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Review: ‘Onslaught’ is a Gleefully Gory Mashup of ‘Universal Soldier’ and ‘Halloween’ that’s Tailor-Made for Its Target Audience
September 3, 2026Ben MK
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Best known for films like You're Next, The Guest and V/H/S, Adam Wingard is a director with an instantly recognizable filmmaking style. Whether it's his affinity for '80s-era retro synth soundtracks, over-the-top ultra violence, or neon-drenched visuals, there's no mistaking his signature aesthetic. It's a creative skillset that has served Wingard well, especially with his relatively recent leap from indie horror to big-budget blockbusters, taking the reigns of the Monsterverse franchise for 2021's Godzilla vs. Kong and 2024's Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire. But with Onslaught, Wingard is going back to basics, as he sets out to tell the tale of a former soldier who's forced to defend herself and her young daughter from a fearsome squad of near-unkillable super-soldiers. Celeste (Adria Arjona) was once one of the U.S. Army's best sharpshooters. However, ever since leaving the military behind, she's been struggling to get a handle on the post-traumatic stress caused by her last tour of duty. Now the on-site manager for Windy Oasis Trailer Park in Moriarty, New Mexico, Celeste has spent the past five years either shooting pumpkins for target practice out in the desert or trying to collect overdue rent from delinquent tenants. But when her ex-husband (Jacob Scipio) makes an unexpected appearance to drop off their daughter, Daisy (Blake Kennedy), at her doorstep for the weekend, it marks the beginning of what may be the most harrowing 24 hours of Celeste's life. Suddenly forced to be Daisy's primary caregiver, Celeste must scramble to lock away her handguns and ammunition, not to mention her favorite rifle. Little does she realize, she'll have use for these weapons in a matter of mere hours. For a few hundred miles away, in a former U.S. military base located deep underground, a German mad scientist named Hans Kammler (Dan Stevens) is about to unleash the results of his latest experiment — a trio of super-soldiers created to be the perfect killing machines. Codenamed Crybaby (Tyler Hall), the Cockroach (Dave Campbell) and the Butcher (Alex Pereira), these three soldiers-turned-mindless-murderers have been conditioned to feel no pain and no remorse — but, most of all, they've been programmed not to stop until they've slaughtered every last person that stands in their path. So when the trio go awry after turning a training exercise meant to demonstrate their terrifying potential to an intrigued government operative (Michael Biehn) into a total bloodbath, it falls on a fixer named Cyrus (Drew Starkey) to track down these rogue weapons of mass destruction and clean up the loose ends left in their bloody wake. Tracking his targets across the barren New Mexico landscape, Cyrus' mission will eventually take him to the Windy Oasis, where Kammler's homicidal monstrosities have set their sights upon the trailer park's unwitting residents. But will Cyrus get there in time to prevent yet another vicious massacre? Or will Celeste, fellow war veteran neighbor, Josiah (Reginald VelJohnson), and a local cop named Kovacks (Eric Wareheim) be left to fend for themselves against the onslaught of bloodthirsty brutality headed their way? A gleefully gory mashup that takes the central premise of a movie like Universal Soldier and drops it straight into the survive-till-dawn scenario of a slasher fan-favorite like Halloween, the result is a film that's happy to indulge in the idiosyncrasies of the action and horror genres, providing its small cast with ample opportunity to chew the scenery while at the same time favoring style over substance. Still, despite its paper-thin plot and threadbare character development, what's sure to help Onslaught achieve the same level of cult-classic notoriety as the movies that inspired it is its John Carpenter-esque synthwave soundtrack, not to mention the performances from its main cast, especially Arjona, VelJohnson, Pereira and Stevens. Suffice to say, Onslaught is the type of film that's tailor-made for its target audience. And whether you're a fan of Wingard or a die-hard fan of horror thrillers in general, there's plenty here to keep viewers on the edge of their seats and rooting for its final-girl protagonist. Make no mistake, this latest foray into the cinematic universe established by Wingard's 2014 cult classic, The Guest, delivers exactly what it promises. The question is — will audiences have the chance to return one day for another installment? Onslaught releases September 4th, 2026 from VVS Films. The film has an MPAA rating of R for strong bloody violence, some gore, sexual material/nudity, and language. Its runtime is 1 hr. 32 min. |
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