Warning: Spoilers for Weapons.With Weapons, writer-director Zach Cregger has proved once again that comedians can make outstanding horror directors. Cregger made a name for himself as a founding member of the comedy troupe Whitest Kids U’Know, but took a turn into horror filmmaking with 2022’s Barbarian. Cregger’s sophomore exceeded expectations, garnering more critical praise and a much higher commercial return.
Now, Weapons is making its way to home video platforms, and will be available for audiences to watch on the small screen beginning October 14. Viewers will soon get to revisit the twists and turns of Cregger’s latest spooky endeavor and, considering that the Aunt Gladys prequel is surely years away, spend more time with one of horror’s weirdest villains.
ScreenRant’s Ash Crossan interviewed Zach Cregger in celebration of Weapons’ home release. The director reflected on moments big and small, such as line deliveries by The Running Man’s Josh Brolin and the ending that did not pᴀss audience muster at an early test screening. Plus, Cregger reveals why he has found himself in the realm of horror in recent years.
Zach Cregger Loves That You Love Aunt Gladys
The witch Aunt Gladys became an instant highlight of Weapons once the movie hit theaters and, as one of the most mysterious characters of the film even after credits rolled, has earned herself a prequel which Cregger is currently developing. And Cregger had no idea how much of an impact Gladys would have.
“I was kind of hoping that Gladys would be a thing,” he said, “and it’s been a very pleasant surprise to see how much of a thing that Gladys has been.” Interestingly, at the time of this interview, Cregger hadn’t truly seen the Aunt Gladys craze for himself.
“It’s been weird for me,” he said, “I haven’t been in America since the movie came out. I’ve been in Prague. I went to see it here, and it was kind of an empty theater, and it was kind of a bummer, but I get reports from my friends in the States.”
“Then, I go on the Internet,” Cregger said, “and I see a lot of people dressed up as Gladys. It gives me no end of joy.”
How Josh Brolin Got To Flex His Funny Side In Weapons
There is a moment in Weapons when Josh Brolin’s character Archer wakes up from a disturbing dream (featuring the now-infamous “217” floating rifle) with a simple and timeless response: “What the f***?”
“I don’t think it was in the script,” Zach Cregger reflected, “I don’t remember, but I think it was one of those things where we were shooting it, he woke up, and I was like, ‘Just yell “What the f***?”’”
“We just dialed it in over a few takes,” Cregger added, “I think [the final] was take three. He says it was take six, [though] I remember it being only three. But it was one of those takes where, when he said it, I knew it. I was like, ‘That’s it. We got it.’”
Cregger had nothing but praise for the moment, suggesting it’s a testament to Brolin’s range as an actor. “It’s really just a testimony to his innate sense of timing,” Cregger said, “because he knew exactly when to calm down and then say it. He laid it out so perfectly.”
“He’s a very funny guy, and it’s moments like that where you get to feel his natural timing.”
How One Woman’s Expletive Changed Weapons’ Ending
Weapons ends with the voiceover of a narrator who explains how the story wrapped up. Not every character receives a happy ending, as Matthew is clearly psychologically scarred by the events of the film. And without that voiceover, the ending reportedly landed much worse than it does in the final product.
“When I first showed it to an audience,” Cregger recounted, “it had no voiceover at the end, so it was just [that] we push in on [Alex’s] parents, and then we push in on Matthew with those vacant eyes, and then it’s over.”
“[In] that first screening where I showed it to an audience with nothing [there], as soon as it cut to black and the credits came up, this woman in the audience screamed, ‘What the f***?’” Cregger shared. “And it was not, like, a good, ‘What the f***?’” he added; “It was a very bad ‘What the f***?’”
“I realized we have to give a little more closure, but I didn’t want it to be a happy ending because that just didn’t feel real to the story.”
“So, putting Maddie’s voiceover at the end there, where we kind of tell you what happened but we leave a little bit up for interpretation, and it’s like Alex has kind of a happy ending and kind of a sad ending,” Cregger said, “to me, it felt appropriate. It felt correct.”
Zach Cregger Could Spend “The Next Decade” Making Horror Movies
With Weapons’ success, Zach Cregger is two-for-two on hit horror films. And his next film, a brand new film adaptation of the Resident Evil video games, will attempt a three-peat. Cregger seems to truly have found his niche which, interestingly, many likely wouldn’t have anticipated.
“It’s funny because I wasn’t a big horror person growing up,” Cregger said, “but as I get older, I have just gravitated, as a consumer, towards darker and darker fare. So, as a creator, I just start writing something really dark, and I don’t fight it. Right now, there tends to be an appeтιтe for it; lucky me.”
“Resident Evil–totally horror,” Cregger said. “The movie I’m going to do after Resident Evil, God willing, is a sci-fi, but it’s horror, and I don’t really want to stop.”
“I don’t think of horror as a stepping stone to a more credible career; if I made horror movies for the next decade, lucky me … it’s not a means to an end.”
Weapons will come to digital platforms on October 14.
