Is Weapons based on a true story? Director reveals inspiration behind the scariest movie of 2025

Director Zach Cregger has revealed which aspects of his new film, Weapons, are based on real life, and while the story itself is riddled with witchcraft and supernatural horror, there were some very real inspirations behind the gripping tale.

With a solid 95 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes, and reviews calling it the 2025’s Conjuring, Weapons is already shaping up to be one of the leading films of the year. That, along with Sinners from earlier this year, proves that studios should be spending more time on original horror flicks – but that’s another article entirely.

“When all but one child from the same class mysteriously vanish on the same night at exactly the same time, a community is left questioning who or what is behind their disappearance,” the film’s official description reads.

Right, so is Weapons a true story?

In the first few moments of Weapons, a little girl declares the film is a “true story” in a moment that is bound to instantly capture the attention of anyone watching. After all, this is a film about kidnapped children, witches, and things that go bump in the night – so how much of it is actually true?

Long story short, not a lot, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t aspects of it drawn from everyday life.

“It’s a personal movie — this movie’s really kind of autobiographical in many ways,” Zach Cregger shared on The Next Best Picture podcast. “You know, someone really close to me died. I was able to write these characters that had the same emotions, you know? About these kids leaving and this community left in the wake of that.”

The inspiration behind Zach Cregger’s Weapons is very close to home

Most Read

18-year-old lad from Bonnie Blue’s classroom scene reveals what the experience was really like

Maya Jama has only followed three girls after Love Island, taking her side in the divide

Dumped Love Island girl is already back with footballer ex just DAYS after leaving the villa

Credit: Warner Bros.

Though Weapons is not a true story in the typical sense, Warner Bros. sure did capitalise on that vibe in their admittedly eerie marketing tactics. The company even created a fake website, MaybrookMissing.com, which detailed the missing kids alongside fabricated news articles.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly back in April, Zach Cregger delved deeper into the inspiration behind weapons, and specifically, the missing child aspect.

He explained: “I had a tragedy in my life that was really, really tough. Someone very, very, very close to me died suddenly and, honestly, I was so grief-stricken that I just started writing Weapons, not out of any ambition, but just as a way to reckon with my own emotions.

“[It’s] an incredibly personal story. There’s certain chapters of Weapons that are legitimately autobiographical that I feel like I lived.”

As for that first line in the film, which you could argue is false advertising, Zach admitted that the moment just came to him during the writing process.

“It just sprang out,” he told GQ. “I literally started with the sentence, ‘This is a true story.’ I thought it would be cool to start a movie where a little girl was telling a campfire story. I didn’t even know what story she’s going to tell.”

For more like this, like The Tab on Facebook. 

Featured image credit: Warner Bros.