On September 3, "Onslaught" hits theaters — a new action thriller from A24 directed by Adam Wingard, known for "Godzilla vs. Kong" and the "Zombies" franchise. Wingard himself describes the film's genre as an "A-plus B-movie" — a film with the energy of old-school genre cinema, but shot with the resources of a modern large-scale production. The movie consciously draws on the 1980s aesthetic that shaped the director's taste: among his main touchstones he names "The Terminator" and "Aliens," while the synth-driven score and the stylization toward classic horror serve as key tools of atmosphere.
Blending genres: action, slasher, sci-fi and horror
"Onslaught" is not confined to a single genre: here the action film meets the slasher, science fiction and horror. The plot revolves around three experimental super-soldiers who break out of a secret laboratory and begin hunting down everyone in their path. Wingard conceived these fighters as a hybrid of a war machine and a slasher monster — feeling almost no pain, withstanding direct hits, and relentlessly moving toward their goal. The director himself calls them his "GI Joes from Hell," deliberately crafting a modern version of the relentless monsters of classic horror.
Adria Arjona in Sarah Connor mode
At the center of the story is Celeste, a former military sniper and mother living in a remote trailer park, trying to leave her past behind. After the appearance of three nearly invincible super-soldiers, she is forced to rely once again on the skills that once helped her survive. For Adria Arjona, the role became a fundamentally new challenge: according to the actress, preparation included two-to-three-hour daily training sessions and a strict diet. "It was extremely physically demanding. Drinking coffee was the only thing keeping me on my feet. But the hardest part was mastering the handling of heavy weaponry next to a child," she said, adding that while working with a 20-pound chainsaw or a sniper rifle in a scene with her on-screen daughter, her main thought was to clear the space and ensure the child's safety.
Super-soldiers and a UFC champion's first film role
The lead antagonist — The Butcher — is played by UFC champion Alex Pereira, for whom "Onslaught" became his first major film role. His physicality, by the director's design, works better than any verbal explanation: the scale of the characters is fully revealed on the big screen, especially when they share a frame with the heroine, who is forced to stop them essentially single-handedly. In international reviews, the film is described as a "lean, loud" genre action picture — short, loud, and free of unnecessary baggage, where gunfights, chases, fights and explosions follow one another without long pauses for exposition.
Why the A24 version of action demands the big screen
The A24 studio has long been associated with auteur cinema and unconventional genre experiments that are not afraid to take risks. This time it takes on a pure genre spectacle and allows Wingard to push it to maximum concentration. The result is not a typical studio action film, but a stylized, bloody and unpredictable A24 version of action that does not fit into a single genre. That is precisely why the picture works as a one-breath spectacle: when three relentless super-soldiers appear on screen and the director kicks in 1980s-style synths, a small screen cannot give it the scale it deserves. The premiere in Ukrainian cinemas is on September 3.
