- Weapons will hit theaters on August 8, 2025
- The movie is the second from Barbarian director, Zach Cregger
- Cregger has revealed whether Weapons is based on a true story
Weapons is the horror movie everyone is talking about.
The film, which will be released on August 8, will be the second directorial effort from Zach Cregger – who was the brain behind 2022’s Barbarian.
Set in a small American town, the movie is Cregger’s take on a missing child story – except, instead of just one youngster, an entire class of elementary school students inexplicably leave their beds in the middle of the night and walk off into the darkness.
Starring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film has sent horror fans wild online.
But is Weapons based on a true story?
Is Weapons based on a true story?
The first trailer for Zach Cregger’s ‘WEAPONS’ has been released.
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) April 29, 2025
The film follows a classroom of children who get out of their beds and disappear one night without a trace.
In theaters on August 8. pic.twitter.com/OE3KK6eFno
While Weapons isn’t strictly based on real life events – ie, the main premise of the entire class disappearing has never happened – Cregger has rooted his film on real missing children cases.
According to the US Child Crime Prevention & Safety Center, a child goes missing or is abducted every 20 seconds in the United States.
Losing a child is obviously any parent’s worst nightmare, so Weapons asks the question: What would happen if dozens of kids disappeared all at once?
But Cregger hasn’t stopped there – as he also revealed he drew on his own experiences for the movie.
Has director Zach Cregger drawn on his own experiences for Weapons?
Cregger has admitted that while the new movie is an entirely fictitious story, it was inspired by some personal experiences.
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Cregger revealed a personal tragedy that inspired the idea for the story.
“I had a tragedy in my life that was really, really tough,” he said. “Someone very, very, very close to me died suddenly and, honestly, I was so grief-stricken that I just started writing Weapons – not out of any ambition, but just as a way to reckon with my own emotions.”
Cregger didn’t elaborate on his cryptic comments any further – but did add that parts of the tale are “legitimately autobiographical”.
“[It’s] an incredibly personal story,” he finished. “There’s certain chapters of this that are legitimately autobiographical that I feel like I lived.”
