Brace for Onslaught: Adam Wingard’s Gonzo Action-Horror Charges in This September

Not every A24 trailer gets a big splash online straight away, and 'Onslaught' is one of those strangely under-the-radar launches. If you’re sitting down for a screening of 'Backrooms' this weekend, you might just catch the first proper look at Adam Wingard’s latest – but otherwise, you’ll have to make do with the breadcrumbs that have filtered out from those who’ve seen it in cinemas.

So, 'Onslaught'. We’ve got a new action horror on the way, and if you’re a fan of Wingard’s previous cult stuff like 'The Guest' or 'You’re Next', this is very much up that alley. The word 'gonzo' keeps getting thrown around, which doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in subtlety, but at least you know it’ll be lively. Here’s what’s out so far:

What’s the deal with the release?

Out of nowhere, the trailer is getting surprise-dropped in cinemas and nowhere else, and the big takeaway is a September 4 theatrical release date. That’s straight from the footage shown with 'Backrooms', so unless they decide to tweak the marketing (wouldn’t be the first time), that’s your date.

Who’s in it? (And yes, the cast list is a bit wild)

• Adria Arjona ('Hit Man') – playing the main character, a mother with apparently lethal skills
• Dan Stevens – reuniting with Wingard from 'The Guest' and 'Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire'; this time he’s a German scientist (do with that what you will)
• Drew Starkey ('Outer Banks')
• Michael Biehn – yes, that Michael Biehn from 'The Terminator', playing a mercenary chief
• Reginald VelJohnson ('Die Hard')
• Eric Wareheim ('Tim & Eric'), so expect something odd
• Rebecca Hall – popping up again after her work on Wingard’s kaiju flicks
• Alex 'Poatan' Pereira – current UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, former kickboxing double champ by the way, landing his first big film role (and apparently gets to show off all those MMA moves)

So what’s the story?

This is very much 'mother with mysterious fighting abilities' territory. Arjona plays a mum living in a trailer, who ends up tangling with a threat that’s broken loose from a secret military base – essentially, trouble knocks and she knows how to knock it back. Stevens, as the German scientist, is one of the brains behind whatever this threat turns out to be (experiments gone rogue, classic), and Hall’s character is tied to him somehow, but details there are deliberately vague.

Biehn’s character leads a group of elite mercenaries roped in to contain the situation. Meanwhile, VelJohnson and Wareheim are also part of the trailer park community, which suggests there’ll be a bit of a siege element – everyone banding together to face off against whatever’s out there.

The Pedigree bit (for the film nerds):

Simon Barrett is back as Wingard’s long-time writing partner – they’ve worked together on 'The Guest', 'You’re Next', 'Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire', 'A Horrible Way to Die', and 'Blair Witch'. The pair have a pretty reliable track record for turning out clever, twisty genre stuff, so expectations aren’t unfounded.

On the business side, Lyrical Media and A24 are teaming up to finance, and A24’s got worldwide distribution locked. Aaron Ryder and Andrew Swett (Ryder Picture Company), Alexander Black (Lyrical Media), and Wingard himself (with his manager Jeremy Platt, under their new label Breakaway Civilization), plus Barrett, are all producing. Lyrical’s Jon Rosenberg and Natalie Sellers are on board as exec producers.

One of the better teaser comments came via The Hollywood Reporter about Pereira: 'He’ll be able to bring his set of skills to the role — including anaconda chokes and roundhouse kicks.' Not every day you see PR boasting about specific MMA submissions in relation to a supporting character, but that’s where we’re at with this one.