A24 has released a new trailer for Onslaught, the upcoming action-horror thriller from director Adam Wingard that serves as a spiritual sequel to his 2014 cult film The Guest. The film hits theaters, including IMAX, on September 4.
Adria Arjona stars as Celeste, a former Army sniper living in a trailer park with her young daughter whose quiet life is shattered when a rogue squad of genetically engineered super soldiers breaks free from a nearby secret military facility. The three escapees, named Cry Baby, Cockroach and Butcher, are essentially human heat-seeking missiles, each more terrifying than the last. Cockroach reportedly survived 48 gunshot wounds. Butcher, played by UFC champion Alex Pereira, carries a meat cleaver. To stop them, Celeste must become just as dangerous as what she is fighting.
Dan Stevens, who starred in The Guest, returns but not as his original character. He appears here under heavy old-age makeup and a German accent as a government scientist responsible for creating the super soldiers, linking the film directly to the covert military experiments from the 2014 original.
The film is written by Wingard’s longtime collaborator Simon Barrett, from a story the two developed together. The supporting cast includes Rebecca Hall, Michael Biehn, Reginald VelJohnson, Drew Starkey and Eric Wareheim.
Wingard confirmed at San Diego Comic-Con that Onslaught takes place in the same rural town as The Guest and sees it as the concluding chapter of a loose trilogy that began with You’re Next in 2011.
“I look at this as a cap in the trilogy between The Guest and You’re Next,” Wingard said. “It takes place in the same town as The Guest. The idea is that the secret programs we’re seeing going on here are other little aspects of the same thing David’s character came from. So you could actually technically call this a sequel. It’s in the same universe.”
Wingard also cited John Carpenter as the film’s primary influence, specifically pointing to Assault on Precinct 13 as the closest touchstone for Onslaught’s tone and energy.
Onslaught opens in theaters and IMAX on September 4.