Onslaught

Starring: Adria Arjona, Dan Stevens, Reginald VelJohnson, Eric Wareheim, Michael Biehn, Drew Starkey, Rebecca Hall, Alex Pereira, Blake Kennedy

Director: Adam Wingard

Army sniper Celeste (Arjona) finds herself living alone in a trailer park in the middle of nowhere, still reliving the moment she was unable to save her friend and fellow soldier (Pereira) while serving overseas. When her ex unexpectedly shows up to tell her not only does she have to watch their daughter Daisy (Kennedy) for the weekend, but he and his new partner are filing for custody of Daisy and are expecting to win. Unfortunately for Celeste, things are about to get worse as a trio of genetically modified super soldiers created by Dr. Hans Kammler (Stevens) have escaped and are intent on following their one directive: population control. Soon Celeste, and her neighbors Josiah (VelJohnson) and Kovacks (Wareheim), find themselves in a bloody fight for survival as Celeste tries to save herself and her daughter.

This movie feels like a relic from the '80s. And I don't necessarily mean that in a bad way.

In fact, much like Wingard's 2014 thriller The Guest, there is a specific vibe the film sets out to achieve. Using a synth pop score to help support the action taking place on screen, the movie pays homage to many 80's classics, but most notably the filmography of the great John Carpenter. Unfortunately for Onslaught, which the director has said is a spiritual sequel to The Guest and takes place in the same world, it fails to capture the genre like that previous film.

Let's start with what works. The action, once it starts, is frequent and brutal. Action fans will find a lot to enjoy once the movie kicks into overdrive. The kills are bloody as Celeste and those in the trailer park defend themselves however they can. There are a few parts where I wanted to stand up and cheer, which is mostly when a character gets a hold of a massive chainsaw. Wingard approaches the action with bloody glee and it shows. Arjona, whose subjectively biggest credit was the 2022 superhero flop Morbius, is a great action heroine and never shies away from getting her hands dirty. It's a fierce performance despite a seemingly one note character.

However, the action aspects of the movie don't quite mesh with the more bizarre and weird aspects of the film. In fact, everything that happens surrounding the action at the trailer park feels like it comes from a completely different movie. Stevens' character, Dr. Kammler, is very over the top and feels more comical than I think he was meant to be. Similarly with a fixer named Cyrus played by Drew Starkey. Cyrus is unexpectedly called into action while on a personal day; taking MDMA and hanging out at a dominatrix mansion. While it's a memorable character introduction, he is set up to be something more than he actually is. He never really takes part in anything plot related, spending the movie catching up to what is happening at the trailer park. You could essentially cut his character out of the story and nothing would change.

The movie also feels like it was building towards a bigger ending. There is a late in the game twist, which really anyone paying the slightest attention could have figured out, that sets up what many will be expecting to be an epic showdown. That showdown never really comes and the movie abruptly ends. The movie is short, clocking in at barely an hour and half, but somehow felt much longer.

Yes the ride is a somewhat entertaining one but the movie never quite figures out what it wants to be. The movie also tries to say something about PTSD and treatment of veterans but like a lot of the ideas in the movie, it gets lost.

I did ultimately enjoy the ride and Arjona's performance even if Wingard doesn't come close to capturing the '80s vibe as he did with The Guest.

Grade: C-