Classic Cold War end credits.

Wow. What a great movie.

“It’s not safe for you.” Cute scene. Little whimper at the end. What a good boy!

Breaks some standard bullshit. The above and the lack of a triangle.

10 second apocalypse game was a great idea. Neither needs be true. Both based in reality? Something fucked happened.

Disney’d franchise this.

Its nice to see Nicolas Cage in a film deserving of his talents.

Arcadian is not an exceptional horror thriller but what it does do, is done competently enough to be deserving of praise. It has a serviceable story, that reminds me a little of “A Quiet Place” from 2018. The core premise is not quite the same but the monster effects are similar, as is the rural setting.

The tension is ratcheted up nicely as the story progresses. As is always the case with what is essentially a survivalist horror, we know the creatures are going to get in but what happens next is, of course, the interesting part. Along the way we get to know the key characters, including Cages father figure. His effective absence part way through film and his return near the end, is a little disappointing but given this film has a coming of age component, its understandable.

Acting is decent throughout and you can certainly relate to the plight of Cages little ad-hoc family. The creature effects work well enough too but somehow, they are just not all that creepy or especially menacing. This tends to rob the film of a real post apocalyptic horror vibe. I think revealing exactly what they are, early on, was a mistake too that took away any reveal/jump scare potential, from the film.

All that said, Arcadian is in most respects a worthwhile watch that you should consider adding to your horror/thriller inventory. Definitely worth a look.

Disregard the low ratings
Fabulous tension, if this doesn’t have you with knotted guts, I don’t know what will Cage is excellent, really believable as a fierce father. The two boys are great, as is the rest of the cast The premise is a well worn trope, but that’s ok, these “It follows”…”A quiet place” ….etc, can really work in the right hands This could have been amazing if the DP had more time setting up shots. He didn’t…. this was made on a shoestring budget, probably with a freaking IPhone.

The creatures are terrifying, and relentless , this flick could have a follow up movie, showing where the kids start to win against the creatures The Cage renaissance continues.

Lost Its Focus
The constant shakiness of the camerawork makes this film physically challenging to watch unless you have an iron constitution that prevents motion sickness. I found the most relief during the scene when the camera is mounted on an ATV. Otherwise, every scene rattles and blurs and bounces and trips on a rock, distracting from the quality acting, storytelling, and world-building. I would have really enjoyed seeing more of everything in the film, but I couldn’t focus fast enough before the camera swished up and down and vibrated until I had to look away. In the end, I listened to more of the movie than I saw of it, which is a shame because I was very excited after seeing the preview.

Classic Cold War end credits.

Wow. What a great movie.

“It’s not safe for you.” Cute scene. Little whimper at the end. What a good boy!

Breaks some standard bullshit. The above and the lack of a triangle.

10 second apocalypse game was a great idea. Neither needs be true. Both based in reality? Something fucked happened.

Disney’d franchise this.

Its nice to see Nicolas Cage in a film deserving of his talents.

Arcadian is not an exceptional horror thriller but what it does do, is done competently enough to be deserving of praise. It has a serviceable story, that reminds me a little of “A Quiet Place” from 2018. The core premise is not quite the same but the monster effects are similar, as is the rural setting.

The tension is ratcheted up nicely as the story progresses. As is always the case with what is essentially a survivalist horror, we know the creatures are going to get in but what happens next is, of course, the interesting part. Along the way we get to know the key characters, including Cages father figure. His effective absence part way through film and his return near the end, is a little disappointing but given this film has a coming of age component, its understandable.

Acting is decent throughout and you can certainly relate to the plight of Cages little ad-hoc family. The creature effects work well enough too but somehow, they are just not all that creepy or especially menacing. This tends to rob the film of a real post apocalyptic horror vibe. I think revealing exactly what they are, early on, was a mistake too that took away any reveal/jump scare potential, from the film.

All that said, Arcadian is in most respects a worthwhile watch that you should consider adding to your horror/thriller inventory. Definitely worth a look.

Disregard the low ratings
Fabulous tension, if this doesn’t have you with knotted guts, I don’t know what will Cage is excellent, really believable as a fierce father. The two boys are great, as is the rest of the cast The premise is a well worn trope, but that’s ok, these “It follows”…”A quiet place” ….etc, can really work in the right hands This could have been amazing if the DP had more time setting up shots. He didn’t…. this was made on a shoestring budget, probably with a freaking IPhone.

The creatures are terrifying, and relentless , this flick could have a follow up movie, showing where the kids start to win against the creatures The Cage renaissance continues.

Trash for teenagers
I really don’t understand where from such high (6.2) rating comes for Arcadian. I mean, everything above 5 should be considered as a solid movie. Has the criteria really fallen that low recently?

Nothing in this movie is sharp (except titles) and camera is swaying all the time as it would be recorded with smartphone handheld. Actually one can get better result with smartphone.

Story is paper thin: no plot, no surprise and nothing to think about. It’s a typical zombie flick in slightly different package. Needless to mention amateurish dialogs.

And as is to be expected for C-class movie, scenery is extremely scarce as well. If we forget the wood in the night, then the whole “story” happens inside old falling apart house (a shack actually).

As one reviewer already mentioned, name Nicholas Cage is only used to catch the attention. I’m quite a fan of N. Cage, but I just don’t understand why a Oscar winner accepts such roles…is kinda embarrassing.