Director Zach Cregger credits Bill Hader with key change in horror smash Weapons, here's all you need to know

Weapons was one of the most talked about movies of this year. It had a unique story, some great actors, and most importantly, Aunt Gladys (Amy Madigan), a character that is likely to become a hot topic for film communities for years to come. And the word is that she is getting her own spin-off film.

As of this writing, the Zach Cregger film has made $265 million against a $38 million budget, which means it failed to top Sinners, another horror flick that brought Michael B. Jordan on double duty, released by Warner Bros.

While Sinners was about music and vampires, the Zach Cregger film mixes the elements of horror, mystery, and witchcraft, which is revealed later in the film. In it, 17 children mysteriously disappear in the middle of the night, and an investigation by the townsfolk begins.

Recently, Cregger was in a conversation with The Hollywood Reporter, where he discussed a certain scene from the film. It was intended to be shot differently.

The scene in question is when Alex (Cary Christopher), who is the only child left in a classroom of 18, steals some personal belongings of his classmates because Aunt Gladys asked him to.

First, Cregger discussed the challenge with this sequence in Weapons and said,

"It felt like the montage that would be necessary for him to get one little thing from every kid would be unbelievable and boring. The Valentine’s Day cards felt like a quick cheat. I was talking to a teacher friend of mine, and I was like, “Well, how could a kid come home with something from every other kid?” And she was like, “Valentine’s Day.” And I was like, “Brilliant!” However, we were shooting in the dead of summer, and the movie would never look like February. So that’s why I was like, “I’ve got to think of something else.”"

That's the reason he had to make the change.

How was the change made in this Weapons sequence?

Zach Cregger had regular conversations about Weapons' script, as he told The Hollywood Reporter, so that is when this idea came up. He said,

Bill Hader is a buddy of mine. We would talk about the script, and I think it was his idea. He was like, “You should figure out a way to implicate [Alex] so he feels implicated.” So it was through a conversation with him that I had the idea of Alex stealing something. And when we were scouting on location, I saw these cubby boxes that were in a real classroom. So I was like, “That would do it.”

It's not really a chilling scene, but it sure is an emotional one, as the kid had to go through a daunting task.

Why did Alex steal those personal belongings?

Aunt Gladys is introduced a bit later in the movie, but it turns out that she is a dying witch who wants to drain energy from other humans in the town. At first, it is Alex's parents whom she makes her victims.

During this scene, which is perhaps the most chilling in the entire film, she shows Alex how she can hurt his parents. Despite being a full horror show in this sequence, one cannot deny that she would outshine any fashion model in a fashion show if she chose to walk on a ramp.

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But then Alex's parents aren't enough for her, so she later has a conversation with Alex, who is rather a reluctant and rebellious character in Weapons, and asks her to bring one belonging from each of her classmates, and she will leave his home. To save his parents, Alex chose to do that.

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