A trailer for Adam Wingard’s “Onslaught” was released last month, billed as a return to his thriller-indie roots. A24 is backing the film, which is set to hit theaters on September 4.
With its incoming world premiere at Comic-Con San Diego later this month, “Onslaught” has now been stamped by the MPA, rated ‘R’ for “strong bloody violence, some gore, sexual material/nudity, and language.” A bloody good time?
This rating means that “Onslaught,” which wrapped production 20 months ago, has finally completed post-production. Adria Arjona leads the film as a struggling mother living in a trailer park who aims to protect her loved ones from a rogue squad of genetically engineered super-soldiers that have escaped from a secret military base while mercenaries try to contain them.
The trailer certainly hints at this being an Adam Wingard movie, and the fact that his old-school writing partner, Simon Barrett (“The Guest”), is back makes this a must-see in my book. Arjona is described in the synopsis as a “badass army sniper,” which gives off shades of a Sarah Connor-esque heroine.
Ultimately, here’s hoping this is Wingard back on form, returning to the action-thriller genre, albeit with this story set in the desert. It all looks very over-the-top bonkers, which could either be good or bad, depending on the execution.
The film reunites Wingard and Barrett, the team behind “You’re Next” (2011) and “The Guest” (2014). Wingard is coming off, quite sadly, the commercial success of “Godzilla vs. Kong” and “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire,” the latter of which grossed over $572M worldwide. It’s a real shame that Wingard decided to expend so much of his creative energy on silly kaiju and monster movies.
Rebecca Hall and Dan Stevens also star in “Onslaught,” alongside Michael Biehn (!), Reginald VelJohnson, Eric Wareheim, Drew Starkey, and Alex “Poatan” Pereira.