‘Weapons’ Aunt Gladys Is Getting a Prequel Movie

Horror’s newest slasher icon: A little old lady in a red wig.

The breakout character Aunt Gladys from this summer’s horror success, Weapons, is getting her own movie. According to Variety, Weapons creator Zach Cregger is writing the script alongside Zach Shields, who also co-wrote Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.

Amy Madigan played the character Gladys in the film Weapons. She recently received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance. Weapons was a particularly memorable film from 2025 – so much so that the Oscars host, Conan O’Brien, even parodied a key scene from the movie during the opening comedy segment of the awards show.

The novel Weapons centers around a shocking event: nearly all the students in one classroom vanish from a small town. The truth behind the disappearances is eventually uncovered, revealing that an elderly woman named Gladys is responsible. She uses a seemingly magical spell or ritual, manipulating people by controlling strands of their hair.

The movie doesn’t reveal Gladys’s origins or the complete scope of her abilities, which opens up a lot of possibilities for future installments. Now, the main question is whether Madigan will reprise her role as Gladys, or if the fact that this is a prequel will allow them to cast a younger actress and set the story earlier in time. Because of Gladys’s unusual powers, the prequel could even be set at almost any point in history.

According to Variety, a prequel has been planned for several months after the original horror film became a huge hit with both audiences and critics.

10 Horror Movies That Saved Bad Franchises

1. Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986)

Released well before films like Scream, Jason Lives cleverly poked fun at the tropes of slasher movies. It came out after a string of Friday the 13th sequels that were increasingly focused on over-the-top violence.

Jason Lives stands out because the characters often break the fourth wall, and openly comment on the silly decisions people make in horror films – decisions that usually get them killed. While most Friday the 13th movies are poorly made and unintentionally comical, Jason Lives, written by Tom McLoughlin, is genuinely witty and brought a fresh perspective to the tired Friday the 13th formula and its undead killer.

2. Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994)

Even before we saw Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees finally clash in 2003’s Freddy vs. Jason, the two franchises were deeply connected in the public consciousness. Both really defined ’80s horror, but, let’s be honest, both series eventually started to feel a little silly. While the later Nightmare on Elm Street films had flashes of creativity, it wasn’t until 1994’s New Nightmare that the series genuinely scared me again. And it makes sense – it was the first one since the original directed by Wes Craven himself! Like Jason Lives before it, New Nightmare smartly played with the idea of the series’ own history. The movie is about making a new Freddy sequel, and it’s brilliant because it features the actors who were in those films – Robert Englund and Heather Langenkamp playing themselves! It’s a clever concept, since movies and dreams are often linked, and a Hollywood studio is the perfect place for Freddy to wreak havoc, haunting everyone trying to bring him back for another payday. Sadly, every attempt since to reboot Nightmare on Elm Street as a simple slasher film just hasn’t captured that same magic.

3. Bride of Chucky (1998)

The first two sequels to Child’s Play didn’t just bring back the killer doll Chucky; they continued the story of his conflict with his original owner, Andy Barclay. Starting with the fourth film, the series changed its title to Chucky (instead of Child’s Play), signaling a new direction that breathed life back into the franchise. Instead of repeating the same story of a child versus an evil doll, the films became more bizarre and dreamlike, with more obvious humor and even some dark romance.

In Bride of Chucky, Chucky finds a partner in crime and love—Jennifer Tilly, who is perfectly cast—and they embark on a road trip to regain their human bodies. The movie features over-the-top violence, unexpected puppet intimacy, and even killer baby dolls. It’s no surprise that Bride of Chucky became a cult hit and reignited interest in Chucky, attracting a new generation of fans who have continued to support the sequels, reboot, and even TV series.

4. Saw VI (2009)

Though James Wan and Leigh Whannell started the Saw series, many fans agree the best movie came later. Saw VI features a truly deserving victim – a cold-hearted insurance executive – and cleverly connects Jigsaw’s brutal games to the flaws in our healthcare system. It’s a dark twist on A Christmas Carol, imagining the ghosts using torture devices instead of spectral visits. The film also boasts what many consider the most creative trap in the entire series: the executive (Peter Outerbridge) is forced to decide which of his employees lives or dies as they’re strapped to a spinning merry-go-round rigged with a shotgun. As the ride spins, he must choose who survives while his colleagues desperately try to convince him to spare them – and quickly turn on each other. It’s a uniquely American brand of horror!

5. Paranormal Activity 3 (2011)

It’s tough for horror sequels to become scarier than the original, often relying on more gore and action. This was a particular challenge for the Paranormal Activity series, because the first movie built suspense through simple, realistic camcorder footage of a couple, with only slight movements hinting at a haunting. Once the sequels started adding more obvious supernatural events, like in Paranormal Activity 2, they lost the feeling that the footage could actually be real home surveillance. The third film tried a different approach as a prequel, using VHS tapes to create a nostalgic feel. Directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman cleverly used the grainy video quality, but later installments returned to the present and struggled to come up with fresh ideas. Eventually, the films became too unrealistic – and audiences lost interest.

6. Riddick (2013)

The movie Riddick cleverly flips the script from the original Pitch Black, where Riddick used his night vision to escape monsters. Now, he is the monster lurking in the darkness. Unlike the earlier films, including the sprawling The Chronicles of Riddick, this sequel is unique and doesn’t fit neatly into one genre. It feels like a series of connected short stories.

The first part is a tense survival story, with Riddick stranded on a harsh planet. Then, it turns into a thriller as a group of mercenaries hunt him, and he begins eliminating them one by one. The final section revisits themes from Pitch Black, which prevents it from being a truly perfect B-movie. However, the film is incredibly entertaining, and Vin Diesel shines as a lone lead, especially with his connection to a charmingly energetic alien dog who becomes his companion. If you’re looking for a standout Vin Diesel film outside of the Fast & Furious franchise, this is the one to watch.

7. Alien: Covenant (2017)

The Alien series has surprisingly few bad sequels – I even defend Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection. However, despite its beautiful visuals and thought-provoking themes, I’ve always struggled with the plot holes and illogical moments in Prometheus (seriously, why run straight toward a rolling spaceship?!). I much prefer Alien: Covenant. While it’s not perfect, Michael Fassbender gives an amazing performance playing two different androids. His roles make this Alien prequel feel more like a spiritual successor to Blade Runner, which is a refreshing change from the typical xenomorph-versus-astronaut storyline. (Though, yes, there are still plenty of astronauts getting attacked by xenomorphs.)

8. Halloween (2018)

David Gordon Green’s Halloween aimed to revitalize a series that had become increasingly complicated and outlandish after the original 1978 film. While the Halloween franchise spawned eleven movies, many fans debate how many were truly good. The sequels piled on strange plotlines – involving Druids, cults, and unexpected family connections – that strayed far from the simple terror of the first movie.

Green’s approach was to ignore everything except the original Halloween, hoping to recapture its frightening atmosphere. He succeeded in making Halloween scary again, but his subsequent sequels, Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends, weren’t as strong. They repeated the same ideas until the villain, Michael Myers, felt weak and in need of a final defeat… or at least a fresh start with another reboot.

9. Prey (2022)

While many ’80s monster movies failed to launch successful franchises, Predator has had a surprisingly resilient run. Predator 2 is a blast, and Predators feels like a thrilling Twilight Zone episode with alien hunters. However, the Alien vs. Predator films didn’t quite live up to their potential, and The Predator seemed heavily altered from its original vision. The franchise regained momentum with Prey, a prequel set in colonial America featuring a Predator hunting Comanche warriors. Prey was so well-received that director Dan Trachtenberg is now making another Predator sequel for cinemas, alongside an animated Predator film called Predator: Killer of Killers which will stream on Hulu.

10. Scream (2022)

The original Scream brilliantly satirized decades of tired slasher movie tropes. Scream 2 continued this by poking fun at sequel conventions. However, the series began to lose its edge. Scream 3, while aiming to critique trilogies, didn’t offer much beyond what had already been done with sequels. Scream 4 attempted to lampoon remakes, but since it wasn’t a remake itself, it awkwardly included commentary on early YouTube culture.

The long break before Scream (2022) actually benefited the franchise. It allowed the filmmakers to target a new trend: “legacyquels” – sequels that revisit older franchises – which had become popular during the hiatus. The successful return of Scream with this fresh satire led to another sequel, Scream VI, arriving just a year later.

2026-04-01 23:57