Whatever your expectations are going into Arcadian, drop them. Wherever your bar is, raise it. There’s something so gratifying about a film in the modern cinematic landscape that keeps its cards close to its chest; the trailers are good, yeah, but they don’t come close to doing justice to the full encounter. Arcadian is a sulking, naturally occurring nightmare that effortlessly toes boundaries separating horror, thriller, and drama. It’ll draw comparisons to A Quiet Place, and maybe even something like M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village, yet it may be better than both.
At the head of this thing is Nicolas Cage in a form that he’s found a ton of success in. Stuff like Pig, Mandy, Color Out of Space, and now Arcadian, where he’s taking on driven artistic visions and challenging new perspectives. Here, Cage is hardly the main character, but he continues to find new depth in lateral roles like this one. Maxwell Jenkins and Jaeden Martell end up with the most screen time in principal roles and bring more firepower than you may expect across from Nic Cage. Martell is formal, whereas Jenkins comes off unsteady; their dynamic is crucial in the film’s development of a moving emotional center and provides traction for the tension to latch onto.
The two play twin brothers who’ve been raised by Cage in the wake of “the end of the world”, as they describe it. By day, they tend to their home and surroundings as stable, self-reliant survivors. By night, they must lock themselves inside, barricade every potential entry point, and pray they make it through the night. Such is the world of Arcadian.
This is a debilitatingly stressful endeavor, though all of the dread is earned. Earlier scenes allude to a threat that will later rip the screen to shreds. It’s a generally slow climb but director Benjamin Brewer tailors every movement to the pace. His conceptual prowess here is nearly unmatched in the horror thriller genre as it stands today, from otherworldly creature design and execution to visual experimentation by way of distilled paranoia. It’s a long while before he even slightly pulls back the curtain on the monsters in this one, but the moment he does is one you’ll long remember. Arcadian is full of moments like that.
Brewer manages not only to breathe life into ideas all his own, but to renew familiar ideas that have long been left to die, or misused. The apocalypse, in broad terms, is the inciting incident in probably a dozen or so films every year, and hearing that parroted in poor displays of exposition has gotten older than old. Yet here, in avoiding any specific explanation or expansion on the circumstances, you’re forced to think about it and reach your own ends. This notion goes hand in hand with the sedated pace and experimental nature. To an extent, Arcadian will be what you make of it. So go to the cinema, get enough popcorn to account for the fact that you’re going to lose some of it when you jump, and strap in. This is worth your time.
Arcadian is about as efficient as it gets. It’s a solid trip in the horror thriller space that employs a refreshingly natural, independent aesthetic through pristine composition and color and effective handheld camera work. Benjamin Brewer is a name to look out for going forward, and Nicolas Cage continues to excel in horror and horror-adjacent works that let him run wild. A refined cinematic success that not only deserves a successful theatrical run, but a physical release and dedicated cult following, too. Get on the bandwagon while you can.
Arcadian is currently playing exclusively in theaters courtesy of RLJE Films.
Arcadian is about as efficient as it gets. It’s a solid trip in the horror thriller space that employs a refreshingly natural, independent aesthetic through pristine composition and color and effective handheld camera work.
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GVN Rating 8.5
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User Ratings (1 Votes)
7.6