Arcadianhas fared well with critics, who label the film terrifying, atmospheric, and tense. While some reviewers noted that the movie could have featured more of Cage, there’s still praise for its cast, namely Maxwell Jenkins (Lost in Space) and Jaeden Martell (It Chapter II), who portray Cage’s character’s sons, Thomas and Joseph. Alongside Cage, Jenkins, and Martell,Arcadianstars Sadie Soverall, Samantha Coughlan, Joe Dixon, and Joel Gillman. It is directed by Benjamin Brewster.
Among Shudder’s releases for Julyare classic horror films likeThe ShiningandHouse on Haunted Hill(1959) and Caitlin Cronenberg’s directorial feature effort,Humane.
Nicolas Cage is Set For More Horror Success
WhileArcadianmarks Cage’s first major horror film of 2024, it’s not the last we’ll see of the Academy Award-winning actor in the genre this year. The highly anticipatedLonglegs,starring Cage alongside Maika Monroe, Alicia Witt, and Blair Underwood, is poised to be one of the year’s standout horror features: early rave reviews have earned the film a perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes.Longlegsfollows FBI Agent Lee Harker (Monroe) as she pursues a serial killer (Cage’s Longlegs), uncovering a series of occult clues that she must decipher to end his terrifying killing spree.
Although reviews for the upcoming film are minimal, critics seem to agree that the film, and its killer, are likely to stay in audiences' minds long after they leave the theater. Cage appears to agree. During a recent conversation, he spoke about his character in the movie,noting that Longlegs “is going to change your reality:”
“It’s the equivalent of putting a warning label on a jar of nitroglycerin. The monster is a highly, highly dangerous substance. The way it’s moved, unveiled, deployed has to be treated very carefully. Forget about the movie theater blowing up; the whole city could blow up, nay the country, maybe even the world. He is going to change your reality. Your doors of perception are going to open, and your life is not going to be the same.”
Arcadian Review: Legitimately Scary Monsters Pack a Wallop
A father (Nicolas Cage) protects his sons (Jaeden Martell, Maxwell Jenkins) in a post-apocalyptic world.
Cage added that the performance was deeply personal as he connected it to his mother:
“I was coming at it from, what exactly was it that drove my mother insane? It was a deeply personal kind of performance for me because I grew up trying to cope with what she was going through. She would talk in terms that were kind of poetry. I didn’t know how else to describe it. I tried to put that in the Longlegs character because he’s really a tragic entity. He’s at the mercy of these voices that are talking to him and getting him to do these things.”
Longlegspremieres in theaters on July 12 (coincidentally, the same day thatArcadianlands on Shudder).
Cage’s other film of the year, the psychological thrillerThe Surfer(which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on Jul 02, 2025), has also earned early praise.
