People are clocking what makes Weapons terrifying, and it’s nothing to do with Aunt Gladys

You don’t have to look very far around content about Weapons, Zach Cregger’s 2025 horror film that’s become the biggest of the year, to see that its runaway star and focal point is Amy Madigan’s horrific Aunt Gladys. She’s the most iconic part of the film, and was of course widely kept secret in all the trailers and lead up to whatever the hell was going down in the film with its mysterious trailer. Weapons is a film that people have been desperate to unpick to find the deeper meaning, and now people think they’ve cracked it and found what it’s really about, what makes it SO terrifying – and it’s nothing to really do with Aunt Gladys the parasitic witch at all. Even if she’s the one who caused the chaos to begin with!

We become the worst versions of ourselves in tragedy

@jackcannotbefound 🚨SPOLERS FOR WEAPONS 🚨 it’s not about witchcraft or voodoo 🙄 #weapons ♬ original sound – Jack Knight

In a TikTok posted by Jack Knight, the content creator explains “Talking about Weapons with people is so frustrating because people focus on the most inconsequential parts – which is the magic system and the witch’s existence or history. We don’t need to know anything more about the witch, the witch is not the main central part of the plot”. Sorry to all the Weapons Aunt Gladys prequel truthers, there.

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The theory also talks about a widely discussed conversation on how Weapons is an allegory for school shootings – which it likely isn’t. There are elements that take from that, sure – but Knight believes Weapons “is an allegory for how systemic failures lead to tragedies and when these tragedies happen, people have to find a scapegoat, and that creates a witch-hunt and that’s where the whole witch thing comes in.

“Society literally turns us into weapons against each other. One of the main influences from school shootings is the scapegoating of video games. It’s telling you this from the beginning. When the Weapons [title] comes up, it has a triangle logo within the o, which is reminiscent of a PlayStation controller.

“When Archer is having his dream and he sees 2:17 on a gun above his house, that’s the ammo count. The witch literally has two parents and 17 children – that’s her ammo. That’s her amount of Weapons. Every character we follow represents a failure of the system. Whether that be a failure on them or them perpetuating that failure.”

I literally feel like my brain is expanding with this theory on what Weapons is really about and it makes it even more terrifying. The theory then discusses how Justine Gandy is used in the film as the main scapegoat and tries to literally call her a witch – and how the system has failed her because her “troubled past” was always he trying to do the right thing.

“It’s no surprise Justine is attacked by her principal at the school – he’s supposed to be her protector within the system, but he turns against her. We don’t see much about Archer’s past but we see his son is the bully in the classroom. He probably wasn’t the best father, which has made his child violent.

“Paul the cop has issues with alcoholism – and he perpetuates that against James when he hits him. The police is the system, and they cover it up. James the homeless guy is homeless, and some system has failed him down the way.

“Gladys the witch IS the system, she’s the parasite. She drains from us and doesn’t give back. She has drained Alex’s parents to the point they’re a vegetable. Alex has to grow up immediately and act like an adult, the system’s failed him so much. He’s having to be his own adult. One of the biggest takeaways is how children bear the burden of the society we’ve created.”

It’s shown at the end that the children are the ones who take down Gladys, because she represents the system and the children are not yet numb to the way it works like the adults are. Honestly, I think this has so much legs about what Weapons is really about and it’s made the film even more terrifying for me.

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