“Arcadian”: Another Nicolas Cage Film, Another Monsters Movie | Review

When you hear the term “Horror movie with Nicolas Cage,” what do you think of it? The veteran and very busy actor, with more than 150 credits and about 15 horror movies on his resume (most of them in recent years), has – quite rightly – been given the name of an actor who doesn’t make too many selections in his choices, mainly thinking about the salary he might get in each movie. With about 4-5 movies a year, many of them disappointing, it’s inevitable. So when another horror movie with Cage comes out, fans of the best genre ever sneer and lower their expectations. On the other hand, Cage himself still does the job in most cases, and every few years, there’s a genuinely worthy film of his, like the critically acclaimed “Long Legs.” I really like this dude and watch most of his movies. So, watching a monster movie with Nicolas Cage is an easy call for me. Even when I know it should be average at best.

“Arcadian” is a monster movie that is very reminiscent of the concept of several monster movies from recent years. This time, Cage and his children fight for their lives against monsters that attack at night in an almost apocalyptic world. It’s a pretty solid film, much more suitable for evening viewing than in the cinema: it was shown in theaters a few months ago, but worldwide, it only grossed a minimal amount of about a million dollars (the film’s budget was not published, but naturally it is pretty minimal).

So, I allowed myself to skip its screenings on the big screen and wait until it was available for comfortable home viewing. Is it worth dedicating less than an hour and a half of your life to it?

What Is Arcadian About?

In my opinion, one of the weak points of post-apocalyptic survival films is their opening. The challenge is presenting the new world in a few minutes, including the reasons for the destruction and the game’s primary rules. Some films do this with flashbacks, voice-overs, news releases, newspaper headlines, etc. “Arcadian” decides to do this in a scene where we follow Cage, who we later learn plays a father named Paul. He runs for his life through the streets of a ruined city and arrives at a house with two babies. Cynics will argue that the way the world is presented in this way is primarily done for economic reasons, meaning to spend as little as possible on the exposition since the movie’s budget was relatively minimal.

From there, we move forward 15 years, with the help of a frugal title, and discover that those two babies are Paul’s sons: Joseph (JJaeden Martell, Bill in “It” movies, “Knives Out,” “St. Vincent”), introverted but intelligent, with odd hobbies like chess and car repair; and Thomas (Maxwell Jenkins, “Lost in Space,” “Joe Bell,” and young Jack Reacher in the Amazon Prime Video series), more problematic, who likes to visit Rose Farm.

In this place, there is a small group of survivors. Thomas does various tasks on the farm, mostly unnecessary, but you know, boys. He is mostly waiting to meet the farm owner’s beautiful daughter, Charlotte (Sadie Soverall, who played the lightning-loving air fairy in the TV series “Fate: The Winx Saga” and had a supporting role in the critically acclaimed “Saltburn”).

What Are The Monsters In Arcadian?

Ah, yes. The plot of “Arcadian” revolves around monsters. In the world where the film takes place, we – and the characters – don’t understand exactly what happened. There are a few clues, like the fact that the water and air quality are far from perfect or that there may have been a war.

The film doesn’t show too much of the post-apocalyptic routine, so it was hard for me to understand how exactly the characters survive for 15 years, what they live on, and how, for example, Nicolas Cage’s character manages to stay shaved and tidy when there is no regular supply of essential products (hell, maybe he even got a hair transplant!). There are monsters, and it is unclear how they came into the world. The main point is that these creatures only attack at night, so it is important to stay home after dark, protect the house well, and so on.

If this concept sounds familiar to you, it is no coincidence. Around the same time that “Arcadian” came out, “A Quiet Place: Day One” was released, the prequel to the film series that achieved awe-inspiring success worldwide (the film grossed more about $262 million worldwide). The concept of the films is quite similar, with a few minor differences: for example, monsters that attack when they hear a sound versus monsters that attack at night. Undoubtedly, “A Quiet Place: Day One” is a better and more significant film in all respects, as we will write in a review in our horror reviews section soon.

One of the main problems of “Arcadian” is the lack of originality. The concept of monster or demon movies that attack a small group of people, usually in a rural or abandoned space, has made quite a comeback in recent years. To create interest and increase the level of danger, there are a few rules the characters must follow or mostly avoid: don’t make noise (the films “A Quiet Place” or “The Silence”), don’t look directly at the creatures (“Bird Box”), don’t let go of the rope (“Never Let Go”), don’t release the vampire girl or reveal her face (“Abigail“), and so on.

Obviously, in films of this type, the characters will have difficulty meeting the conditions, which creates tension and puts them in danger. The same thing happens in “Arcadian” when one of the children is late because that is what women do to them; the father goes out to look for him, and things get out of control. The threat from the monsters becomes more tangible, wildly, when one of the characters is injured. When the monsters try and, at a certain point, also penetrate the bunker.

As you may have already guessed, script and originality are not the strong points of “Arcadian.” The acting is solid but imperfect, with Cage doing his job as usual and Sadie Soverall showing she is a name to follow in the next years despite her minor role this time. Martell and Jenkins were good but not entirely consistent. The actors seem to have struggled at times with weak dialogue or the fact that their characters do not have much emotional depth.

In such terms, the drama at the center of films of this type is left behind. The relationships between the brothers and between them and their father are presented interestingly at times but routine in other parts. The love story of one of the boys with the beautiful farm girl adds innocence to the film. However, it exposes us to several supporting characters whose behavior towards the protagonists seems unclear.

The Strength Of Arcadian: The Appearance Of The Monsters

We don’t come to these kinds of films looking for logic, emotional depth, or exciting drama – even if they can upgrade the movie in several ways – and here, the picture is a little more positive. “Arcadian” was directed by Benjamin Brewer, a relatively unknown name to the average horror viewer. “Arcadian” is his third film, the previous one being a police thriller called “The Trust” that he directed with his brother, starring someone named Nicolas Cage you might have heard of. In between, he also directed a few music videos, for example, for Justin Bieber, so this is someone who should be familiar with the horror genre.

Producer Mike Nilon, who wrote the script here, also knows something about Nicolas Cage. Nilon is also Cage’s agent, manager, and co-producer, so recruiting the busy actor for this film was easy. What’s more, Cage himself is one of the producers. In short, you get the idea.

The filmography of Brower and his co-creators is not that long or impressive, as of now at least, but the fact that Brewer was responsible for the effects on several films, most notably the acclaimed “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” which was produced by Nilon as well.

You can see this guy has a talent for creating visuals. Despite the low budget, the monsters in “Arcadian” often look impressive, even menacing. This is not obvious. In many monster movies, especially the ones with a budget that is a “little” lower than Godzilla, the weakest moments are those in which the viewer sees the sloppy and unreliable appearance of the creatures, which is sometimes laughable. Although the monster scenes are not homogeneous in their level and in the way they present the dimensions of their threat, a large part of them does work, to one degree or another.

Some might say this is too little, too late, especially given that in some of these scenes, the director chose shaky cinematography, making it difficult to see what we are supposed to see. On a plot level, the film leaves a lot of unanswered questions and ends in a way where some of the characters survive but still don’t know much about what’s waiting outside, what these monsters are, or what happened to the world.

It’s possible that “Arcadian” would have worked better as a prequel or even a mini-series, but considering its box office performance and reviews (although not too bad!), it’s hard to believe that will happen.

Should You Watch Arcadian?

“Arcadian” can take you over an hour and twenty minutes of reasonable viewing, but it’s hard to say that it’s too enjoyable and certainly not memorable. It has a gloomy atmosphere and a few good moments, especially in the last part.

On the other hand, there were a lot of flaws, for example, in the script, characters, and the build-up of the story. The film is far from being overly suspenseful, scary, or disgusting (despite being rated R), and you can find much better monster movies, including ones that came out right around the same time.

The good news is that we’ll see a few more Nicolas Cage horror movies very soon.

Arcadian (2023) – Everything You Need To Know

Year: 2024

Director: Benjamin Brewer

Actors: Nicolas Cage, Jaeden Martell, Maxwell Jenkins, Sadie Soverall

Screenplay: Michael Nilon

Running Time: 92 minutes

Country of Origin: United States

Language: English

Parents Guide: R

Release Date: April 12, 2024

Worldwide Gross: About 1.2 Million dollars (according to Box Office Mojo)

Ratings:

IMDB: 5.8

Rotten Tomatoes: 78%

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