Did Zach Cregger find inspiration in a 2019 episode of Criminal Minds?
While editing a season promo for 5USA, I noticed some visual parallels between the Criminal Minds episode 'Hamelin' and Cregger's latest feature, Weapons.
Both take the 'Pied Piper' folk tale and translate it into a modern suburban nightmare: children lured from their beds in the dead of night, walking into the void of their own free will.
It almost goes without saying, I am not saying Zach Cregger copied this (and then ran with it), nor equating them as equally good on any objective metric.
Just an interesting parallel of the Pied Piper of Hamelin folk tale brought to life in modern media, with some striking similarities in these particular scenes/shots.
Watch the side-by-side comparison above:
Criminal Minds: S14E12 'Hamelin' (2019)
Weapons: Directed by Zach Cregger (2026)