Arcadian

There isn’t a lot of flab on Arcadian. There’s a brief glimpse of a global apocalypse and societal breakdown as Paul (Nicolas Cage) with his two infant sons flees the city. Fifteen years later and he’s living out in the county in a large ramshackle house.

Paul and his two sons Thomas (Maxwell Jenkins) and Joseph (Jaeden Martell) are eking out an existence under a strict set of rules. One is that they are all locked up in the house at night as that is when they are attacked by something very nasty, unrelenting with vicious claws.

They aren’t totally on their own as nearby there’s Rose Farm where Mr and Mrs Rose (Joe Dixon and Samantha Coughlan respectively) are living a much more communal lifestyle albeit to their own set of rules. Joseph is a visitor and does some work for them and has struck up a friendship with daughter Charlotte (Sadie Soverall). Which causes a problem when he’s late getting home after dark forcing his father to go out into the forest for him.

This type of film generally lives and dies by the design of its monster and director Benjamin Brewer has got that absolutely right. It’s a nasty piece of work all snarling teeth and razor claws leading in some nasty, bloody violence.

Brewer and writer Mike Nilon keep things ticking along with little in the way of character development other than Joseph and Thomas being quite different in their outlooks when it comes to dealing with the creatures.

Where Brewer does come a cropper is with his decision to go handheld camera, with the resulting shaky perspective sometimes making the film difficult to watch. It would hardly surprise if viewers turned off because of this, rather than the violence. If he was trying to convey a sort of documentary vibe then it hasn’t worked.

Cage is good value as always though he doesn’t have a lot to do for a period of the film. That may disappoint those expecting the manic gurning side that can sometimes manifest itself in his horror performances. With the creatures designed as they are there was scope for Cage to go over the top. That he’s more measured benefits the film allowing the grimness of the situation to bed in. Overall this is an enjoyable baggage free monster romp.

Arcadian is in cinemas on 14 June 2024.