Adria Arjona is Bloodier Than You’d Expect in a New Clip for Adam Wingard’s ‘Onslaught’
Adam Wingard has spent the last several years steering blockbuster monster mashups, guiding audiences through kaiju-sized spectacle in the MonsterVerse. But before Godzilla and Kong ever crossed paths on his watch, Wingard built his reputation on scrappier, meaner genre filmmaking, and this fall he’s heading back to that world.
That return is called ‘Onslaught,’ and it’s arriving with the kind of ensemble cast that instantly signals something worth paying attention to. The film is written by Simon Barrett, from a story by Wingard and Barrett, marking a reunion for the pair behind ‘You’re Next’ and ‘The Guest.’
A new clip is offering fans a fresh look at the film ahead of its release, showing a woman in a small convenience store just moments before things presumably go sideways. According to the post, the film stars Adria Arjona, Alex Pereira, Drew Starkey, Rebecca Hall, Reginald VelJohnson, Michael Biehn, Eric Wareheim, and Dan Stevens, with the film hitting theaters on September 4.
The story puts Arjona front and center as a former Army sniper forced back into action. When a rogue squad of genetically engineered super soldiers breaks loose in the desert, her character has to unleash hell to protect her young daughter, and Arjona has described her character’s mission in blunt terms: to stop a killing machine, she has to become one, relying on ruthless combat instincts to survive the chaos around her.
The connection to Wingard’s earlier work isn’t subtle, either. ‘Onslaught’ is set in the same town featured in Wingard’s 2014 cult favorite ‘The Guest,’ and the director has said at Comic-Con this year that it could “technically” be considered a sequel, though not a direct one. Dan Stevens, who anchored ‘The Guest’ as engineered super soldier David Collins, returns here in a different role, this time playing Dr. Kammler.
Casting-wise, the film leans hard into genre pedigree while also making room for an unconventional pick. Michael Biehn, known for ‘The Terminator,’ ‘Aliens,’ and ‘The Abyss,’ joins the ensemble alongside Reginald VelJohnson of ‘Die Hard’ fame, while UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira makes his acting debut playing a character called The Butcher, bringing real combat experience to the role.
Rebecca Hall rounds out the cast as a two-time Wingard collaborator, having also appeared in his MonsterVerse film ‘Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.’ The film has received an R rating for strong bloody violence, some gore, sexual material and nudity, and language, which tracks with the trailer’s already grisly reputation among horror fans online.
Promotion for ‘Onslaught’ has leaned into that R-rated chaos at every turn. A24 recently released a photoshoot featuring Arjona wielding a chainsaw atop a monster truck alongside Wingard and the rest of the cast, and character posters have since gone up spotlighting each principal player in a retro throwback style.
‘Onslaught’ is co-financed by A24 and Lyrical Media, with A24 handling worldwide distribution, putting the studio’s genre-friendly brand fully behind Wingard’s return to smaller-scale, visceral filmmaking. With the September 4 release date now just around the corner, fans of Wingard’s earlier, bloodier work finally get to see whether this spiritual sequel lives up to the chaos its marketing has been promising all summer.
How excited are you for Adam Wingard's Onslaught?
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