The Reel Rejects - WEAPONS (2025) IS FREAKY AS HELL!! MOVIE REVIEW!

Episode Date: September 10, 2025

HOT DAMN DID THIS LIVE UP TO THE HYPE!! Weapons Full Movie Reaction Watch Along:   / thereelrejects   Start your online business with a $1 per-month trial when you visit https://www.shopify.com/rejects! Support The Channel By Getting Some REEL REJECTS Apparel! https://www.rejectnationshop.com/ Barbarian (2022) Greg & John's Movie Reaction:    • BARBARIAN (2022) MOVIE REACTION! First Tim...   Barbarian (2022) Tara & Andrew's Movie Reaction:    • BARBARIAN (2022) IS HORRIFYING!! MOVIE REA...   With Writer / Director Zach Cregger's latest film holding strong at the box office, Tara, Aaron & John are BACK to give their Weapons Reaction, Recap, Commentary, Analysis, & Spoiler Review! Aaron Alexander, Tara Erickson, & John Humphrey confront the unnerving mystery of Weapons (2025)—a bold horror-mystery from Zach Cregger (Barbarian). This critically acclaimed film unravels through multiple viewpoints—teachers, parents, police—as a sleepy suburban community is shattered when 17 children from the same class vanish simultaneously under impossible circumstances. From the film’s haunting, unconventional structure to its chilling visuals and emotional resonance, Weapons blew past the competition on release—grossing over $70 million worldwide, with $42.5 million domestically during its opening weekend. Critics have praised its blend of psychological dread, surreal symbolism, and visceral horror, dubbing it one of 2025’s most unforgettable cinematic experiences. Join us as we unpack the film’s most haunting scenes, narrative twists, and interpretation layers—plus, that bizarrely viral hot-dog scene that sparked meme storms and speculation of a heartfelt tribute to Cregger’s late friend Trevor Moore. Follow Aaron On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therealaaronalexander/?hl=en Follow Tara Erickson: Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TaraErickson Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/taraerickson/ Twitter:  https://twitter.com/thetaraerickson Intense Suspense by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... Support The Channel By Getting Some REEL REJECTS Apparel! https://www.rejectnationshop.com/ Follow Us On Socials:  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reelrejects/  Tik-Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@reelrejects?lang=en Twitter: https://x.com/reelrejects Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheReelRejects/ Music Used In Ad:  Hat the Jazz by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Happy Alley by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... POWERED BY @GFUEL Visit https://gfuel.ly/3wD5Ygo and use code REJECTNATION for 20% off select tubs!! Head Editor: https://www.instagram.com/praperhq/?hl=en Co-Editor: Greg Alba Co-Editor: John Humphrey Music In Video: Airport Lounge - Disco Ultralounge by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Ask Us A QUESTION On CAMEO: https://www.cameo.com/thereelrejects Follow TheReelRejects On FACEBOOK, TWITTER, & INSTAGRAM:  FB:  https://www.facebook.com/TheReelRejects/ INSTAGRAM:  https://www.instagram.com/reelrejects/ TWITTER:  https://twitter.com/thereelrejects Follow GREG ON INSTAGRAM & TWITTER: INSTAGRAM:  https://www.instagram.com/thegregalba/ TWITTER:  https://twitter.com/thegregalba Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Loaded on a buttery flaky croissant Try it with maple brown butter today at Tim's At participating restaurants in Canada for limited time Thank you to Shopify for sponsoring this video More on them in just a bit It's Wild Card Wednesday gang You ready to get crazy LFG

Let's do it! Oh, don't. Goodness, forgive me for that. Again, you know, do a little twig snapping, but I'm good now. Gang, we got a whole bunch of questions here from our royal rejects. So, you know, there's plenty more to talk about, but I have a sneaking suspicion that y'all are going to guide us mightily through those topics. So let's jump into this. this and thank you all for uh being so enthusiastic and submitting your questions uh jaden

roads first up uh i saw this in theaters recently and i loved it but i did see a lot of mixed reactions on the ending many feel like it was over the top of gladys running from the kids but it worked for me and had me laughing out loud in the theater um definitely one of the most sort of like strange and unique third act turns climactic turns that i have seen in it minute especially after an experience that is like so heavy on dread and so you know mounting of tension and then all of a sudden you have this end bit that's like it's horrific in a way but it's also like really over the top and wacky yeah uh i appreciate it i think i am falling on the side of i appreciate that after you know so much again dread and ominousness and suspense you know to have

this sort of like weird sense of levity by the end is like kind of neat but how do you guys feel about this? I loved it. I thought it was really funny. There's just old lady running from 17 elementary school students and just running through houses

and doors going full Kool-Aid man this elderly woman. It's just great. That's funny. And a nice version of what you'd expect for the ending of a horror movie. Yeah, I love the movie as a whole. It's left me with some questions still, but I feel

it gives you just enough information to be relevant for the characters that are involved in what's happening. So ultimately, it falls on the side of things that's going to leave me thinking on my ride home today and just what movie I want to talk about with people because this movie

was crazy and it was a wild ride. But yeah, and it was great. Absolutely. What did you think, Tara? Yeah, I loved it. I thought it was brilliant. I really like when writers and directors, they they they write smart characters so the kid um having the the sense to do what he did and and that is the reason why she's being killed by her her very own weapons that she created um is a really nice turn of events and it was also hilarious i don't even think it was over the top it was just

it ridiculously funny because of how realistic it was seeing that old ass witch lady just just running from all these kids brilliant loved it yeah after all the kind of chaos and havoc and she's such a great you know obviously what's happening is so sort of wrenching and again like a bunch of kids so it starts so grounded it's like a bunch of kids running outside who knows where they went this is a thing that could plausibly happen maybe in real life and then to come to find yeah that it's some strange voodoo ritual that may or may not be attempting to like rejuvenate this woman's life force or something like yeah to bring it to such an extent of insanity i thought it was like a cool subversion in a sense because yeah

you expected to go really like harsh and harrowing and yeah once you kind of figure out what's going on like it is more straightforward than you would imagine you're like oh shit this this woman came to town and she just started messing with people in a supernatural sense and now you You know, the chickens are coming home to roost. And, yeah, I do appreciate that the kid, that Alex was, I thought everything was handled with a nice sense of build and gradual development to where once he finally kind of realizes what he should do, I totally bought it. And, and yeah, to have, I think weapons is a very fascinating title, obviously, and there's a lot of different stuff in the movie that, you know, justifies and ties into that. Um, but, you know, having this sort of occurrence that sort of weaponizes people's paranoia against each other and, you know, people's fears and their, you know, hairbrain conclusions, then to come to a very physical ending where all the kids are literally just vicious little weapons tearing her to shreds. Uh, yeah, I'm excited to chew on this movie, but, uh, definitely, definitely very striking for sure. And I like the over-the-topness, and I think, you know, for a movie like this, it's a nice left hook to throw your way.

A lot of subtly, you know, impishly humorous moments in here. And I like that he's not fully shed his, you know, comedic background. So, hell yeah, of that. Landon Miller, love this movie when I saw it in theaters. So the title is left ambiguous. What do you think it means? Do you think humans' emotions, trauma, or community structurally? structures are the, quote, weapons?

I thought like it was pretty straightforward, and I gave you an answer. Thank you. I thought it was pretty understandable when Josh Boland said it, like, yeah, they're moving, like, he's seeking missiles, like weapons. And, yeah, you see that Josh Bolin was treated that way, and the kids were literally the weapons to destroy this old lady. So, yeah, I felt like it was pretty on the nose once it was explained. I still have questions, though. Like, why do you see a giant rifle, the 217 in the sky? And then why were they seeing Gladys in their dreams?

Like, that stuff didn't, oh, it's still kind of a mystery to me. I don't quite understand that stuff. But as far as the title of stuff goes, I felt like it made sense. Yeah, I think that's one of those sort of, it's left to your interpretation. Like, I kind of explained to myself the, yeah, the visions of Gladys is just part of this cloud of malevolence that seems to just emanate from her and the more she you know works her sinister magic on the town itself like the more sort of people are sharing this hallucination of her um the thing with the rifle in the sky is like a particularly pronounced bit of symbolism uh and i do think it's an interesting

one to kind of ponder and pick apart because it is also one of the most overtly surreal images that you see in the movie and you, you know, are, the time itself that they, you know, have run out is projected on the side of it or, you know, is clock-faced onto the side of it. And so, yeah, this is a kind of movie that makes me excited to discuss with people because, yeah, it seems like, again, people's paranoia and fears and grief are all weaponized here and, you know, various forms of leverage and familial ties and even the Julia Garner character, uh, Justine's, you know, care for the kids is sort of weaponized against her. It's, I think you can extrapolate it out of all the kinds of stuff here.

The paint is a weapon in and of itself because it, you know, adds to this witch hunt for Justine that a lot of, you know, parents think is justified. Yeah, I would love to hear more takes on it, but I think it's a fascinating title. And I do appreciate it's a rare occasion, I feel like, when a movie has a title that seems very specifically chosen. and yet it is not very obvious as to like 100% of why the choice was made, what the meaning is. But I thought, you know, it continually had me engrossed with trying to understand, yeah, what that actually means or symbolizes. Certainly her, you know, voodoo witchcraft stuff is a weapon unto itself.

But yeah, what do you take out of that? Yeah, I think actually it's all of it landing because when you look at it, like the community aspect is like it turns into a weapon when Josh Brolin is there. and they're on the witch hunt. And then it really takes advantage of the emotions. Like when she goes to the principal's house, it's like emotions are there because they bring her in or like, of course she can have some water.

Right? It's like praying on all of these people. Then, of course, it's the trauma with the kid. He's under so much stress and trauma that he's not going to say a word. So she gets away with being, you know, a huge a huge weapon and I think that humans just in general we see a cop

he is a weapon he is an alcoholic who like has probably has a really unanswered rage within him that we very much see when he deals with that the the crackhead kid the you know the addict

yeah and I think it shows aspects of all of these people and how they all have a kind of a weapon waiting within them, right? I mean, Josh Prolin has like the red paint. He's being in a weapon. And the principal, I mean, that's more emotional stuff there that, you know, the husband lets him in and then that snaps.

And then we see the kid's trauma, you know, and that's just savage that she brings that to life. But I also think, yeah, yeah. And the teacher obviously has a little. lot of unresolved stuff, especially when we see her meet up with the cop and she's kind of smiling that Donna is not around and you're like, oh, these are a lot of bad decisions we're kind of making within this world that I think can be utilized when you're in a weak spot to make a really prime weapon, right? You're primed up to be pissed off and take care of business.

Yeah. And if we're like, you know, putting our little hats on here, alcohol is a weapon. She used it to broke her sobriety so she can get what she wanted her sense of relief. And then that flipped on her with his wife, pouring alcohol over her to give her the guilt of, you know, what she's done and how she's ruined their marriage. That was bonks. Yeah, potato peelers a weapon, you know, peeling back to layers. That. Oh, God. That was great.

Great effects there. I flashed back to the evil dead rise, the cheese grater thing. the potato peeler to the face is God. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I feel like it's at a glance, it's like what an odd title for a movie like this and a movie that doesn't have as many like the machine gun appears in the sky and it's like one of the couple of guns in the movie. It's not like

yeah, conventional weapons movie, but also yeah, it is a title that pulls you in and grosses you and makes you examine kind of the way anything can, yeah, become a tool for malevolence. Even drug needles are a weapon. Totally, dude. The one time just because of bad information. Oh, yeah.

Dude, like, stabbing him up the second time in the face. Like, that was, ugh. Savage. Gladys in the woods waving to the drug addict. What was that all about? Yeah, that one, too, this is definitely a movie. I would love to go back and, you know, re-examine now that I've seen it through the ones,

pick up clues, pick up other bits of insider context. Let's see. We got Michael Medina Katuria. Hey, Rejects. This movie is a new staple of mine. I loved it so much. It really took its time, and the reveal of the batty was great. Hands down, the boy that played Alex as a rising star, he was so believable.

Agree. How did you feel at the end of the movie? Did it leave you wanting more? I've read people felt it left a lot unanswered, but I felt I was able to infer most things. things. The questions I did still have only added to the mystery and I didn't feel like I needed answers for the movie to still be great. Yeah, I mean, I feel like what they, they definitely explained to you what happened. And yeah, I feel like the rest, I don't begrudge a movie leaving the rest up to you. I mean, it is a little bit like, oh, oh, oh, we're done. It's over. They, they, they, that feels like a classic movie kind of. of thing or like an older i feel like a lot of older movies are like you reach that moment where like okay the plot is resolved and now the movie is over and we don't have like a big coda or something like that and i feel like you know the idea that they find the kids and josh brolin

walks off with his son and arm and you can at least infer that maybe he'll start talking again you know that i thought was an appropriate place to stop but how did you guys feel uh yeah i thought it was a good spot for it to stop oh like yeah it made sense they gave us all the content because we needed in the events that followed afterwards. I wouldn't say it left me wanting more, just left me curious as to these other things that we've talked about in the review, but ultimately I felt the ending was really satisfying.

And, yeah, a lot of lives were ruined, and then she got tore to shreds for it. So it had me cheering and had me laughing in a very unexpected way when I started this movie and we're in the midst of it and how the pieces all came together, really worked surprisingly because you're like halfway through the movie you're like where is this going like we're following this cop and I'm following this drug addict we're not even

touched on the stuff that the first two first two characters were dealing with and then the way it culminated was was brilliant so yeah I think this uh felt really good and I am happy that I watched it and I look forward to watching it again yeah I didn't really have like that many unanswered questions I'm with you on the same page like even if there are some questions about like, why was she in the woods like waving to him? What do these things mean?

What's the gun in the air? And it's this 217? Like, how does this all work? I'm with you that it still doesn't take away from the movie for me, especially with the ending that we do find out that the kids talk eventually.

My brain is sort of going, are we leaving it open ended for, which I don't think that this would happen could be a sequel just because the tree is still there. We didn't burn it. And that has a lot of branches on it still. What is the tree?

I'm just saying, what does it mean? Those branches will put some hair on it and it'll get you some weapons. So. Triangle mean. I don't know. That's all I got to say about that. It is definitely a movie that instead of ending and leaving me, yeah, feeling like I didn't get all that I expected out of the movie.

It just ended in a way where I was like, I am excited to go back and re-examine it again. It felt pretty well-rounded, even if in the immediate moment, I was like, oh, snap, we're already done. But, yeah, leaving us wanting more, I would only argue in a good way in the way that you would hope.

And I do appreciate the sort of descent into madness, the descent into the supernatural, all that stuff. And I feel like once you get to that point, you should probably wrap it up before too much long. because they let it really breathe to set everything up and then once you realize that this is yeah like instead of barbarian which is a twisted but like human scenario this is yeah twisted supernatural scenario of sorts so yeah i i don't feel like i was jipped of any specific answers there uh heather gear rejignation this shirt you can find it at rejectnation shop dot com along with mini up our other apparel and i'll tell you when we first launched that merch shop we weren't that and we're still not now, website developers. We just knew we wanted a place

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Oddly enough, my only real issue is with the narration at the beginning and the end. I feel like the movie would have been better served without it as it would then just drop you into the story in the same state of confusion as everyone else. And a concluding statement I don't think was needed and could have just left it with the visual we see.

if they had taken the narration out altogether, do you think it would have changed how you viewed the movie and the events that happened? For me, I feel like it gave me some expectations that I could have done without. Otherwise, it's a really cool and unique movie. Love you guys.

Love you, too, Heather. Appreciate you chiming. And I appreciate you being honest. I feel like it is hard to raise some kind of, you know, criticism, critique, you know, in a scenario like this, but I do appreciate that.

Did you guys have any qualms with the narration? No, because I feel like I said, an interesting tone of, okay, there's a child narrating, give us a clue as to what has happened here. Plus, I think the ending narration gave us some semblance of, okay, things are going to be okay. At least in, I mean, not even okay, but, you know, we got some information as far as, like, okay, he went somewhere to live with his aunt, because the kids eventually started talking again. And, yeah, I don't know.

I thought it worked. It didn't bother me. I'm trying to think about it from your perspective, Heather. I do agree that if we were just thrown in, the cops are there at Sue 17. We look at camera footage. And at the end, you kind of let your imagination get carried away. We do see a pickup of the kids still feeding his parents Campbell, so we know they're not fully back and like his parents.

So we're going to assume the same thing with Josh Brolin holding the kid. And I guess we just go out going like, well, okay, I guess that's their life for the rest of the time like they he never really gets his kid back and the kid never really gets his parents back it's like um even though we killed her uh it didn't really fully end this horror story that they will still be currently living in so i'm with you that it's not necessarily needed but i really didn't mind it because i think they they did great casting with it like the second she was talking and you can tell it was a kid and i was like like she's brilliant, dialogue's great, pacing, tone, love it, sold.

If it was unbelievable, I'd be extra with you, but it wasn't very realistic, very grounded, great performance, so I didn't mind it. Yeah, it's so funny. Now that you've brought it up, I could imagine that being a note and imagine an earlier cut of this movie not having narrations on either end. And I would be curious to see that. I don't begrudge at the narration, and I think it does do something to set this tone of a fable of sorts or a fairy tale almost you know it is a relatively grounded movie for a while

but it certainly does take on this sort of weird not Hansel and Gretel but you know it kind of feels like some kind of grims fairy tale or something like that and so yeah I feel like it could have felt way more tacked on or way more unnecessary I don't disagree and it's often it's a film school thing It's like, hey, you just only do a narration when you really need it or if you, you know, don't rely on it to give us the exposition. I do feel like there's some utility in having the narration up top. And at the end, I think it does probably, I could imagine that being like a test screening note or something of like, it would be good to at least leave us off on a slightly happy, like decisively happier note or with some semblance of hope. I do appreciate that it doesn't end just like, oh, everyone went back to normal.

It's like, who knows? Some of these kids might be affected like this forever. The galaxy's parents, I sort of have no faith, will ever recover fully. And, yeah, I would be very curious to see it either way. But I don't think that this set up any expectations for me that weren't delivered on or that it tampered with the movie experience in that way for me. Like, once the narration happened, I think, too, once you're, we touched on this in the reaction. Like, you're cutting around to so many perspectives after a while.

Like, the narration becomes this sort of distant primer in your brain. Yeah. But I'll look at that, too. You know, whenever I wind up seeing this again, I would love to go see this in a theater before it's gone. So, yeah, so I could definitely see there being differing opinions on it. And part of me is, yeah, curious to see what it would have been like. But I thought the performance, too, like you said, was so strong on that. And I really liked the verbiage, I guess, like it is straightforward.

it feels like a kid could be saying it and they're just like a little couple of things here and there that feel a little more personable or a little more prosy so I like the voice that it was delivered into just from a writing and performance perspective Resonance Z

or resonances I loved the movie and how it drip fed information with the different perspectives agree. Question do you like how Gladys was portrayed before the actual reveal. I thought it would have been cool

if she was in more of the different perspectives just in the background. Either way, Gladys was such a fun character. I wouldn't even mind a prequel with her being a bigger focus. Risky business, but I mean, I wouldn't turn it down on the strength of the performance alone.

And yeah, I am very curious to see if she actually is peppered in more and it's just easy to miss, but how do you guys feel? Did you want more of her woven throughout or were you happy with the marcus story reveal on her i i thought it was interesting the way they utilize her i feel like my brain that's just endlessly curious would have wanted some semblance of understanding as to why she was showing up because she wasn't obviously she was a witch and she could do spells but why she was showing up in people's dreams and people were like barely

seeing her all the tension of that was intriguing because she just has an off-putting appearance but yeah once she was actually revealed she's a very menacing character and my initial gut reaction was like no let's not do a Gladys prequel but then I think of a movie like Pearl and I was like okay I wouldn't mind

I didn't seem Pearl but that's exactly where my mind went Pearl's great I love Pearl but yeah but yeah that's where my mind goes so like yeah seeing like a younger Gladys and how she became a witch and like what other things and people she's murdered prior to this point It would be fascinating.

I think it would be a really good time if Zach Reg ever wanted to do that. I think that Gladys is such a striking visual that if we did see her in the background more when she first comes into the school, you're still not quite sure that she's at the helm of this whole freaking thing. You're like, this just might be another like point of view

some weird freaking character. And then obviously we get to it once we get home. But I think because she's such a strong, striking visual that if we saw her too much in all the backgrounds you'd probably add up the pieces I think a little too quickly and it wouldn't it wouldn't leave as much room for I guess the imagination and like where the F are we going with this um there was one point I don't think that it was her but you guys saw me I was like in the video and it looks like a person standing there in the shadow by the tree when the girl was running it was dark

I don't know go back to it zoom in you can tell me if I'm right it wrong it's funny the more we're sitting here the more we're talking the more it feels to me like this is this feels almost like some kind of classic witch story that's just been like totally deconstructed and represented in a vastly different packaging or a vastly different means of communicating the story because what happens in a lot of witch tales you know, like some mysterious lady moves into town and then slowly things start to become more paranoid or sinister for some reason or another. And then by the end, you've got, you know, a full on, you know, hold taken by this shadowy force presence, these spells, this ritual, whatever it is

she's doing with her, you know, thorns and sticks and stuff like that. You know, that's another thing that a second viewing will definitely give me clarity on. As it stands here, I was so invested in the ride as it was unfolding anyway that by the time we finally met Gladys for reels uh you know they did enough with the kids having her makeup and the little flashes that i was like okay finally who is this what what are we doing here um so i was still pretty satisfied by how it was communicated um and i think that you know the first chunk of the movie really breathes a lot um so i don't know if i would want to sacrifice that for having more gladys around but i am again curious if she is actually in more parts of the movie than you realize it first.

But I can definitely see you wanting that. I could see you watching this and being like, oh, this random lady now is so important. But I kind of like that her influence is this thing that we have zero percent inkling she's got anything to do. We don't even know she's a character until much later. And we already see the effects of her, you know, spreading across everyone in the town. So I feel like her presence is felt before. before she even arrives, or at least in hindsight, I feel her presence largely due to the strength

of the motif of the Roshaman, the different perspectives and all that stuff. But yeah, super fun character. That actor is, holy shit. Like, I hope this is, you know, not a genre that gets a wide breadth of recognition, but, like, what a performance. What a cool opportunity for that actor to really come in and do some creepy, striking, wild, and kooky, funny, even, but so sinister. And, yeah, I feel like, I feel like there are other various horror characters and stuff

that will be better remembered maybe or more, you know, name-checked. But I feel like this was a standout role, standout performance, and hats off. Excellent job. Jay Rushden. Like, is Brolin in the role better than Pascal, Pedro Pascal, who left the movie for a conflict schedule question. Do you think a prequel is needed? They are in talks on

this. I think to the prequel, as you said, it's like, I don't think they need it, but if you find your weapons proxy for Mia Gauth, who is going to take this role and just run with it, I could see it working. I don't, I

would be a bit apprehensive. I don't think they need to, but stranger things have happened, and and they could turn out something real devilish and cool. Yeah. No, I agree. I think that one,

I didn't know Pedro Pascal's originally supposed to be in this. That's fascinating. I forgot, but yeah, I had heard this. And honestly, I kind of can't imagine it.

It's weird. Pedro Pascal has played a lot of, you know, Joel is a grieving father. Yeah. But it's funny, like, his character in this movie

is kind of dressed like a Joel as character. So it's funny that he could, he would have been. And also, they would have not beaten the allegations that Petro Pascoe was everywhere. So even though, you know, I love Petro Boscoe

and I would happily welcome anytime I see him. But yeah, I would be down for the prequel. I think the thing with prequels, though, and Andrew and I watched a prequel of sorts recently. Oh, yes. And I think if the prequel

justifies its own existence within its narrative, then it's worthy of being made. But if it's just be made a cash grab to like milk more of a franchise, then leave it alone. But I feel like Zach Greger would have a good reason for making a prequel if they decided to do one. Is there enough goodwill at the moment?

What do you think? I'm thinking sequel, but, uh, because the tree. Now listen, if the prequel is like this lady is, I say leave it, but also if we're going to try to explain it, we're going to have to go, she's old, she got sick. Did she always have witch powers? Where did she get the tree? How did she find it? Does a tree give her powers, now the tree is still there, and who gets it next?

Yeah. I don't know. I'm just saying there's a lot, the branches and the tree is still there, and we might get lost. I might get lost in the tree nonsense. I'm going to tell you that right now. I'll tell you, I need, I don't need it to make sense right now. So I would just say, don't just make a prequel because now Pascal's schedule has opened up, and maybe you want to see him in it. He's going to play Gladys.

The young Gladys Pascal. Yeah. Yeah, it's funny. I think Pedro Pascal's a terrific actor. I'm sure he could have done it, but I do think that this worked out fortunately and that Josh Brolin, I, again, I don't live on the timeline where we have seen, can see the Pascal version, but I think Josh Brolin was the right choice. He brought, I really bought the, he's got to be a guy who's a little bit scary when he's mad that way. And Josh Brolin, big dude, you know, and even those scenes where he's at the construction site, we hardly spend any time there.

But he immediately kind of communicates this man's man, you know, sort of like, not brick shit house, but, you know, he's a big dude. And I feel like, yeah, the blend of his physicality, which is supposed to be very sort of scary when he's coming at Justine, you know, and the reversals for that in the moments. It's like when he's crying and he says that thing about, like, I should have said it, I want to say it. Like, you get the sense in this one brief moment that, like, this is a guy who's, like, not really told his kid he loves him very much. And you can see that in the kid's behavior. Yeah. And, yeah, there's just something about the more hard, weathered quality that Josh Brolin brings that I think really complimented what was here. And I think he got to bring, it was very natural, you know, it's like he wasn't overacting, but he also has the chops to really say.

a role and this guy's perspective. So yeah, I think I don't think it would have been better. I just think it would have been different but I'm glad actually that it worked out this way. And yeah, prequel, I don't know, man. I could see it working,

I can see it not working, but I'm glad that this worked. Tunday Show, thank you for chiming in. Appreciate you joining us. How did you feel about the cutting from different perspectives? I loved it. me too same yeah i really loved it as well because it not only gave you different perspectives

and pieces of the story but it also each individual portion had different aspects of of in-depth humanity without over explaining what the different dynamics of each character were you know you got a sense that there was this contentious history between justine and paul you got the sense that um josh brolin's character was this hard-ass who was he had a lot of regret for the fact that he didn't tell the son he loved him, which is why he was looking for a target to blame his own guilt about not protecting his son on.

And that was Justine being the only thing he could grasp at some sense of rationale being the target of his frustration, which he was kind of projecting because he felt a lot of guilt about the fact that he wasn't a father that maybe was the most there for his son. even the dynamic between Paul and the drug addict and how their stories kind of intersect with one another, each having their own motivations and struggles,

and then how those personal things in the little tidbitant of their life all wrap up to bring them into the situation. I thought all that stuff was great. Even if this didn't have the horror stuff, I think these are characters that I would want to follow. And I think the fact that the horror aspects of it add to that only make it that much better of a movie. yeah i think cutting from the different perspectives keeps you a little bit more on the edge of your seat we're seeing a climax of most of the character's story and then we cut to a different uh point of view which is great because we do get to see the story from different angles which is really awesome just for the camera and we're seeing the same lines but it didn't get boring you're like i need to know what happened after this because they had cut prior so um i think from an audience's perspective it

It keeps the pacing, like, really going, and it keeps that urge to be like, I need to get to the end of this. I want to solve this puzzle so that when, like, Josh Brolin is bringing out his map, you're like, yeah, draw those red lines. Get out that roller. We're going to solve this mystery. Like, you're so here for it. So I think that it was a really smart way to put this movie together because I think if it had been linear, it, just no just not the same movie not as good so the way they did it it needed to be done this way and a brilliant film i would love to see their cork board of time geography just you know because

it does take a lot of you know consideration to map these things out but yeah i really really like that and i really liked that it committed to that motif and allowed you to spend that time like it didn't seem like it was ever rushed or in a hurry it's funny we sat down and i was like oh wow two hours nine minutes huh like i usually expect like a tight 90 or an hour 45 and this you know i think really well earned its runtime by doing that and and doing that not only contributes to the larger story it brings everybody up to where they're going to be when the shit really hits the fan in the third act climax but also it just makes for a really fun game uh it's a good tool for drawing you in as an audience member because you get to form associations based like

the second the story begins you start forming associations based on whose perspective you're in and then you cut to a different perspective and then you get a whole different sense for things you know when when justine and paul meet up you definitely believe the doubts that have been cast on justine in those situations and you kind of look at well you know you know like this cop guy he must you know be and he seems to be trying to encourage her towards a better path then you come to realize later like oh that's more for you not to fall off the wag and you know you're actually kind of a piece of shit you know you got this girl who's like all about you and who's like coming home early and you're going to go to the parents anniversary dinner you are not off again at all like and and yeah I thought that they it's always gratifying to me when you watch something like this and you experience characters who feel like they have life that is not tied to the plot and I thought this did a really nice job of that where it's like even though we're not always spending the lion's share of time dissecting that stuff everybody I bought as just a real person with their own flaws

and it was fun getting to learn about those flaws and then like the Paul to James turnaround was so fun because Paul is like oh boy like you know small town cop who like you know is does have that attitude when Julia Garner calls him out and you're like you know it's whatever whatever he says you know you're like that's not inspiring from any law enforcement official your attitude yeah like the whole exchange we see with James obviously not a kind of guy who's going to garner the most trust and respect from people in authority or whatever,

but also still just like he takes that whole, he's always unplugging the dash cam and like clearly not a great cup, but also Alden Aaron Reich is playing him really genuinely. And he doesn't feel like a bad dude. He just feels like a guy with some real struggles who should probably be going to those meetings. And I thought, yeah, it was really smart to, you know, kind of show all the adults who we've got the major perspectives from unravel some of the mystery from that POV, and then we really get our deep dive when we cut to Alex finally. And, yeah, you know, people you come to trust, you know, are ultimately warped and twisted.

Marcus, obviously. You know, and I thought that turn after seeing Archer's perspective, Justine's perspective, getting them on board with each other, I thought was really nicely handled with all the stuff regarding Marcus freaking out and trying to murder her in the streets so yeah I thought that was a really cool really choice motif that again was really well earned

and it feels like they really did all the thinking it wasn't a gimmick they really you know fleshed that out and mapped it out and I yeah my hats off to them on that Mark Leach closing out our Q&A loved this film just like his film before

Barbarian Zach Kregor has a unique style. I love how he writes characters and makes you always unsure what the hell's going on. Now he is up for the next Resident Evil film, but I want to know what horror franchise would you like to see him bring his unique style too. I would love to see him do like an Italian gialo riff. I know they remade Susperea already, but I would love to see him to tackle something that's even further into the surreal and the expressionist.

Personally, how about you guys? Terry, you got one? Well, I kind of have two. It would be really interesting to see how he would direct a saw and to see how he would direct a purge. Yeah. Because those are very two stylized horror franchises that I think his take on it, as you're saying,

Mark, you know, like trying to figure out what the actual F is going on, that I could only imagine that we would take it out of context almost like you would go back to the first saw film and then you right where you're like what the fuck oh my God he was alive the whole time

like that's wild I feel like we got into so many saws that I feel like he would dissect them in a weird way that you would be like I'm sorry what's happening and the same with Perch I think that he would find

a really creative way to still show you that world but keep you more at the edge of your seat so that it's not so linear in the explanation right because we kind of know where we're at the top of most of those movies once we start to watch them so i find i think that would be a lot of fun under p yeah as you were sitting there talking uh i was thinking like a couple and i granted i haven't seen the nightmare in elmell street movies but i feel like i don't know he has sensibility that could be something unique to that and i think him doing an alien movie bringing his more sensibilities to that and his unique uh take on character would be really fun that would be unravel and maybe even do it like an unaliener style as well and the stuff yeah with like

uh replicants and things in those stories on top of the creature work i think would lend themselves nicely to a zach krigger joint uh and two yeah i mean just shouts out to to his style because uh such assured visual language on both of these movies and like you pointed out like that slow pan across the neighborhood in that one like late night sequence all those like locked off door shots and stuff like that like a lot of really strong choices that really make you sit down and marvel and go like man like this guy must have a very clear vision and granted it's departments it's multiple people it's directors of photography and other stuff but like the use of zooms the use of slow pans and you know unique shot choreography but not in your face all the time so that when you do get like a cool ass oneer running through a house or something like that like it's really able to kind of wallop you in those moments and the musical flourishes the sound designs just the way it puts you in the atmosphere of the setting like where they shot this uh just really evoked a particular kind of you know tight-knit town paranoia

like truly in two films a dude who I'm like, damn, I want to study your style and like, you know, take some pointers because a lot of these techniques are older school, you know, the slow pan, the slow zoom, stuff like that. And I think he really knows timing, you know, like the ways in which he allows certain moments to just let you stew in the wondering of what the hell is about to happen next. And sometimes it's nothing and sometimes it's really something. uh and the ways in which too he intermingles horror and and humor i think is really fun and and and striking and you know it's like in that third act it's like he runs through the family's house and it's like the panic you understand it and yet it's kind of funny when the woman's like oh my god there's a man in here now yeah after these kids just ran through the house you know um really yeah a a filmmaker who in two films really seems fully formed and granted there's certainly growth to come it's not like there's nothing you can improve on here but uh hats off and i'm really inspired honestly i'm gonna change one of my answers i don't because i haven't seen nightmare in elm street

i think he could re revitalize jaws if he wanted to cool that'd be fun very cool okay that could be cool yeah definitely get those uh those dolly zooms going on maybe you know as a jaws movie like it's a Secret Jaws movie. I do love a surprise. It's a this. We don't get very many splits very often. But I do like a, yeah, like a surprise. Oh, this kind of movie?

Hell yeah. Which, I mean, to me, this actually did have. I was like, this is a witch movie? Cool. I love witch movies. Totally. Secret witch movies. Snuck it in and I had no idea.

But yeah, any other thoughts or feelings before we run out Naruto style into the night? It's almost 217 here. Not for me I would just say Great job Zach Kregger's I don't know if he was a UCB guy Because sometimes I'm looking at his name

And I'm like He could have been He was not the whitest kids you know Oh Let's find out Let's find out Zach Kregor Yeah

He probably was then Virginia Brooklyn Founding member of the Whiteest Kids You know I mean he's got to have Yeah Experience regardless But, uh, oh, okay.

Right. Uh, da, da, da, ba, da, da, ba, da, da, but da, but da, okay. Yeah. Okay. Cool. He's got comedy. Yeah, he definitely does. You might have seen him around, Tara.

Yeah, that's what I was seeing in my head. I was like, why do I know the Craigers, like, the last name, maybe? Anyway, um, yeah, great job on both of his films. I did not know that this is the guy who did the, the things so good job buddy you're you're doing it i believe in you keep slaying yeah he was awesome um directorially and you know with the pen and with the music and with the music contributing to the music yeah no all of it was great and really unique and i'm excited to see what he does next oh he's married to sarah paxton no wonder she showed up in that one scene ah and he must also be married

to Justin Long. Yeah. It was just the nicest surprise. I was like, oh, hey, every movie of yours, I'm just going to be blindsided with Justin Long at some point. All right, gang, that's been weapons. We have been Tara, Aaron, and Johnald.

Thank you for joining us. This is a blast. This is definitely going to be one when people ask, like, what are some of your favorite reaction? Yeah. This is going to be one of them. Can't wait to watch it again in the theaters.

And, yeah, be well. Leave us your thoughts. We'll see you next time. Thank you.