ONSLAUGHT
Starring: Adria Arjona, Dan Stevens, Eric Wareheim, Reginald VelJohnson, Michael Biehn, Alex Pereira, Drew Starkey, and Rebecca Hall
Director: Adam Wingard
ADRIANO
Onslaught has too many ideas for a small package, yet also not enough. There are suggestions of military PTSD messaging, but it never does anything with it. It’s too short, but also crammed. It’s a bunch of contradictions, but for something marketed as an Adria Arjona shoot-em-up, but really is a slasher, that tracks. Honestly, I had a lot of fun in spite of everything. Dan Stevens’ ageless German doctor is as entertaining as it sounds. It’s gory, it’s mean, it’s also anticlimactic. But even if it thematically doesn’t get the job done, it certainly succeeds on pure thrills.
NICK
If you’re looking for director Adam Wingard to bring you a new version of The Guest, Onslaught is not that. Instead, this is a film that embraces its B-movie tendencies with everything from unnecessarily ridiculous characters to mindless carnage. Unfortunately, Wingard doesn’t fully embrace his plot’s weirdness nor does he provide anything creative in its violence. It’s all a bit of a missed opportunity. That said, Adria Arjona and Reginald VelJohnson keep things entertaining despite the film's more pedestrian aspects and lack of formidable villains. I just wish Wingard took a few more risks with this one.
BODE
Onslaught sees director Adam Wingard and frequent writing collaborator Simon Barrett returning to the tone and feel of The Guest, complete with angrier commentary regarding the U.S. government and an 80s-inspired synth score (courtesy of composer Matthew Pusti). It doesn’t quite match the levels of that pulpy masterwork, given a few too many threads left dangling and the lack of a barnburner finale. Still, with how gory, amusing, and thrilling the package is, I was mostly entertained. No movie with Adria Arjona kicking ass, or Rebecca Hall and Dan Stevens getting their freak on can be bad in my books.
ROBERT
As much as things change, as much as they stay the same. Adam Wingard took a stroll through IP land and landed back in familiar territory with Onslaught. If you combine You’re Next with Planet Terror and a sprinkle of The Strangers, you have this film. For me, marketing and word-of-mouth set an expectation of weirdness that, while edging towards it throughout, never quite grasped it. I like the stylistic choices with its action and slasher atmosphere, harkening back to the 1980s. While cool, it still created an air of forgettability. Like the killers, this film works best under cover of obfuscation.
