapping the department, she unleashes her possessed victims upon the goal.

Alex is later ready to make use of the branches himself, indicating that the magic both lies with the tree, or maybe that Gladys is the truth is Alex’s great-aunt, and he has some magic in his personal blood.

It is not possible to inform what sort of tree it’s, however primarily based on its use and the plant species’ long-standing historical past with witchcraft (particularly in Gaelic/Celtic tradition) it seems to be some type of blackthorn. Nonetheless, the leaves on Gladys’ tree do not actually align with blackthorn, so in actuality it looks as if a custom-made creepy plant that serves the identical objective.

2

What Do The Symbols On Gladys’ Bell Imply?

The triangle and quantity six that seem on Gladys’ bell might carry a number of meanings. From a witchcraft perspective, the triangle (which seems inverted on the bell earlier than showing right-side-up within the credit) carries a number of meanings, principally related to the Crone goddess, because the triangle is a female image.

The quantity six is taken into account a logo of witchcraft, devilry, and evil, particularly when tripled (666), in order that connection appears believable sufficient. The mixed symbols might fairly simply be a label, dictating whose bell it’s and what its objective is: for a witch to execute her evil with.

Whereas the blackthorn branches assist Gladys weaponize individuals, the bell is how she truly triggers a possession after she crafts the potion or spell/curse to own somebody. The triangle switching instructions within the credit might additionally point out that the symbols are associated to alchemy/potion-making.

1

Why Do Gladys’ “Weapons” Run Like That?

The odd, arms-out working fashion of the people who find themselves possessed by Gladys isn’t actually defined, but it surely may be easier than it appears at first look. On condition that the people are working not of their very own free will, they run with the components of them that Gladys now controls (their head and coronary heart, thoughts and soul) main the best way, inflicting their arms to tug behind.

Principally Gladys is pulling these individuals in a sure course, and their working fashion is indicative of a central level (the top and chest) being the place she has “grabbed” them. No different actual purpose is given, though Cregger himself has admitted to a unconscious purpose why he included that as the important thing visible in Weapons.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Cregger famous that he believes the unsettling working fashion originated from his personal reminiscence of the “Napalm Lady” photograph, which was one of many defining pictures of the Vietnam Struggle. Within the photograph, a younger Vietnamese lady runs along with her arms out, as her physique has been badly burned by napalm.

I feel that picture is so terrible, and the best way she’s holding her arms out simply killed me. I feel there’s one thing actually upsetting about that posture. If I needed to guess, that may be the place the seed is from. I do not know. However there was no second-guessing that pose. I knew that they might run that manner.

Just like the floating gun imaginative and prescient, quite a lot of probably the most hanging visuals in Weapons appear to be dream-state machinations from Cregger’s personal thoughts, and never as logical as many would need them to be. Cregger’s film is sort of self-therapeutic, which leaves a ton of room for interpretation primarily based on what number of questions he merely refuses to reply in the course of the film’s runtime.

Supply: Variety, Far Out Magazine, Entertainment Weekly

Weapons

7/10

Launch Date

August 8, 2025

Runtime

128 minutes

Director

Zach Cregger

Writers

Zach Cregger

Producers

Roy Lee, Miri Yoon, J.D. Lifshitz