The Mosley Review: Onslaught

I enjoy the occasional throwback action film that was inspired by the late 80's and early 90's action films that blended the horror and B level sci fi genres. You can honestly throw a rock and hit at least 10 films that were inspired by the likes of The Terminator, Universal Soldier, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and many other grindhousian films. What they all have in common is that they do what is considered taboo at the time and intentionally poke fun at the outrage. Again, I enjoy these type of films, but its starting to get a little tiresome seeing so many pop up. Earlier this year we had "They Will Kill You" and that was the perfect balance of creative action that took itself seriously while being on the right wavelength of goofiness. This film unfortunately skewed too far into the more serious nature and lost that level of fun and offbeat tone. It started off promising with its themes of dealing with PTSD and some form of dark science project gone wrong. Without that offbeat tone, the film just falters into a pseudo horror comedy with a very thin story and missed opportunities.

Adria Arjona is always a blast to see on screen and as the downtrodden soldier, Celeste, she excels in showing the characters’ strength. Celeste is a pretty straight forward as her attitude and short tempered side is due to her failed marriage and PTSD. I liked that she was a skilled marksman, but had symptoms of that trauma effect her even in the most important moments. She was a good protagonist and easy to root for. Blake Kennedy was good as her daughter, Daisey. She was a child of a broken home, but I did love that she was still being taught the values of proper etiquette. The chemistry between her and Celeste grows quickly and there was a very fun and touching scene involving a dinner burrito that I loved. Reginald VelJohnson is and will always be a joy to see on screen. As Celeste's trailer park neighbor, Josiah, he was lovely and hilarious. There is a mutual respect and genuine friendship between them that I enjoyed. Dan Stevens delivers an odd and typical evil genius performance as Dr. Hans Kammler. He wasn't too much of a deep character, but I did love the occasional one liner and the design of the character. He was cut straight out of a John Carpenter sci fi horror movie for sure and I loved it. Rebecca Hall may not have been in the film for long, but as Hanna Kammler, she was good as the handler of Dr. Kammler and his provider of his more sensual desires. Drew Starkey was pretty fun as the cleaner of the messes, Cyrus. His altered state of mind made for some bits in the film, but I do wish there was more done with him.

Composer Matt Pusti does a good job delivering the sometimes over the top score that is fun and synth driven. Its later in the film where he delivers the more horror action driven sound and I loved that. Perhaps my biggest gripe with the film was the overall inconsistent tone. I liked the two types of violence we got as the first major scene was splashy and the next was truly brutal and surrealist. I guess the tone bouncing back and forth from B movie action to dark comedy just didn't work for me. There was a level of stalker type horror in the last 30 minutes of the film that I loved and I felt it was undercut by the stupidity of some character decisions and writing. Overall, I was entertained, but I wouldn't say that this is a film you'd rush out to see on the big screen. If you're interested in this film, then I would say just wait for streaming. Let me know what you thought of the film or my review in the comments down below. Thanks for reading!