Adam Wingard (You’re Next, The Guest, Godzilla vs. Kong) is back in the business of making beautifully unhinged genre movies. A24 has unveiled a new trailer for Onslaught, dropping Adria Arjona into a desert war against genetically engineered super-soldiers, while Dan Stevens disappears beneath heavy prosthetics as a gleeful German mad scientist. Watch the trailer above and read on for what to know.
Adria Arjona Goes to War with the Perfect Soldiers
Arjona plays an Army sniper living with her young daughter in a desert trailer park. Any hopes of a quiet life disappear when a rogue squad of genetically engineered super-soldiers escapes from a secret military facility and begins tearing through everything in its path.
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These are not merely well-trained operatives. As the trailer warns, once they begin killing, they do not stop. They are essentially human heat-seeking missiles, programmed to locate their targets and keep moving until nothing is left.
There is Crybaby. There is Cockroach. Then there is the Butcher, played by UFC champion Alex Pereira, an enormous killing machine who hacks up victims with a meat cleaver.
Unfortunately for them, the mother standing in their way knows how to shoot back.
The trailer turns the desert community into a blood-soaked battleground as Arjona unleashes rifles, traps, explosives and some savage close-quarters brutality. The result looks like a home-invasion thriller crossed with a military siege movie, with a streak of grindhouse cheekiness running through it.
Speaking during the film’s Comic-Con panel, Wingard named John Carpenter as a lifelong influence, particularly the filmmaker’s 1976 classic Assault on Precinct 13.
“John Carpenter has always been the main influence for me. There’s something his movies do to me. It’s like magic. I just like the vibe. With this film, out of Carpenter’s canon, Assault on Precinct 13 was probably the biggest influence.”
Dan Stevens Revisits The Guest Universe
Stevens appears only briefly in the trailer and is almost unrecognisable beneath prosthetics as the German scientist responsible for the experiments. It is a very different role from the charming, mysterious killing machine he played in Wingard’s 2014 cult favourite The Guest. The connection, however, runs much deeper than casting.
Wingard and frequent collaborator Simon Barrett have not made a conventional sequel to The Guest, but they have returned to its world. During the Comic-Con panel, which you can watch in full below, Wingard confirmed that Onslaught takes place in the same town, with both films linked by the same shadowy military programme.
“I saw this film as the completion of a trilogy: You’re Next, The Guest and then Onslaught,” the filmmaker explained. “Onslaught takes place in the same town as The Guest, and there are thematic through-lines connecting them.”
That does not necessarily mean Stevens’ David Collins is hiding somewhere beyond the edge of the frame. Stevens made it clear that audiences should expect a spiritual follow-up rather than a direct continuation.
“I know a lot of people have been waiting for a sequel to The Guest in some form. I’m sorry to say this is not exactly a sequel, but it is a spiritual sequel. It lives in the same universe. It has the same theory and world-building behind it. It’s the same insanity that birthed The Guest, but turned up to 100.”
Adria Arjona Found the Heart Beneath the Carnage
For all the bloodshed, Arjona said the relationship between her character and her daughter became the emotional foundation of her performance.
The actor developed a close bond with young co-star Blake Kennedy, beginning with a simple game in which Arjona would teach her one Spanish word each morning. That trust soon carried over into the production’s more intense and blood-covered moments.
“Blake was something so special, and we had a really great bond,” said Arjona. “The second I met her, I immediately felt incredibly protective of her. She wouldn’t necessarily work with my stunt double. If she had a lot of blood on her, she wanted it to be with me.
“I felt crazy protective over her, and I think that became half of my performance. It was that beautiful, feral need to make sure your child is fine. She gifted me that. She’s so special.”
The Creative Team and Co-Stars
Wingard directs from a screenplay by Simon Barrett, based on a story the pair developed together. The creative team also includes cinematographer Oren Soffer (The Creator), production designer Tom Hammock (Weapons, Godzilla vs. Kong) and composer Matthew Pusti (The Girlfriend Experience series).
The cast also includes Eric Wareheim, Reginald VelJohnson, Michael Biehn, Drew Starkey and Rebecca Hall.
When Is Onslaught Released?
A24 will release Onslaught in U.S. cinemas, including IMAX, on September 4, 2026.
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