Onslaught (2026) – Review

Quick Thoughts:

1. The world needs more straightforward and efficient 90-minute genre films.
2. Between You’re Next, The Guest, and Onslaught, I really like Adam Wingard’s action horror films.
3. Adria Arjona is legit.
4. Dan Stevens, Rebecca Hall, Drew Starkey, Reginald VelJohnson, and Eric Wareheim are clearly having a blast.
5. The “G.I. Joes from Hell” are wonderful villains who exist to smash through doors and look cool. Their tactics are a bit suspect, but they are zombie soldiers who’ve gone rogue, so their horror-inspired tactics make sense.
6. It’s not the most ambitious of projects and feels like Wingard needed a palate cleanser after the Godzilla films.
7. I don’t see it becoming a cult classic like You’re Next or The Guest, but I appreciate the world-building and likable characters.

For 20+ years, director/writer Adam Wingard and writer/producer Simon Barrett have smashed genres together to create wonderful films like The Guest and You’re Next. With Onslaught, they put a bunch of films into a blender, added their sensibilities, and created a brisk romp. After finishing up work on Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire, Wingard wanted to make “a really crazy, violent action-slasher film that’s paying homage to John Carpenter and James Cameron.” His low-budget film, shot in 35 days, combines elements from Assault on Precinct 13, The Terminator, The Fog, Halloween, and Aliens to create straightforward action films. He also tossed in elements from Universal Soldier (out-of-control super soldiers), Jurassic World (the bunker escape), and Tremors (likable trailer park crew) to fill out the running time and build the world. Onslaught isn’t the most ambitious of projects, but the idea is marketable, and it must’ve been easy for Wingard to sell the high-concept film to A24.

Onslaught revolves around what happens when a high-heel-licking Nazi scientist named Hans Kammler (Dan Stevens – amazing) and his super evil wife Hanna (Rebecca Hall – wonderful) attempt to create super soldiers in a secretive New Mexico bunker. Their experiments are too successful, as they reanimate a trio of maniacs into hulking beasts who quickly escape the isolated bunker and tear through rural New Mexico. After a brutal truck stop massacre, their murderous journey leads them to a trailer park managed by Celeste (Adria Arjona), a retired military sniper who deals with crippling PTSD and post-war injuries. Once there, the trio attacks the unsuspecting residents and kills them in a variety of grisly ways. The onslaught forces Celeste, Vietnam vet Josiah (Reginald VelJohnson), and a goofy/brave cop (Eric Wareheim) to protect the trailer park and keep Celeste’s seven-year-old daughter Daisy (Blake Kennedy) safe. What follows is a bloodbath involving chainsaws, butcher knives, charcoal grills, sniper rifles, and many smashed doors.

After the escape, a local “janitor” named Cyrus (Drew Starkey) is summoned by Hanna (from a high-class sex party) to clean up the murders and track the exploits of the super soldiers. His scenes help build the world and extend the film’s running time as he witnesses the aftermath of the chaotic encounters. It’s a smart budgetary decision as locations are reused and Cyrus’s conversations/calls help build the secretive private-contractors network. Aside from being under the influence of MDMA, Cyrus is a relatively chill agent who occasionally slips on blood and casually jumps over corpses. The nice thing about Drew Starkey’s performance is that he doesn’t overload the quirky character with too many quirks. His performance creates a nice middle ground between the insanity of Dan Stevevens (and Rebecca Hall) and Arjona’s grounded realism.

On the performance front, Arjona does a fine job of creating a three-dimensional human who suffers from PTSD, went through a divorce, and doesn’t have the capabilities to deal with her trauma. So, she lives in a trailer park where she collects rent and fixes the often-malfunctioning trailers. She also must love carving pumpkins because the opening of the film features her using carved pumpkins as shooting practice to establish her sniper credentials. The addition of Reginald ValJohnson means that audiences will immediately cheer for the likable actor as he battles the super soldiers played by Alex Pereira (MMA Legend), Dave Campbell, and Tyler Hall (who worked on Splitsville with Arjona).

Production designer Tom Hammock (Pearl, Weapons) does excellent work building a realistic trailer park in the vast New Mexico desert. The on-location shoot helps authenticity as wind sweeps through the park and everything seems beaten down by the blazing hot sun. Instead of lining up the trailers in a neat row, Hammock and Wingard organized them in a circle to create a gladiatorial ring where the final confrontation between Celeste and The Butcher (Alex Pereira – MMA legend) takes place. Cinematographer Oren Soffer (The Creator – great work) does a fine job capturing the mayhem and adding in enough low-budget spice (inspired crane and dolly shots) to make the film look ambitious and expansive.