The Women of ‘Weapons’ – Witches, Monsters, and a Weaponized Town
WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Weapons.
With two feature films now under his belt, Zach Cregger is making a name for himself in the horror world. His 2022 shocker Barbarian unfolds in a series of increasingly startling revelations that slowly erode our illusions of safety. His sophomore outing Weapons boasts a similarly cryptic title which clarifies itself in the story’s final act. A shocking tragedy at an elementary school sparks a horrifying tale of parasitic violence and sinister control. As in Barbarian, Cregger offers two female characters who sit on opposite ends of a monstrous spectrum. What unifies Justine (Julia Garner) and the mysterious Gladys (Amy Madigan) is the misogynistic world they both occupy. One suffers from a community primed to vilify women while the other uses patriarchal culture to hide in plain sight.
Justine is the newest teacher at Maybrook Elementary when a strange tragedy befalls the city. On an ordinary day she arrives at work to find a single student in his seat. As we survey the otherwise deserted classroom, we learn that the other children rose at 2:17 a.m. and ran out of their houses into the night. Justine and Alex (Cary Christopher), her remaining student, are extensively questioned but appear to have no knowledge of this strange event. One month later, the children are still missing and the town has turned decisively on Justine. At a tense PTO meeting, the grieving parents harass the young teacher and shout her down when she attempts to express her own pain. The school’s Principal, Marcus (Benedict Wong), advises Justine to go straight home and hide in her house before the brewing mob has a chance to turn violent.
The bulk of this aggression is led by Archer (Josh Brolin), the father of one of her missing students. Not only does he lead the charge of enraged parents, he follows Justine home, terrorizes her from her own front porch, and scrawls the word WITCH on her car in angry, red paint. Intended as a means of public shaming, Justine is now identifiable wherever she goes and only safe inside her house. Not content, Archer pays a visit to the local police chief and again points the finger in Justine’s direction. He’s researched her past employment history and found a minor flaw: she was previously dismissed for having an inappropriate relationship with a colleague. We learn from Marcus that she has a similar history of bending the rules, but has never done anything to harm or threaten a child. Thankfully, law enforcement officials stand firm in their refusal to arrest the benevolent teacher, but the town has been irrevocably poisoned against her.
While this behavior could be chalked up to the frantic actions of a grieving father, we glimpse other indicators of Archer’s toxicity. He barely acknowledges his unseen wife and laments his inability to express love for his son. Flashbacks reveal that Matthew (Luke Speakman) is a cruel bully—possibly a result of this aloof parenting style. Desperate to find his son, Archer visits Erica (Sara Paxton), the mother of Matthew’s classmate. He asks to view ring camera footage of her own daughter’s disappearance, but the similarly grieving mother rejects his request and clearly sends him on his way. But again, Archer will not be denied. He lays in wait for her husband Gary (Justin Long) and confronts the confused man in the driveway—before he has a chance to consult his wife. We immediately cut to Archer inside Erica’s home, viewing footage with Gary while she glowers from the hall.
Exhibiting mild signs of misogyny, Archer is far from the only person harassing Justine. The well-meaning Marcus believes in her innocence, but essentially eliminates her teaching position. What’s more, she’s not to have any contact with her class’s sole survivor and must not be seen on school grounds. An evening out with a former lover, her only means of emotional support, also goes dreadfully wrong. Though Paul (Alden Ehrenreich) insists that he’s single, we learn that this is far from the truth. Not only is he married to Donna (June Diane Raphael), but the couple is trying to conceive a child. When she easily discovers his infidelity, Donna confronts Justine in the liquor store and pours an entire bottle on the cowering teacher’s head. Rather than attack her cheating husband, Donna turns her rage on a vulnerable woman.
It’s a modern version of a story we’ve seen many times. Reminiscent of the 17th century Salem Witch Trials, a frightened population weaponizes their fear and pain by ostracizing an innocent woman. Single and childless, Justine has no one tying her to the community and must rely on scraps of emotional support. She spends her evenings drinking alone and will probably soon be run out of town. It’s not until the tiny teacher is visibly targeted by a strange monster that Archer can see the fallacy in his campaign of harassment.
As Cregger slowly reveals his story, a real witch steps into view. Determined to find her students and clear her name, Justine follows Alex home noticing strange phenomena within the house. Newspapers completely cover each window while Alex’s parents sit in ominous silence. Even cursory investigation would raise the alarm, but officials have already cleared Alex’s name and residents are more concerned with blaming Justine. With nothing left to lose, the disgraced teacher stakes out the house, eventually falling asleep in her car. Late that night, the front door opens and a hideous figure emerges from its inner darkness. A disheveled woman lurches toward Justine with a weapon raised high in the air. She circles the car before climbing inside and snipping a lock of the sleeping woman’s blond curls.
We eventually learn that this is Alex’s Mother (Callie Schuttera), controlled from afar by a sinister witch. Gladys (Amy Madigan) is hovering near death when her younger sister moves her in with the family. No one seems particularly happy about this arrangement, but his mother feels obligated to care for her kin. Arriving under cover of darkness, Gladys immediately takes over the household. Soon after, Alex comes down to breakfast and finds his parents staring at each other in eerie silence. Sitting at the table’s head, Gladys demonstrates her awful power by making them stab themselves in the face with their forks. Threatening to harm them further, she orders Alex to conceal her presence and pretend all is well to the outside world.
We learn that Gladys is responsible for the children’s disappearance and the rash of strange occurrences throughout the town. Fearful of dying, she’s been feeding on the vitality of Alex’s parents, but finds herself in need of more innocent souls. She convinces the terrified boy to collect one personal item from each of his classmates then concocts a spell that draws them to the house. Seventeen children now stand, lifeless, in the dark basement eternally waiting for their next command.
When Justine begins to suspect that Alex is in danger, she begs Marcus to make his own home visit. He begrudgingly invites the boy’s parents in for a conference and is surprised when Gladys shows up instead. Flamboyant and garish, this elderly woman assures the principal that her sister and brother-in-law are perfectly fine while eyeing award ribbons decorating his office. The following day, she shows up on his doorstep frantically begging for his help. Marcus balks at this unwanted intrusion and prepares to send the woman away, but his partner Terry (Clayton Farris) falls for her “damsel in distress” ploy, insisting they invite her into their home. Gladys proceeds to cast a spell in the couple’s kitchen then boldly snips a lock of Terry’s hair. Twisting it around a sinister twig, she takes control of Marcus’ mind and sends him hurtling toward his partner. The now-monstrous man beats Terry to death until Gladys sends him on a mission to kill Justine.
With these twigs, taken from a magical tree, Gladys is able to weaponize humans and send them to attack her chosen targets. While Archer berates Justine at the gas station, a beastly Marcus tracks her down and tackles her in a pool of flammable gas, intent on violently ending her life. Fortunately, Archer steps in to protect the young woman, dragging the Principal off his prey. This gives Justine enough time to evade her weaponized friend until he’s pulverized by a passing car. Unfortunately for Gladys, this public attack finally draws attention her way.
While horrifying, this incident also signals a turning point for Justine. It’s only when Archer witnesses his own target attacked by a more overtly violent threat that he realizes the damage he has caused. The two make awkward amends and begin working together to bring the kids home. Though they face brutal attacks from Gladys’ human weapons, they distract the witch long enough for Alex to cast a spell of his own. Snapping a twig from his aunt’s sacred tree, the boy weaponizes all seventeen children against their captor. No longer comatose in the basement, they chase Gladys through the neighborhood, smashing through windows and walls to reach their prey. They finally pull the screaming woman to the ground and use their bare hands to tear her apart.
Aside from this act of grisly violence, Cregger’s horde of murderous children resembles the angry mob that threatens Justine at the PTO meeting that opens the film. Convinced she is secretly hiding their kids, the enraged parents will stop at nothing to see her punished. This is likely all part of Gladys’ plan. She knows that abducting Justine as well, leaving Alex as the class’s sole survivor, would bring police quickly to her door, interrupting her elaborate design. But as long as the community is more concerned with vilifying a vulnerable woman, she can fly safely under their radar. Justine serves as a handy scapegoat for a seasoned witch who knows exactly what kind of world she inhabits. She doesn’t bother taking control of Justine, confident that generations of internalized misogyny has provided fertile ground for her master plan. The town will cast its own patriarchal spell and weaponize itself against Justine.
The post The Women of ‘Weapons’ – Witches, Monsters, and a Weaponized Town appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.