‘Onslaught’ - A24s Newest Action Thriller Starring Adria Arjona Got a New Trailer

Adam Wingard’s newest action thriller, Onslaught, is being released by A24 this September, and the new trailer for the film has sparked quite a bit of conversation in its rather short release window. Let’s talk a bit about why.

Adam Wingard’s Career Trajectory

Adam Wingard’s filmmaking career has been quite an interesting one to follow. With the cult horror film You’re Next in 2011, he became a smaller critical darling in the horror space. His next few films of the 2010s varied in terms of critical and social reception; however, his two most recent Godzilla vs. Kong movies have been ones that have shot him up the ladder in the studio marketplace. Both films were big successes for Warner Bros., and slightly transitioned him out of the horror space and more so into the action one. Onslaught marks his first original, non-IP-related film since 2014’s The Guest, with him having directed Blair Witch and the controversial Death Note adaptation prior to his Monsterverse films.

The Trailer Itself

The bits of the film we got to get a glimpse of in this new trailer show a film that appears to entirely appeal to Wingard’s favorite sensibilities. Not necessarily horror, but a bit of the supernatural, action-packed fight scenes, and some tight comedy thrown in for good measure. The film itself follows a squad of genetically engineered super soldiers that are terrorizing a desert town, with a dedicated sniper played by Arjona standing in their way in an effort to protect her daughter.

Her character appears to be a former soldier struggling with PTSD from her time in combat. We see flashes of a purple heart displayed on the wall, as well as black and white flashbacks to an apparent wartime conflict. She trains often at her home, shooting pumpkins with an AR-style assault weapon, and makes sure she keeps her daughter as close by as she can. But when these supersoldiers make it to her trailer park, all hell breaks loose. Also starring in the film are MMA superstar Alex Pereira, Rebecca Hall, and Drew Starkey. Hall is sporting a delightfully goofy accent, and Starkey is sporting an even more tongue-in-cheek makeup routine for his character, who is at this time appearing to be a secondary antagonist. The clear self-parodic nature of the story does not seem to be lost on the filmmakers at first glance, and it appears to be a film that basks in its own insanity.

A24 as a Producer and Distributor

Unlike some of the films that A24 buys after production and distributes, the production company acted as the main production company throughout the making of the film. The company itself has gone through some changes in the past few years in terms of its level of output, as well as what people have grown to expect from the films they put out.

In the early heyday of late 2010s-early 2020s A24, they prided themselves on being a more boutique film distribution company with an emphasis on arthouse thinkpieces and elevated horror. So much so that people online would often talk about films distributed by A24 as if A24 directed the film, with the company seemingly having forged its own aesthetic. However, in the past few years, the company has not only distributed, but also produced many films that have crossed the picket line into more “mainstream” territory. Films like Marty Supreme, Civil War, and Eternity don’t fit into the traditional A24 aesthetic that certain audience members expect, yet were all produced by the company within the past two years. Their output has grown, and so has their range of genres and styles.

That’s not to say they’ve abandoned what put them on the map. Films like Mother Mary, or I Saw the TV Glow, are still major centerpoints of the company’s yearly release calendar, but the more rapid expansion into mainstream media has presented some audience members with a mild sense of confusion. And with Onslaught, that sentiment has been doubled down entirely. Comments sections and forums are flooded with people being shocked that it was produced by the company, not in a disappointed way, but more in a pleasantly surprised way.

This type of expansion has certainly helped A24's box office numbers, as its output continues to grow every single year. I, for one, am very excited to see what Wingard does with Onslaught, and given the reaction to the trailer, A24 may very well have another big winner on their hands.