Aside from a few split-second glimpses in dream sequences, the year's best movie villain doesn't properly show up until well past the halfway mark of Weapons. Even so, Amy Madigan's Aunt Gladys makes an immediate impression: terrifying, hilarious, and deliciously evil, she's the spider at the center of Weapons' web of mystery.
With her smudged makeup, outlandish hair and clothes, and outwardly cheerful demeanour, there's something – visually at least – of the Joker about Gladys, but the character represents a much older archetype. As we gradually learn across the course of the movie, Aunt Gladys is a witch. Not a cool, young, empowered Wiccan like Willow from Buffy, nor a perfectly composed and virtuous spell-caster like Wicked's Elphaba and Glinda, but a full on fairytale monster who uses her powers to feed off the young.
