'Onslaught' Review: A Relentless Action-Horror Thrill Ride

Adam Wingard has spent basically the last decade of his filmmaking career playing in sandboxes he doesn't control. In that time, he's evolved from indie genre darling to blockbuster auteur, delivering two MonsterVerse movies, a "Death Note" film, and a well-received new take on the "Blair Witch" mythos.

With all of that in mind, "Onslaught" is a homecoming, a reunion between Wingard and longtime screenwriting collaborator Simon Barrett, in a return to the world of "You're Next" and "The Guest," Wingard's breakthrough to mainstream audiences. Set in the same continuity as those two films, "Onslaught" continues Wingard's weird world of military contractors and engineered super soldiers, but goes further into the hyperreal territory of sci-fi-tinged '80s action movies, classic popcorn horror, and more. The collective impact creates the sense that all of this has been building in Wingard's brain, just waiting to explode. While it's not for everyone, "Onslaught" definitely explodes, creating a relentless action-horror hybrid you won't soon forget.

Wingard's focal point is Celeste (Adria Arjona), a former military sniper who's resigned to a desert trailer park. Antisocial, hard-living, and nursing a dose of unshakable trauma, Celeste works as the trailer park's property manager, bonding with her neighbor and fellow veteran Josiah (Reginald VelJohnson) and collecting a paycheck to do little work on a place that's long since crumbled. Her only connection to the outside world is her daughter, Daisy (Blake Kennedy), who gets dropped on her doorstep unceremoniously by Celeste's ex-husband along with news that Daisy will be relocating, leaving her mother behind with everyone else.

Faced with the reality that what's left of her family might soon come apart, Celeste barely has time to catch her breath before something much more dangerous rears its head. Out in the desert, a Nazi scientist (Dan Stevens) has been crafting a trio of super soldiers like none other, human weapons who won't stop killing unless halted by force. When these weapons break containment, they head straight for the nearest signs of life, putting everyone in the trailer park in the crosshairs.

"Onslaught" runs at just 90 minutes, meaning that apart from a few quiet moments, we're strapped in from the start. Wingard sets up something not unlike one of John Carpenter's best movies, "Assault on Precinct 13," a scrappy action film that doesn't spare the mayhem, but the film doesn't lean entirely on established formulas. His time away from indie cinema hasn't softened Wingard's taste for onscreen brutality nor the weird. Stevens, sporting albino makeup, a spotless white cape, and blaring classical music, is a wonderfully arch mad scientist, setting up Celeste's opposition in a familiar yet strange and instinctive manner. Off the studio franchise leash, Wingard and Barrett get weird with it, and that serves the film well, even when its eccentricities chop up the narrative along the way.

Carpenter might be the primary influence on "Onslaught," but he's far from the only one. Driven by adventurous lighting and cinematography, old-school gore effects, and a pulsing synth score by Matt Pusti, the film calls to mind the best '80s action movies from the likes of James Cameron and John McTiernan. We are experiencing a heightened level of reality, and the stylistic choices make it enjoyable, but the film wouldn't get far without some human connection.

With Arjona at its center, "Onslaught" thrives, not just because of how good she is, but because of how well she interacts with those around her. VelJohnson injects well-earned warmth, and Arjona is there in every moment with him, still capable of connection and love. Having Kennedy also helps tremendously, giving Arjona a chance to play comedy (she teaches her daughter how to eat a gas station burrito), terror, and Ellen Ripley-inspired Mama Bear simultaneously. Thankfully, the rest of the cast is stacked with scene stealers, from Stevens to Rebecca Hall to a delightful appearance from Eric Wareheim as another trailer park resident.

With solid performers and his craft on lock, Wingard has freedom to experiment with "Onslaught," which is where some viewers get lost. The film never quite settles on a clear tone, swaying between comedy, tragedy, and horror in ways that don't always feel natural. It feels that there's so much Wingard wanted to try that he couldn't settle on a straightforward path. "Onslaught" does not move in a straight line. It bobs and weaves, knit together by its performances and atmosphere than its story. However, if you want to watch one of indie genre cinema's best rip into a new movie with guns and chainsaws blazing, you're in for a treat.

'Onslaught' is in theaters September 4.