A child narrator explains that on a Wednesday prior, in the town of Maybrook, Pennsylvania, seventeen children from teacher Justine Gandy’s third-grade class suddenly ran from their homes at 2:17 a.m. and disappeared. Only one student, Alex Lilly, remained.
Weapons is a 2025 American mystery horror film directed, written, produced, and co-scored by Zach Cregger. The film stars Josh Brolin, Julia Garner, Alden Ehrenreich, Austin Abrams, Cary Christopher, Benedict Wong and Amy Madigan. Its plot follows the seemingly inexplicable case of seventeen children from the same classroom who mysteriously run away on the same night at the same time, having been apparently abducted by an unseen force.
Almost a month following the incident, Principal Marcus Miller places Justine on leave amid community suspicion of her involvement in the children’s disappearance. Depressed and ostracized, she relapses into alcoholism and seeks comfort from her ex-boyfriend, police officer Paul Morgan. Concerned about Alex’s wellbeing, Justine follows him home, where she observes the windows covered with newspaper and Alex’s parents are sitting motionless in the dark, and urges Marcus to perform a wellness check. Justine revisits Alex’s house but falls asleep in her car. During the night, Alex’s mom staggers out of the house, enters the car, and cuts off a lock of Justine’s hair.
Archer Graff, father of missing child Matthew, starts his own investigation when he grows frustrated by the police’s slow progress. Observing security cam footage of Matthew and another child, he discovers that the direction the children were running in converges at a specific destination, but is unable to pinpoint it. Both Justine and Archer dream of the missing children and a mysterious woman with clown-like makeup
While on patrol, Paul arrests James, a vagrant drug addict, for attempted burglary, but is forced to let him go after assaulting him in view of his car’s camera. Later, James begins to burgle Alex’s house, where he finds Alex’s parents and the missing children in the basement in a catatonic condition. He reports his findings to the police in hopes of getting the $50,000 reward, but Paul, fearing being reported, spots and chases him. James flees into the woods, passing the mysterious woman, and hides in his tent. Upon being caught by Paul, James explains that he knows where the missing children are. Paul drives to Alex’s house, leaving James handcuffed in the car while he investigates. Hours later, Paul emerges and drags James inside the house.
Marcus is visited at school by the mysterious woman: Gladys, Alex’s eccentric aunt and the family’s caretaker after Alex’s parents fell ill. Marcus insists on meeting Alex’s parents for the wellness check. Later, Gladys appears at the home of Marcus and his husband Terry. She performs a ritual with a ribbon stolen from Marcus and hair cut from Terry and Justine, enchanting Marcus. Gladys forces him to kill Terry and pursue Justine. Marcus sprints across town and assaults Justine at a gas station, interrupting an argument between her and Archer, before being fatally struck by a car. At the hospital, Archer shows the results of his investigation to Justine, who realizes that the children were all running toward Alex’s house
Justine and Archer enter Alex’s house, where they are attacked by the enchanted Paul and James before Justine takes Paul’s gun and fatally shoots them both. Archer looks for Matthew in the basement, but Gladys enchants him and sends him to attack Justine. Meanwhile, Alex evades his bewitched parents and replicates Gladys’ spell with a strand of hair from her wig. The children emerge from the basement, chase Gladys out of the house and around the neighborhood, and tear her apart. Her death frees her victims, but all but Archer remain in a catatonic state.
As Archer carries Matthew home on foot, the narrator explains that Alex moved out of town to live with a different aunt after his unresponsive parents were institutionalized. The children were all reunited with their parents, and some have begun speaking again.
