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An eye-popping shocker about a small town reeling from the mysterious disappearance of a class of third graders, “Weapons”<\/a> is one of the biggest films of the year. Directed by Zach Cregger, critics have praised “Weapons”<\/a> as a high-concept thriller \u2013- but perhaps no scene in the movie has earned more gasps than the introduction of a little old lady: Aunt Gladys (Amy Madigan).<\/p>\n The Academy Award-nominated Madigan<\/a> is unrecognizable as Gladys, who hides her true, decaying appearance beneath a clownish red wig, enormous glasses, and bright, garish makeup. Gladys claims to be the aunt of Alex Lilly (Cary Christopher), the only student in Justine Gandy’s (Julia Garner) class who hasn’t gone missing. Ultimately, Aunt Gladys is revealed as the villain of the film, an aging witch who has parasitically attached herself to Alex’s family and supernaturally abducted his classmates in order to rejuvenate herself.<\/p>\n Amy Madigan’s unforgettable performance in “Weapons” has already generated awards buzz and plans for an Aunt Gladys-centric prequel, but she owes a debt to another iconic horror movie character: Jane Hudson (Bette Davis) in the 1962 film “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?” In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Madigan explained that Gladys’ extreme makeup was in part a reference to Davis, concluding<\/a>, “How you make somebody just drained<\/em> of everything … Those kind of iconic things really stuck in my mind.” But a closer inspection of “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?” reveals that the characters’ similarities are more than skin deep.<\/p>\n