If you spent the last decade craving the hypnotic, neon-drenched pulse of 2014's The Guest, director Adam Wingard and writer Simon Barrett have finally cooked up the spiritual successor fans begged for. But Onslaught is not just another mid-budget action romp. It is a full-throttle, analog synth-drenched survival nightmare that trades glossy Hollywood CGI for dusty desert brawls, practical stunts, and a modular electronic score that rattles your ribcage from the opening frame.
The premise is delightfully lean and mean: Adria Arjona stars as Celeste, a retired U.S. Army sniper trying to keep a low profile with her kid in an isolated desert trailer community. That fragile quiet shatters when a rogue squad of genetically modified super soldiers breaks out of a clandestine military bunker nearby. What follows is a brutal siege, where Celeste has to turn household scrap, hunting rifles, and sheer grit into an impenetrable fortress.
And then there is the casting stroke of genius: UFC champion Alex "Poatan" Pereira stepping onto the big screen as "The Butcher." Pereira barely speaks a word, and he does not need to. His stone-faced, monolithic presence alone is terrifying—especially when every lumbering step he takes is backed by walls of distorted, low-end synthesizer dread.
Matt Pusti (Makeup and Vanity Set) Brings Back the Analog Menace
Instead of dialing up a conventional symphonic score with predictable horn swells, Wingard handed the keys to veteran synth producer Matt Pusti, known in the darkwave underground as Makeup and Vanity Set. It is easily one of the smartest musical pairings of the year.
Pusti skips modern digital gloss in favor of real, tactile modular synths, vintage sequencers, and bone-dry drum machines. The sonic DNA screams late-70s John Carpenter (Assault on Precinct 13) collided head-on with Tangerine Dream and the gritty aggression of industrial EBM. There is no orchestral safety net here; the tension lives and dies on rhythmic arpeggios that steadily accelerate until you feel like you are running out of breath alongside Arjona.
During the middle act—when the soldiers cut the trailer park's power grid and begin sweeping through the dust storm—Pusti strips the music down to a suffocating sub-bass drone punctured by metallic percussive hits. It transforms a standard cat-and-mouse shootout into genuine survival horror.
Pacing That Matches the Combat
What makes the audio in Onslaught work so well is how closely Pusti's electronic cues sync with the physical fight choreography. Wingard shot the movie on location using real stunt teams and grounded combat, and the music respects that weight. When Celeste lines up sniper shots from a rusted rooftop, the synths hold long, suspended notes that mimic a shooter steadying their breath. The moment the trigger pulls, the sequencers drop in with punishing force, propelling the film into its next chaotic brawl.
It is rare to see an A24 action-horror film commit so completely to a specific sound palette without winking at the audience or drowning in irony. Onslaught takes its retro-futuristic synth roots dead seriously, using them to build genuine stakes, grit, and physical momentum.
For collectors, synth nerds, and action junkies looking for the complete breakdown of cues, release credits, and streaming links across Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon, head over to our main directory at Onslaught Soundtrack Guide.
Adam Wingard proves once again that action movies hit twice as hard when the music has real texture, teeth, and personality. Powered by Matt Pusti's blistering modular machines and anchored by Adria Arjona's fiercest performance yet, this is the kind of raw, unapologetic electronic action score we will still be spinning on vinyl years from now.
Soundtrack Rating: 9.1 / 10