A24 Onslaught trailer unleashes super soldiers in the desert
A24’s Onslaught trailer previews Adam Wingard’s horror-action-thriller about engineered soldiers hunting a sniper and her daughter.
By Bianca Rossi · Entertainment Editor
2 min read
The A24 Onslaught trailer has arrived with a nasty little premise: genetically engineered super soldiers break loose and target an Army sniper, her young daughter and people living nearby in the desert, according to Mashable.
The film is directed by Adam Wingard and written by Simon Barrett, the duo behind You're Next, The Guest and Blair Witch, Mashable reported. That pairing alone tells genre fans where this one is aiming: horror, action and thriller pressure, all packed into one survival nightmare.
What is Onslaught about?
Onslaught centers on genetically engineered soldiers who are no longer under control, according to Mashable’s description of the trailer. The footage introduces them with names including The Butcher, Crybaby and Cockroach, and frames them as human weapons built to chase a target.
In the trailer, the threat closes in on an Army sniper played by Adria Arjona, her young daughter and their desert neighbors, Mashable reported. The setup is direct and grim: elite military experiments are loose, and civilians are in their path.
Mashable said the trailer describes the soldiers as “human equivalents of a heat-seeking missile.” The footage also includes a still of a soldier holding a butcher’s knife, adding a blunt slasher edge to the military sci-fi hook.
Who made Onslaught?
Adam Wingard directs Onslaught, with Simon Barrett credited as writer, according to Mashable. Their previous collaborations include home-invasion thriller You're Next, the Dan Stevens-led The Guest and 2016’s Blair Witch.
The cast list, as reported by Mashable, includes Adria Arjona, Dan Stevens, Rebecca Hall, Eric Wareheim, Reginald VelJohnson, Michael Biehn, Drew Starkey and Alex Pereira.
The trailer also makes a pointed sound choice. Mashable reported that it uses a remix of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1941 “Day of Infamy” speech, the address Roosevelt delivered after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor and before the United States entered World War II.
That historical audio gives the footage a wartime charge, while the trailer’s story stays focused on a smaller and nastier crisis: engineered fighters turned loose in the desert.
When does Onslaught come out?
Onslaught is scheduled to hit cinemas on Sept. 4, according to Mashable.
The trailer places A24’s latest genre play in familiar but sharp territory: a remote setting, a hunted family, military-grade monsters and a creative team with a track record in nasty suspense. For viewers tracking the next A24 horror-action release, Onslaught now has its first big warning shot.
This story draws on original reporting from Mashable.