This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Towson chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.
By Amie Yansane
I saw Weapon (2025) not too long ago, and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since. Although my Letterboxd review for the film wasn’t the most positive, I admired so many elements of the film that it presents as a form of commentary.
My Overall Thoughts
As a horror movie, it doesn’t stand out from others; it has the typical jump scares and soundtrack that raises the hairs on your arms. However, there were a few scenes that felt novel to me as a new horror enthusiast, such as the scene where the dark first masks the entranced mother and then is revealed in the streetlight, stumbling towards our camping main character, Justine, with a pair of scissors. The audience was under the impression that this would be the first kill of the movie, as the mother finds her way into Justine’s car. Instead, she doesn’t utilize the scissors as a weapon, but as a tool to cut the main character’s hair. The “twist” of the movie hadn’t been revealed at that point, but I found that scene carefully unveiling it to be a thoughtful decision, leaving me curious about the purpose of the scene.
After that one scene, the buildup washed away, and I left the theater disappointed. I found the reveal quite underwhelming, and the movie began to lose its horror elements. Although the reveal was the least interesting element of the movie, I found it the most significant to the commentary.
Children and Weapons
Nearing the resolution of the movie, we find Justine and Archer in the house of Alex and Alex’s great-aunt, Gladys, where the missing children are locked in the basement under the same trance that Alex’s parents are in. While these children are under this trance, there are utilized as what the movie suggests: weapons. Even though these children are being used for silly methods of witchcraft, it implies deeper themes about the vulnerability of children and how it is being used as a weapon against them.
One of the most important parts of the film that alludes to this message is the dream scene with Archer. While trying to mourn his missing son, he dreams of the last moments his Ring camera caught before his son’s disappearance. Under the impression that this dream is real, he runs after his son, hoping to find answers about where he has disappeared to. Instead, he finds himself in a loop and ends up back at his house. However, before he reenters, a gun illuminates over their house.
The symbolism is straightforward, but politically significant. The gun represents what we all know too well, what we wish we could gloss over, but it’s a recurring issue. How it finds its way into so many buildings, impacts too many lives.
The gun was not the focus of the movie, but it came up at the perfect time for this brief message. It came around when a child was unsuspecting of the exploitation of his innocence, and a vulnerable parent was unaware of who could imagine taking from a child. The gun above the house was predatory, but when it stood there, no one was shocked. It was too accepted, and that’s why it continues to prey on the young.
Weapons may not have gotten five stars in my review, but it has relevant discussions about protecting youth and how weapons are utilized against them, and also through them by exploiting their vulnerability. I hope that everyone else who watches this movie brings up more conversation about this topic as a way to advocate against this injustice.
