A Horror Cinematic Universe Was Just Confirmed, and It Means Fans Were Right All Along
New horror universe incoming! Not really, though: it was right in front of fans all along. What we have now is confirmation that the connections fans were making between the films weren’t just conspiracy or wishful thinking: they were savvy observations about how one acclaimed horror filmmaker was slowly but surely weaving a web of darkness around multiple films he released.
Adam Wingard is now known for directing Warner Bros.’ Monsteverse event films, Godzilla vs. Kong and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, but he got that work after directing some cult-hit horror films, You’re Next (2011) and The Guest (2014). For years now, horror fans have been dropping theories that The Guest was just the first chapter in a larger horror universe. And now that Wingard is returning to the genre with his new action-horror film Onslaught, fans have been connecting it to this shared universe theory.
Adam Wingard (Finally) Confirms His Horror Shared Universe
The plot of Onslaught sees Adria Arjona playing “Celeste,” a former soldier now living in a trailer park, while dealing with her PTSD. After her daughter comes to stay with her for a bit, Celeste discovers they are both in grave danger: a nearby military research lab lost track of its worst experiment: a squad of relentless, bloodthirsty, super-soldiers, led by “The Butcher” (Alex Pereira). Celeste has to go to war again, to stay alive.
In an interview with AP, Adam Windgard confirmed that Onslaught takes place in the same universe as The Guest and forms a thematic trilogy with both it and You’re Next.
“To me, I look at this as a cap on the trilogy between The Guest and You’re Next. Really at the end of the day, it’s not like a direct sequel in the sense that it’s a continuation of those characters, but it takes place in the same town as The Guest, and the ideas, the secret programs we’re seeing going on here are just other little aspects of what David’s character came from in The Guest. So you could actually call this technically a sequel to The Guest, but it’s in the same universe, I would say.”
As one fan responded, “I love when directors clear up fan theories instead of letting everyone keep guessing.”
To make things more concrete for fans to understand, Wingard revealed there is one landmark that directly links Onslaught to The Guest: “The main through line is the city that it takes place in, the city of Moriarty, which is the same city as in The Guest. But thematically, I look at this as a trilogy because each one is a horror film that is utilizing a different aspect of military post-traumatic stress, and how those sort of affect the world around them.”
How Onslaught Connects to The Guest
The Guest starred Dan Stevens as “David,” a former U.S. Army sergeant who comes to the home of his supposed best friend in the service to help his family grieve his death. At first, he is welcomed graciously and seems to be of great help to each member of the family, whether it’s the teenage daughter struggling to fit in (Maika Monroe) or the son who is being bullied, or even the dad who is being mistreated by his boss. However, it soon comes to light that David is something far more dangerous: the product of a military experiment using programmed soldiers. Now, The Guest looks like a preamble to the insanity that’s about to be unleashed in Onslaught.
Your’re Next‘s place in this trilogy is a bit more unclear: fans have pointed to The Guest featuring an Easter egg like the animal masks the killers wore in You’re Next, but that’s about it.
Onslaught will be in theaters on September 4th. Discuss more horror movies with us on the ComicBook Forum!
