Florida's Film, Television and the Arts Magazine
Onslaught
I’m definitely not the target audience for Onslaught. Though it’s not based on a videogame, and I'm not a gamer, it certainly has the feel of one. It’s one of the most violently, bloody films of 2026. Almost as gory as Ready or Not 2: Here I Come, but with less sarcasm and humor.
Onslaught Director Adam Wingard and writer Simon Barrett previously collaborated on films like V/H/S, You’re Next and Blair Witch, the third film in the Blair Witch Project series. So the pair have bona fides in original horror fiction. However, Onslaught is so much like a videogame in feel, as well as body count and over-the-top gore, that I had to doublecheck.
Basically, a black ops agency has built a secret testing facility in the Nevada desert to create three super-soldiers. And, as always happens, their trio of ‘pets’ escape the facility and go on a murderous rampage in the adjoining town. These three men were absolutely vicious BEFORE they became test subjects, which is why they were chosen. So you know what’s coming.
There is nothing subtle about the foreshadowing sprinkled throughout the film. Whether it’s mentioned that the subjects can manipulate their own heartbeat, or that they can feel no pain. It’s brutal. Even the soundtrack is brutal. I mean, Paint It Black sung in death-metal German definitely sets your teeth on edge. Additionally, the whole film is extremely audio-driven, which enhances the videogame feel.
The plot is revenge-based. From the mad German psychopathic scientist who developed the subjects, to his equally insane wife, even to our heroine, Adria Arjona, last seen in Splitsville. She’s ex-military, lives in a trailer with an arsenal of her very own, and is in danger of losing her beloved daughter to her ex-husband and his new wife. The trailer park is filled with ex-veterans, none of whom have been treated well by the U.S. military since their discharge . They’re all living on the edge, both of poverty and insanity. So maybe that’s a hidden message in the film. Once the U.S. military no longer needs you, you’re just another disposable body.
