Richard Crouse

SYNOPSIS: In “Onslaught,” a violent new action thriller now playing in theatres, an army sniper protects her daughter from a rogue squad of genetically engineered super soldiers. “Go to your room. Get under the bed. Mommy needs to get her guns.”

CAST: Adria Arjona, Dan Stevens, Eric Wareheim, Reginald VelJohnson, Michael Biehn, Alex Pereira, Drew Starkey, Rebecca Hall. Directed by Adam Wingard.

REVIEW: Laced with Kinky Sex, Drugs and Eurotrash pop, alongside homages to John Carpenter, RoboCop, Jason Voorhees and “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” “Onslaught” is a satiric government conspiracy theory flick that delivers gore but not many thrills.

Set in the near future, “Onslaught” finds retired Army sniper Celeste (Adria Arjona) living off grid in a New Mexico desert trailer park. “I like it here,” she says. “I feel safe.”

Suffering from PTSD and haunted by her violent past, she is caught off guard when her daughter Daisy’s (Blake Kennedy) baby daddy unexpectedly drops the child off for a weekend visit. Celeste wants a quiet visit with her but is troubled by nearby suspicious military activity.

Turns out, she has every reason to be suspicious. German mad scientist Dr. Hans Kammler (Dan Stevens) is using the cover of the top-secret facility to create genetically engineered super soldiers. With names like Crybaby (Tyler Hall), Cockroach (Dave Campbell) and The Butcher (Alex Pereira), they are the most lethal soldiers known to man.

“Once they begin killing,” Dr. Kammler cackles, “they will not stop. They are the human equivalent of a heat-seeking missile.”

When the super soldiers escape, chaos reigns as they go on a killing spree. “These men are conditioned to kill until they are stopped.” To keep her daughter safe Celeste dusts off her long buried special set of skills to keep her family out of harm’s way. “I’m just going to say a lot of bad words, okay?” she says apologetically to Daisy.

A collection of influences bound together with blood splatter, excentric performances and one liners, “Onslaught” comes together as a gory conspiracy-driven satire of secret government programs and militarized power.

Director Adam Wingard, working from a script by Simon Barrett, has gory good fun while highlighting the serious notion of unethical behaviour by the military and government. The blood-soaked messaging isn’t subtle, and often played for laughs, particularly by Dan Stevens, whose mad scientist with a penchant for German techno music and licking his wife’s feet, is based on SS general Hans Kammler. It’s a willfully strange performance, perfect for the movie’s old-school exploitation vibe, and the movie feels unpredictable when he’s on screen.

When he’s not on screen, however, the movie plays out pretty much how you might imagine it will. Adria Arjona is a credible action lead, and “Dancing with the Stars” and “Die Hard” actor Reginald “Wrong trailer park, mother******!” VelJohnson adds a dollop of charm as Celeste’s Vietnam veteran neighbor and comrade in arms, but the genetically altered villains are essentially just relentless Jason Voorhees types with glowing eyes and bad dispositions.

They are brutal, and a violent scene in a gas station convenience store is grim display of random violence, but overall, they aren’t as menacing as the movie needs them to be.

“Onslaught” is stylish and satirical but delivers more political subtext than actual thrills.