Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Weapons!
Weapons is an ambitious horror movie with plenty of scary moments. The story kicks off when 17 children from the same classroom all run away from their homes in the middle of the night. What unravels from there is, at times, comedic. But more often than not, director Zach Cregger’s movie is gripping and scary.
Throughout the film, Julia Garner’s Justine and Josh Brolin’s Archer try to solve the main mystery and find the children on their own before joining forces when they share a horrifying experience. From the beginning to the end of Weapons, audiences will be on the edge of their seats as more details are revealed.
After Cregger solidified himself as an exciting new director in the horror genre with his acclaimed 2022 film Barbarian, effective scares and shocking moments in Weapons were expected. Therefore, here are the six scariest moments in Weapons, ranked:
6
Marcus Attacks Justine At The Gas Station
Instead of being told in chronological order, Weapons’ story is split into several chapters, each of which follows a different character. Therefore, when Marcus attacks Justine at the gas station near the beginning of the movie, viewers are both shocked and horrified. During this scene, Justine is arguing with Archer when she sees Marcus, with a bloody face, charging towards her.
When this attack is initially observed, we have no idea why Marcus is determined to kill Justine. A chapter later in the movie shows Gladys perform a ritual that possesses Marcus and sends him after the teacher. This scene is tragic, since Marcus has absolutely no control as he bludgeons his husband’s head to death before his target shifts to Justine.
Marcus chasing Justine through the gas station and on the road when she leaves makes this a scary scene, even with Archer trying to help her. But the fact that Justine is not alone, along with it being set in broad daylight in a public place, is why this scene is ranked last on this list. It is great, but there are several more effective scares that you literally can’t see coming.
5
James Sees Gladys In The Forest
After discovering the children in Alex’s basement, James, a homeless drug addict, wants to reveal what he knows to the police to get the $50,000 reward. However, after he was threatened by Paul, an officer, earlier in the movie, James is afraid to go to the police station. Of course, he immediately sees Paul in front of the station when he works up the courage to go.
This prompts James to run away. He makes it into the forest and is confident that he has gotten away from Paul, mocking him as he stops his run. However, James soon realizes that he’s not alone in the forest. He looks around and spots Gladys in the distance. In this brief sH๏τ, Gladys looks more like an evil clown than an old woman, and this terrifies James.
He once again starts running until he ends up in his tent. James hides, clearly horrified about the person he just saw in the woods. Gladys doesn’t find James during this scene, but the sH๏τ of her waving in the woods will be remembered as one of the creepiest moments in Weapons.
4
Justine Sees Gladys Above Her Bed
In the first chapter of the movie, Justine is walking through her school in the middle of the night in one of her nightmares. She walks into her classroom and sees all the children who disappeared with their heads down at their desks.
Then Alex, the one student who didn’t go missing, slowly raises his head and smiles at her. Justine quickly wakes up, but doesn’t feel like she’s alone in her home. Justine leans over and looks down the hallway — it’s never a good idea to sleep with your door wide open in a horror movie… — but she sees nothing. This scene builds more and more tension, until Justine looks up.
On her ceiling, Justine sees Gladys looking down at her. At this point in the movie, we haven’t been introduced to Gladys yet, so seeing a mysterious woman on the ceiling is terrifying. Justine immediately panics before realizing that no one is actually there, but this is a horrifying moment in Weapons, nonetheless.
It’s never explicitly explained what Gladys is in Weapons — she could be a witch, demon, or something else — but she sucks the life out of her victims until they are nothing but shells of their former selves.
This marks one of the few true jump scares in Weapons. While a common aspect of the genre, with some truly great jump scares in horror movies coming throughout history, Cregger uses it effectively here to deliver one of the movie’s scariest moments that is sure to stick with viewers.
3
Archer Sees Gladys During A Nightmare
Just like Justine, Archer sees Gladys during a nightmare in Weapons. In the second chapter of the movie, Archer is desperate to figure out what really happened to his son, Matthew. His grief is so deep that he always sleeps in Matthew’s bed.
One night, Archer has a nightmare in which he sees himself following his son leaving the house at 2:17 am. He calls after his son as he runs away into the night. This seemingly works, as his son returns and goes back to bed. During this nightmare, tension builds as Archer slowly walks through his home in the middle of the night, until he once again reaches his son’s room.
Upon seeing his son in bed, Archer starts crying and tries his best to apologize for not being the best father. This is one of the most emotional moments in Weapons, but things take a turn when Archer lifts the blanket up and is greeted by Gladys. Once again, this scene takes place before we meet Gladys, so it’s terrifying to see a strange woman in Archer’s son’s bed.
The moment is another effective scare from Cregger, but he smartly diffuses some of the tension left from Gladys’ surprise appearance with a quick comedic beat. When Archer wakes up from the nightmare, he hilariously shouts, “What the f***?”, to take some of the edge off a scarring sequence.
2
James Finds The Children In The Basement
After Justine investigates Alex’s creepy house from the outside, James provides audiences with the first glimpse of what life is like inside. James breaks into Alex’s seemingly abandoned house and starts looking for valuable items that he can sell.
He sees the two people sitting completely still in the living room that previously scared Justine, but he dismisses them and continues to ransack the house. However, a noise from the basement stops him in his tracks.
James slowly walks down to the basement and spots all the missing children standing together. Making this discovery is shocking, and when the two people from the living room rise up, it seems like he is for sure going to be trapped in the house. This whole sequence, which takes place in the eerily dark house, is utterly terrifying and proves how good Cregger is at building tension.
1
Alex’s Mom Cuts Justine’s Hair
Without a doubt, the woman, who we later learn is Alex’s mother, emerging from her house and approaching Justine’s car in the middle of the night is the scariest moment in Weapons. While staking out Alex’s house one night, Justine falls asleep in her car, allowing Alex’s mother to freely leave the house and walk towards her.
Instead of including several cuts, Cregger allows this moment to play out all in one long take. This was a genius decision, as it is spine-chilling to watch the woman leave her house and make her way down the street towards the unsuspecting Justine. Seeing the unnatural way that Alex’s mother moves her body as she walks convinces the audience that something terrible is about to happen.
Wielding scissors, Alex’s mother stops at Justine’s window and looks at her. She then walks back out of frame until we hear the car’s back door open. Since Cregger doesn’t show the backseat at all, audiences are left terrified as they wonder what’s about to happen. In this scene, Alex’s mother cuts a piece of Justine’s hair off, which allows Gladys to target her later.
The invasive scene is a strong reminder of why locking car doors is always a smart thing to do, especially when you’re on a stakeout alone at a super creepy house like Justine was in Weapons.