A24’s latest sci-fi thriller, Onslaught, mixes the best parts of some of the genre’s all-time best. The latest film from director Adam Wingard stars Adria Arjona as Celeste, a sniper who finds herself embroiled in a conflict with an army of genetically engineered soldiers to protect her daughter.
The movie is a true 1980s action throwback, taking pieces of oft-celebrated classics like Aliens and The Terminator. While its story sits entirely separate from anything Wingard has done before, he recently confirmed that the new film is set within the same universe as his 2014 horror The Guest, adding to the blood-soaked intrigue even further.
Onslaught Combines Aliens and Terminator
During the golden age of sci-fi action, James Cameron birthed two of the most iconic films in the genre’s history: The Terminator in 1984 and Aliens in 1986. The former, now a definitive classic, introduced the concept of an unstoppable cybernetic assassin (Arnold Schwarzenegger). The latter, a follow-up to Ridley Scott’s 1979 space horror, was an adrenaline-fueled sequel that saw Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) stepping up as an action icon.
Both films changed the face of sci-fi, introducing concepts rarely seen before their time. Aliens flipped the vulnerable heroine trope on its head, with Ripley’s transformation from a terrified survivor into a fierce, weapon-wielding protector nothing short of iconic. And Schwarzenegger’s cybernetic antagonist moved away from the campy movie monsters of old, giving audiences an emotionless force of nature that set a new standard for genre villains.
Onslaught combines the strongest elements of both to give fans a fresh and action-packed spiritual successor. Wingard’s latest sci-fi epic follows Celeste, an Army sniper living in a trailer park with her young family. When super soldiers from a nearby military facility descend upon her home, the lethal mama bear uses her training to defend her daughter and defeat the invincible killing machines.
The A24 thriller is proving capable of living up to Cameron’s standards, helmed by a director who’s already explored similar concepts in The Guest. However, with a more realistic approach to unsettle newer audiences. Firstly, there are no time-travel elements in Onslaught. Secondly, while the supersoldiers undoubtedly resemble Skynet’s hulking machines, they’re described as humans rather than the cyborgs seen throughout The Terminator franchise.
Despite having a more realistic premise, Onslaught nonetheless explores similar themes. Like the soldiers of Skynet, Wingard’s superhuman villains were created for protection, eventually reprogrammed by a mad German scientist (Stevens) to cause all-out carnage. It’s also a pitting of woman against machine, with Celeste mimicking Sarah Connor’s (Linda Hamilton) determination for survival.
However, the two do slightly differ, with Connor being an ordinary college student caught in a time-spanning war, and Celeste already adept at pulling the trigger. This is where Onslaught pays tribute to Cameron’s second genre-defining classic, introducing a leading lady akin to Ripley’s radical arc.
Like the lead of Aliens, Celeste is a mother-warrior facing off against an unbeatable threat. She is just as fierce a character as Ripley, hell-bent on defending those she loves. Another big similarity is, of course, their shared backgrounds, with both women highly skilled and capable based on their experience and training — in Ripley’s case, having defeated the Xenomorphs in Scott’s classic, and in Celeste’s case, her military past.
Essentially, Onslaught imagines a world where Weaver’s Ripley is pitted against Schwarzenegger’s Terminator. Described by several insiders as a “gonzo action horror thriller” (per Hollywood Reporter), Wingard’s action event brings the best parts of Cameron’s classics together, a blood-soaked homage that expands the story of his 2014 horror hit.
Onslaught Is a Secret Sequel to Adam Wingard’s The Guest
Shortly after Onslaught’s trailer was released, fans began making connections to The Guest, mostly because of the appearance of actor Dan Stevens, who plays a role in both films, and the nature of the new sci-fi. At the time, this seemed like nothing more than wishful thinking, especially since Wingard has teased a potential follow-up for the past decade.
However, during his appearance at the 2026 San Diego Comic-Con, the director confirmed that Onslaught is technically a sequel. While the film won’t feature any returning cast aside from Stevens, who isn’t reprising his role as David, the film is set in the same town as his 2014 indie horror.
Wingard has explained that the government program that created David is also behind the supersoldiers at the center of Onslaught, and the two films happen to take place within the same small New Mexico town. More of a spiritual sequel than a direct follow-up, fans can nonetheless expect references to The Guest and an expansion of its overall story.
Discussing the sci-fi thriller during the Comic-Con panel, Wingard also revealed that he views the film as the conclusion to a three-part saga, which includes his 2011 horror You’re Next. A standalone film that shares little resemblance to Onslaught and The Guest, it’s presumed that the director views the three movies as a thematic collection, similar to John Carpenter’s Apocalypse Trilogy and Edgar Wright’s Cornetto Trilogy.
As for the theme, the only similarity between the three films is their leading characters, all being highly capable female survivors pitted against tougher-than-average killers. You’re Next’s Erin (Sharni Vinson) is a survivalist who hunts her targets down one by one, The Guest’s Anna (Maika Monroe) has a no-nonsense attitude that challenges David’s skills, and Celeste appears to be following in their footsteps with her military background.
After years spent working on MonsterVerse blockbusters, it’s exciting to see Wingard return to his roots with a stripped-back action-horror hybrid, bringing his female-centric trilogy to a blood-soaked close with Onslaught.
- Release Date
-
September 4, 2026
- Runtime
-
92 Minutes
- Director
-
Adam Wingard
- Writers
-
Simon Barrett, Adam Wingard
- Producers
-
Aaron Ryder, Adam Wingard, Alexander Black, Andrew Swett, Jeremy Platt, Simon Barrett
