Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Weapons!

The unique running pose in Weapons immediately caught people’s attention thanks to how unforgettable it is. After 17 children woke up at 2:17 am, left their homes, and ran off into the night, the mystery behind their disappearance and the disturbing cause is the main focus of the story, but the particular way people run is strange.

All the kids who disappear, as well as one adult victim of a mysterious spell, are all seen running in an unnatural form. With their arms stretched out behind them, it evokes comparisons to the iconic Naruto run. But, why this is their pose is one of Weapons‘ many unresolved mysteries.

While the premise and execution of writer/director Zach Cregger’s vision are captivating, it only becomes clear in Weapons‘ ending where the kids ran off to. Despite the answers that come there, the actual pose that the children, and later Marcus, strike while they run is not addressed. This was all intentional on Cregger’s part.

Zach Cregger Wanted People To Run Like That In Weapons To Create Intrigue

It’s tempting to look at Weapons‘ unique running style and think about any deeper meanings, symbolism, and more that Cregger could have incorporated. However, the film’s decision not to directly explain why Gladys’ magic causes people to run like that was purposeful.

Despite how intriguing the running pose is, Cregger has stated he does not have much of an explanation for it. Speaking to The Big Pic podcast, he discussed how he didn’t want people to run normally, as the unique style helps communicate to audiences and the characters in the movie that this is not entirely natural. He said:

There’s no meaning there, but it does to me invite a little more speculation. If they just ran out normally, it’d be like, ‘Oh that’s weird.’ But if they all run out with a bizarre posture then its like, okay, there’s another dimension at work here, and I don’t know what it is. So it just felt provocative.

His instinct in that regard clearly worked. Not only is there a general curiosity about why they run like this while watching the movie, but it even becomes a key point for Arthur to piece together that Marcus’s attack is linked to whatever happened to the kids who disappeared.

That said, Cregger has revealed one partial, deeper explanation for Weapons‘ running style. The director said the running pose “was just there” when he started writing. However, he does admit there may be a subconscious link between the pose and the famous “Napalm Girl” image from the Vietnam War. He said:

“There’s that terrible pH๏τo of that girl in Vietnam with the napalm burn. I think that image is so awful, and the way she’s holding her arms out just killed me. I think there’s something really upsetting about that posture. If I had to guess, that might be where the seed is from. I don’t know. But there was no second-guessing that pose. I knew that they would run that way.”

There are links one could make between the children’s disappearance and real-life events, especially given the floating gun during one of Weapons‘ dream sequences. It seems that Cregger was so disturbed by the “Napalm Girl” image that he unintentionally used it as inspiration.

That all provides some clues as to what is really going on with the running style in the movie. There is some real-world influence but also no truly deeper, thematic or symbolic reason to explain everyone running with their arms stretched out. However, the in-universe rationale for the running pose is still left up to some interpretation.