Is Weapons based on a true story? Inspiration behind 'phenomenal' new horror explained

Cinema-goers are clamouring to know whether the hit new horror film Weapons is based on a true story.

The film follows a small-town community left shaken after a group of children, who are all members of the same class, vanish without a trace after running out of their homes in the dead of night at exactly the same time. Only one child from the class turns up the next day.

Suspicion quickly turns on their teacher Justine Gandy (Julia Garner), with parents certain she is somehow involved in the mass disappearance. As the mystery deepens, some uncomfortable truths surface about the community members themselves before audiences are treated to the big reveal about what's really going on (you won't find spoilers here).

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Directed by Barbarian's Zach Cregger, the film boasts a Rotten Tomatoes score of 95 per cent from critics and 87 per cent from audiences. Since its release last week, positive reviews have been flowing in, with many viewers questioning what the inspiration was for the film and unpicking what it is trying to say.

"This is a masterful piece of filmmaking that transcends the typical thriller genre, delving deep into the psychological ramifications of violence. The director, with a keen eye for detail, builds a world that feels both familiar and unnervingly alien. The performances are nothing short of phenomenal," gushed one viewer.

Meanwhile a second shared: "Cregger is clearly fascinated by the unspoken horror of suburbia and I am so impressed that a movie so clearly set up as a parable for school shootings and the way people respond with anger and panic to things they don't understand can wrap up in such a deeply funny way."

Is Weapons based on a true story?

Cregger has been open about what he drew from to create the film and whether or not it is based on a true story. In an interview with Slash Film, he shared that Weapons was actually "an autobiographical movie in a lot of ways."

He wrote the film while grappling with grief following the death of a close friend. He elaborated: "It was a personal tragedy that happened in my life. So it wasn't like a piece of media or anything like that [that inspired the story], but it was just something that happened to me.

"So it's much more, if Barbarian was an outward-facing movie, a movie that had a lot to say about society — that sounds so pretentious — but it was a movie that was looking out and talking about the world. Whereas Weapons is a movie that's very much like me looking inwards and inventorying my s***, my life."

During a chat with Variety, he explained that writing the film hadn't "exorcised any demons", but shared: "It’s just given me an opportunity to engage with those feelings in a healthy, constructive way.

"Rather than going and drinking myself to death, I’m able to write a character that drinks herself into a problem. I can take my anger and have Josh Brolin freak out, and that’s better than me freaking out."

Weapons is out now in cinemas