Zach Cregger’s startling horror movie Weapons isn’t short on ideas, either narrative or metaphorical. The film’s hook is a central mystery involving 17 children disappearing all at once, all running out of their homes at 2:17 a.m., arms outstretched and going who-knows-where. But the story behind the movie is uniquely personal, Cregger has said in interviews. It has to do with his family’s history of alcoholism and his grief over a friend’s death, as well as the other messages people may see in its dream-gun imagery or its characters’ political leanings. At the same time, he says, “I don’t care if any of this stuff comes through. The alcoholic metaphor is not important to me. I hope people have fun, honestly. It’s not really my business what people make of the movie.”

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