Weapons in the Backseat

(Spoilers ahead)

In Weapons (2025), cars are the hunting grounds for the villain of the film. This is in contrast to other horror films, in which cars are symbols of safety and an escape from violence. The film does this to blend multiple aspects of fear in American suburbia to create a unique take on how communities fall apart.

"One of the greatest strengths of Cregger’s ambitious script is its abject refusal to connect every dot in the manner that so much “elevated horror” has done in recent years. Still, it’s not overly difficult to read the inciting incident of “Weapons” as a school shooting allegory. “One night, 17 parents put their kids to bed for the last time” could be the first line of an article about one of those tragic events. However, the tragedy that gives “Weapons” its foundation isn’t as depressingly commonplace as a loner with access to dad’s gun cabinet. In this case, 17 children got out of bed at 2:17 a.m. and ran into the night, their arms slightly outstretched, like toddlers playing “Airplane.” It’s a chilling image, one that tears a neighborhood apart, revealing the rage and horror behind the picket fences. (Yes, one could pretty easily read it as a COVID allegory too, but, again, Cregger blessedly refuses to highlight and underline themes as much as his peers.)"

One of the most unnerving scenes occurs when Justine, the teacher protagonist, falls asleep in her car while observing the house of her only surviving student. A woman runs out of the house and sneaks into her car through the backseat door. The music trills as the woman's weapon sneaks toward Justine's head before a lock of her hair is cut and the scene ends.

This scene uses the feeling of safety when in the backseat of a car to make the intrusions of the villains more unnerving. The use of light shining behind the villains as they dash towards the cars is reminiscent of oncoming traffic. Their collisions with the car feel less like a typical slasher stabbing a victim in an alley and more like a break in and a violation of personal space. Perhaps the director Zach Cregger wanted to visualize a more subtle shade of fear and paranoia with the way the villains operate. To this end, Creggar amplifies the ambient fear of something (or someone) going wrong in the backseat of your vehicle while you aren't looking it into something bizarre and sinister. This adds to the creeping suburban horror unique to Weapons but may be applicable to other fields attempting to exemplify the fears of car users.

References

Cregger, Zach (Director). 2025. "Weapons". New Line Cinema; Warner Brothers

Tallerico, Brain. 2025. "Reviews: Weapons". https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/weapons-movie-review-2025

All original works in this article were done without the assistance of AI tools.