Why is “Weapons” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “strong bloody violence and grisly images, language throughout, some sexual content and drug use.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes a sex scene with no evident nudity, a woman being torn apart by a group of children, a man being strangled and head-butted until his face is crushed, a few people being shot to death, a man and woman stabbing themselves in the face with forks, a young boy being threatened by his parents in a trance state, a woman being strangled, a man vomiting a torrent of dark liquid onto another man’s face, a group of children in a trance-like state, many arguments and threats and at least 57 F-words and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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After 17 children disappear in the early hours in a small Pennsylvania town, all eyes fall on a new teacher (Julia Garner) at the elementary school, and in order to absolve herself of any wrongdoing, she resolves to investigate the case on her own. Also with Josh Brolin, Alden Ehrenreich, Justin Long, Amy Madigan, Benedict Wong, Toby Huss, June Diane Raphael, Austin Abrams and Cary Christopher. Directed by Zach Cregger. [Running Time: 2:08]

Weapons SEX/NUDITY 5

 – A man and a woman have sex and we see the man thrusting on top of the woman as they both moan loudly (no nudity is evident). A man wakes up in bed wearing a shirt and boxer briefs (we see his bare legs to the upper thighs) and a woman sits nearby watching him (sex is implied).
► A man and a woman hug in greeting. A man asks his young son how his day was at school and whether he kissed any supermodels.
► A woman wears a camisole that reveals cleavage, bare shoulders and back. A woman wears a low-cut top and form fitting pants that reveal cleavage and the outline of her hips and buttocks.

Weapons VIOLENCE/GORE 9

 – We hear that children left their homes in the night and have not been found; we see police with dogs searching forests and surrounding areas and we hear that the school was closed during an investigation. Parents of missing children confront school administrators and a teacher demanding answers about the disappearance of their children. Parents of missing children call for a teacher to be locked up until they find their children and accuse her of being negligent or complicit.
► Many children chase a woman out of a house, run through other houses and break through glass windows and fences until they tackle her and pile on her, tearing her to pieces: we see her flesh being torn away from her body, her limbs are ripped off (we see the separated limbs), we see blood and gore and bones as she screams and is left in pieces. A man approaches a woman at a gas station and asks her about her involvement with his son’s disappearance; they argue briefly and another man with a very bloody face and bulging eyes tackles the woman and chokes her, and when the first man tries to intervene he is head-butted and the second man begins choking him; the woman gets in her car and speeds away chased by the attacker on foot. A woman being chased by a man into a convenience store is trapped at a locked door, another man slams the man chasing her into a fridge door shattering the glass and the woman runs to her car; the attacker breaks the window glass and the woman speeds away with the attacker chasing her on foot and the other man chasing in a car; the man on foot runs into a street and is struck by a car (we see his head and face smashed to blood and gore on the street as the driver of the car that hit him screams). A young boy watches in terror as his parents pick up forks and stab themselves in the face (we see bloody holes appearing on their faces). A man grabs a woman and pins her against a cabinet strangling her; she uses a vegetable peeler on his face (we see bloody swathes open on his face but he is not deterred from strangling her) and she shoots him in the throat (we hear blood gurgling and see blood pouring from the wound), and then shoots him in the head (the man collapses to the floor dead with a large pool of blood forming under his body). A man is attacked repeatedly by another man that he knocks out but he revives repeatedly until he is shot in the back and dies.
► A police officer in a patrol car sees a man trying to break into a store and chases him in the car, then on foot, slams him to the ground and handcuffs him; he asks if the man has weapons, drugs or anything else, the man says no and the officer is poked by a hypodermic needle when he searches the man’s pocket causing the officer to punch the man in the face (we see his bruised face); the officer treats his bleeding finger and unplugs his dash cam, and tells the man that he will let him go with a warning if he leaves the area and doesn’t come back. A man hides in a tent in a wooded area and a police officer unzips the tent access panel; the man inside stabs the officer in the face with three hypodermic needles and he falls back with bloody spots on his face. A police officer goes into a house and sometime later emerges seeming manic and he pulls a man out of the back of his police cruiser by the feet dragging him into the house as the man screams for help. A man and a woman chase their young son through their house and they break a door open roaring and clambering to try to reach him.
► A woman rings a doorbell and asks the men that answer if she can have a glass of water; they invite her in and she uses a thorny branch to cut her hand (we see the bloody cut), wipes the blood on a lock of hair that she has cut from one of the men, wraps around a stick and rings a small bell causing the other man to go into a trance; the woman snaps the stick and one man grabs the other and pushes him to the floor holding him around the throat, vomits a torrent of dark liquid on his face and head and head-butts him repeatedly smashing the man’s head in and bruising his own face (we see the attacker’s face covered with blood and his features are swollen).
► A woman approaches another woman in a liquor store, grabs her and throws her to the floor, opens a bottle of liquor and pours it on her while accusing her of having sex with her boyfriend and getting him drunk. A woman speaks to a young boy; he tells her not to follow him and walks away. A woman sits in her car watching a young boy’s house and falls asleep; someone from the house walks toward her and gets into the car with a pair of scissors and cuts off a lock of her hair (the woman does not wake up). A woman confronts her boyfriend asking him where he has been and she understands that he was with another woman and that he got drunk. A man calls a police station and says that he has information about missing children but won’t come to the station because he is “phobic.”
► A woman in her car watches a young boy get on a bus, follows the bus, watches him walk to his house and go inside; she rings the doorbell, she sees that all the windows are covered with newspapers, she peers through an uncovered space and sees a man and a woman seated on a sofa in a dark room. A man watches a security video of his young son leaving the house and running away in the dark (he watches this video numerous times). A man sleeps in his missing son’s room in a few scenes. A young boy opens a bedroom door and sees a wig on a stand and a woman lying in bed with her eyes open and he is startled. A man wakes with a start and walks through his dark house, he sees his young son run out the front door, he follows and sees a large gun floating over his house, the child goes back into the house and the man finds him lying in bed but the child does not speak and a bright light shines on the child’s face revealing a stage makeup-painted face (a nightmare). A man climbs to the second floor of a house and climbs through a window breaking the glass; he searches the house and finds a man and a woman seated motionless on a sofa (their skin seems discolored), they get up and move toward him, he rushes out of the house with a pillowcase filled with silver and other items.
► A woman’s doorbell rings and when she looks through the peephole, there is no one there; there’s a knock at the door and she charges outside to confront whoever it is, but there is no one there. A woman receives a threatening phone call; we hear a person breathing and then a voice telling her to watch her back. A teacher walks into a classroom where only one young boy is seated at his desk; the others are missing. A woman has a nightmare that she walks into her classroom to find all of her students with their heads down on their desks and one child raises his head and we see that his face is painted with stage makeup; the woman wakes up with a start (she’s still asleep), looks at her ceiling and sees another painted face and she screams and wakes up. A boy bullies a younger boy at school, kicking his lunchbox and mocking him. A boy throws a pencil at another boy in a classroom and hits him in the head (he is not injured).
► A boy walks home when his father does not pick him up after school and he finds his parents in a trance state at home; he throws water on his father’s face to try to revive him and a woman reprimands the boy and sends him to bed without dinner. A woman is reprimanded for trying to speak to a young boy and following him to his home. A woman is reprimanded for trying to comfort a crying child with a hug and for driving another child home from school when she missed her bus; she is told that she cannot talk to a young boy after other children go missing. A police chief tells an officer that he could get in a lot of trouble if dash cam footage of the officer punching a suspect ever comes out. A man makes mistakes with his work and orders the wrong color paint and building materials for a construction job. A police chief tells a man that they are doing everything they can to find his son, but the man is not satisfied. A man tells a woman that he is concerned about her and that drinking will not help her state of mind. A man checks car doors for an unlocked door and when he finds one open, he steals a tablet and headphones, which he tries to sell at a pawnshop.
► A woman leans over a cooking pot and appears to be vomiting (we do not see goo) and says that she is very sick. A young boy feeds his parents noodle soup and we see noodles coming out of their mouths. Two people watch a nature program depicting ants being overtaken by a fungal fruiting. A police officer asks a suspect if he has AIDS or Hepatitis after the man stabbed the officer in the face with used hypodermic needles. A woman finds the word “WITCH” painted on the side of her car.

Weapons LANGUAGE 10

 – About 57 F-words, 11 scatological terms, 2 anatomical terms, 3 mild obscenities, name-calling (weird, embarrassed, liar, witch, paranoid, lonely drinking pity party, ridiculous, freaky little…, victim persona), exclamations (wow, freaking me out), 8 religious profanities (GD), 10 religious exclamations (e.g. Jesus, Jesus Christ, oh my God, God forbid). | profanity glossary |

Weapons SUBSTANCE USE

 – A man tries to do drugs but they are all used up (we see paraphernalia in a tent in a wooded setting) and he panics needing to find money to buy more drugs, a man smokes a drug, and a man is poked in the finger with a hypodermic needle (we see blood on his finger). A woman goes to a liquor store and buys two bottles of liquor, a woman drinks a cocktail in a bar and other people drink in the background, a woman pleads with a man to have a real drink with her in a bar, a man talks about going to a “meeting” and it is implied that this refers to an alcoholics anonymous meeting, a woman pours liquor from a brown paper bag-covered bottle into a fountain drink cup while in her car, we hear that a woman was cited for DUI, and a man complains of being hungover.

Weapons DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Disappearance of children, grief, fear, abandonment, trauma, bullying, weaponization, magic.

Weapons MESSAGE

 – Evil comes in many unexpected forms.