Fresh off his two Godzilla vs Kong installments, Adam Wingard returns behind the camera with Onslaught, an action-thriller whose trailer promises a powerhouse cast and explosive set-pieces.
The English word “onslaught” could be translated as “assault,” a fitting way to describe the enemy’s charge (potentially military) against you. That makes for an apt title for Adam Wingard’s new film (You’re Next, The Guest, Godzilla vs Kong, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire…) which tells the story of a sharpshooter living in a mobile home with her daughter, who will have to switch to war-mode to protect her home from a terrible threat that has escaped from a secret military facility.
It’s Adria Arjona (Hit Man, Blink Twice) who will star at the center of a powerhouse cast, including martial artist Alex Pereira, Rebecca Hall, Dan Stevens, Eric Wareheim (seen in Cannes in Quentin Dupieux’s Full Phil), Reginald VelJohnson (famed for playing Sgt. Al Powell in Die Hard), Drew Starkey (who shared the screen in Queer with Daniel Craig in 2024), and Michael Biehn (the unforgettable Kyle Reese from the original The Terminator).
The trailer for this new blockbuster just dropped.
Onslaught and Its Human Terminators
While the A24 slate has, over the years, earned a reputation for films that are cerebral, contemplative and offbeat (credit for that goes to stellar titles like Lamb, Saint Maud, Aftersun or Men), it seems we’re shifting gears with Onslaught, which has all the makings of a boisterous, crowd‑pleasing action romp. Adam Wingard, directing from a script by his go‑to writer Simon Barrett, has already proved his mettle in both blockbuster spectacle and in a more horror‑leaning vein.
Onslaught seems to fuse these lines perfectly, thanks in large part to what appears to be a dark plot about genetically modified soldiers (Dan Stevens’ voice explains they’re “the human equivalent of a guided missile, the perfect soldier”), who prove deadly with rifles as well as fists or even a butcher’s cleaver, and whom you’ll have to fend off with some heavy-duty boom-boom.
If the trailer hints at a straightforward, classic setup in the vein of “the military tried to weaponize something organic, and things go wrong—who could have predicted that?”, it also promises a showcase of stunning, rhythmic, inventive, and even beautiful imagery that will make you want to believe, especially with a cast like this.
Moreover, Wingard collaborates here for the first time with Adria Arjona, Michael Biehn, or Alex Pereira (who has yet to try cinema), but also calls on his regulars, such as Rebecca Hall or Dan Stevens. The U.S. release date is set for September 4, so we hope French audiences will get to see Onslaught in theaters or on a platform soon after, though nothing has been confirmed yet.
