Overlook Film Festival 2024 – Ever since The Walking Dead and more recently, The Last of Us, the wave of apocalyptic films and TV shows feels endless. Some are certainly better than others. Arcadian is a wickedly cool creature feature that, though, a bit short on the world-building, excels at offering plenty of tension and frightening monsters.

Directed by Benjamin Brewer with a script by Michael Nilon, the film stars Nicolas Cage as Paul, who, during the film’s opening, saves two baby boys just as the world crashes. Fast forward to fifteen years later, and the boys are all grown up, living with Paul in a small farmhouse. They board up the windows and doors each night to prevent the creatures from invading the home and devouring them while they sleep. During the day, the boys spend their time foraging and scrounging what they can. For Cage, this is a more subdued role, and for the most part, he plays a loving, protective father-figure. The real stars of this film are the brothers, Jaeden Martell as Joseph and Maxwell Jenkins as Thomas. Both Martell and Jenkins turn in compelling performances here. Their characters are stark opposites. Joseph always has his nose in a book and wants to study and trap the monsters to find a way to stop them. Thomas is much more brash, to the point he falls in a cave at one point and nearly gets his father killed in the process.

The film is rounded out by a few other characters at a nearby farm, most notably Sadie Soverall as Charlotte, who certainly handles a shotgun well and takes down more than her fair share of the monsters. Together, the teens make quite the capable and assertive trio. Thomas and Charlotte also have a budding romance that provides a bit of relief from the end-of-the world scenario.

The feature’s main flaw is its lack of world-building. Very briefly, Paul talks about pollution, but did that cause the apocalypse and the creatures? It’s unclear. From the start, this film moves at a brisk pace and is all about the nail-biting suspense. It doesn’t really leave time to fill in the gaps or offer much explanation, but that said, it’s one heck of an enjoyable creature feature. The monsters look really gnarly, part xenomorph, part demogorgon, with some of the creature designs from A Quiet Place tossed into the mix. They’re unrelenting beasts that grow smarter as the runtime progresses. Really, other than the brothers, the creatures steal the show here.

For those coming to this film hoping for another over-the-top Nic Cage performance, this isn’t it. Instead, Arcadian is a riveting creature feature with a well-drawn script. This is one of the most entertaining monster movies we’ve had this year.

7 Out of 10