Adam Wingard has more recently become known for his Monsterverse entries Godzilla vs. Kong and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. But thereâs a certain group of fans that will forever favor his earlier works, especially Youâre Next and The Guest. So those folks in particular will be thrilled to hear that the director considers his next film, Onslaught, to be a continuation of that path.

At Onslaughtâs San Diego Comic-Con panel, Wingard explained: âI saw this film as a completion of a trilogy. I thought it was Youâre Next, The Guest, and then Onslaught. And Onslaught takes place in the same town as The Guest, and there [are] thematic through lines to it.â

Dan Stevens, who starred in The Guest not long after leaving Downton Abbey, is also in Onslaught. (He was also in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, making him a Wingard frequent flyer.)

âThe Guest changed my life,â he told the SDCC crowd. âIt’s a special little movie, and I’m very fond of it; a lot of people are very fond of it ⦠I think a lot of people have been waiting for a sequel to The Guest in some way, but this is, I’m sorry to say, not exactly a sequel, but it is a spiritual sequel. And as Adam says, it lives in the same universe, but I get the opportunity to play an even more insane character.â

Onslaught follows a former Army sniper (Adria Arjona) suffering from PTSD who still has plenty of ferocity (and an impressive stash of weapons) to draw upon when her homeâand in it, her young daughterâcomes under attack by rogue supersoldiers. Stevensâ character is one of the reasons why there are genetically engineered killing machines running around in the first place. The cast of baddies also includes Rebecca Hall and Drew Starkey.

Itâs far more stripped-down than Wingardâs Godzilla movies, and thatâs just how he wanted it to be. When panel host Kevin Smith suggested that early James Cameron and John Carpenter were stylistic influences on Onslaught, Wingard said he was right on.

âThose are probably two of the biggest references,â Wingard said. âJohn Carpenter has always been the main influence for me. So I just got into this thing where I was making all these Godzilla movies, and the main way for me to unwind was just watching They Live three times a week. And it’s just, there’s something his movies do to me. It’s like magic. I just like the vibe ⦠But I think with this film, out of Carpenterâs canon, Assault on Precinct 13, the original, was probably [the biggest influence].â

Wingardâs love of retro action movies also extended to the actors he chose for Onslaught. Die Hard fans will note Reginald VelJohnson in a supporting roleâas well as Terminator and Aliens star Michael Biehn, who holds a special place in Wingardâs heart.

Growing up, Wingard became a fan of Biehnâs Aliens character, Hicks, even before he saw the movie because he thought the action figure was cool. Then, when he finally got to see Hicks in action, âhe [was] as cool as I thought he was gonna be,â Wingard remembered.

So then, when work began on Onslaught, which was scripted by Wingardâs longtime collaborator Simon Barrett, âI was like, I haven’t seen Michael Biehn in a movie in a long time ⦠let’s just write this role for him and get him. I mean, to be honest with you, [we] almost wrote the role just so I could hang out with Michael Biehn. And so I sent him this letter, and it was all about the story I just told [about being a Hicks superfan]. He was very touched, and we started talking, and now we’re like homies, and it’s like, it’s so cool, you know?â

What else is San Diego Comic-Con for, if not geeking out over oneâs fandoms? Onslaught hits theaters starting September 4.

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