Arcadian

I don´t know about you but i really appreciate the genre known as creature feature horror films. Especially if they are done with practical make up effects instead of CGI and i am definetely open for all kinds of films in this genre. Creature feature horror films have been around for a very long time and have made a huge impact on horror films in cinemas worldwide. The genre includes everything from mutated animals, aliens, monsters, flesh eating plants, mutated bugs, enormous sea creatures and much more. You have classics such as Creature From The Black Lagoon, The Thing, Critters, Mimic ( a film i feel should be talked about more often ), The Burrowers, Python, Alligator ( the original film from 1980 ) and of course we have to add the Alien franchise and the Predator franchise as well. There are plenty of other films that could easily end up on a creature feature horror films list but let´s talk about one specific film that i personally appreciate that was released 19 years ago in 2005. And that is the creature feature horror film known as Feast from director John Gulager ( director of all 3 films in the Feast trilogy ). Feast is a really fun creature feature horror film that really tries to bring back old school monster horror B movies back onto the big screen. Lots of gore, lots of blood and we even have Rollins Band frontman Henry Rollins in this film as well. Kind of reminds me of the really good 1995 horror film Demon Knight in many ways, with some big differences of cours. I highly recommend you pick up Feast on DVD or blu ray if you have not seen it or if you want to get the whole trilogy in a box set. I happen to enjoy all 3 films in this franchise even though i prefer the original film. Legendary actor Nicolas Cage have done it all in his career, everything from serious drama films, action films, thriller films and even horror films playing a lot of different characters. I have personally seen a lot of his film in his long career. Some films are quite good while others such as action film 211 ( The Bank Heist ) from 2018 are not one of the highlights. He did a really good job on the very odd horror film Mandy that really susprised me and i did enjoy horror comedy Willys Wonderland as well. So here we find Nicolas Cage in a creature feature horror film called Arcadian that i have been looking forward to see. Is this a horror film you should check out at home or is this a film that was just as boring as another season of Swedish entertainment show Bäst I Test on SVT?

Paul ( Nicolas Cage ) and his two boys Joseph ( Jaeden Martell ) and Thomas ( Maxwell Jenkins ) are survivors of a pandemic where creatures have taken over Earth and the remaining survivors try and survive every way they possibly can. Paul and his sons live in a farmhouse where they get supplies during daytime, since night time you are not allowed to go outside. So far they have managed to do quite well but not even they can hide from the creatures waiting out there. They still need to find other supplies, even if it means taking chances.

Imagine if you mixed influences from the 2017 horror film It Comes At Night and added some extra flavors of the 2018 horror film A Quite Place and you may understand what kind of creature feature horror film Arcadian is. Even though there are some monster attacks in this film they are not at the same level of violence as the 2005 horror film Feast i mentioned earlier in my review. But that´s ok, because it all comes down to if the film is solid enough to please fans of this genre. I would probably say this is more of a dramatic horror film that actually tries to tell a story and do have some character development. The biggest strength of Arcadian is actually not the monster attack scenes but the family chemistry between the characters father Paul ( really good performance from Nicolas Cage ) and his boys Joseph and Thomas ( also great performances from actors Jaeden Martel and Maxwell Jenkins ). The scenes where we get to follow this family try and fix their home after monster attacks and to find supplies wherever they can, you get a sense that they are grateful for the little things they have in life. They don´t know how any day will like so you quickly understand they are just living day by day. Just imagine being forced every single night not to go outside of their house in case these monsters would attack you ( yes they hide during daytime ), not even being able to look at the stars in the sky during night. The monster design is quite different from what we have seen before and the CGI effects of them work pretty good. The violence when it finally arrives do have some effective scenes, but you should probably know this is not a film where a lot of things happen right from the beginning. Anything negative? Honestly i don´t know if i have to bring anything up, i enjoy Arcadian as a post-apocalyptic for telling a simple but effective story of survival and how important family is. Director Benjamin Brewer have made a film that may not be remembered for being one of the best creature feauture horror films in many years, but i believe he may be remembered for bringing us one of Nicloas Cage more interesting films in recent years with Arcadian. If you are a fan of post-apocalyptic films in general and creature feature films as well, i have a feeling Arcadian is exactly what you are looking for. A film worth spending time with, no matter if you watch this film on streaming, VOD or a physical release.

Rating: DDD