We do like a Nick Cage film at the Hothouse and Nick’s latest offering Arcadian, which is out in UK cinemas from 14 June, is a real belter, despite a purely limited amount of screentime for our hero.
Set in a not so distant post apocalyptic future where humanity has been reduced to a few rural farmhouse communities, Nick plays Paul the father of two boys, Joseph (Jaeden Martell) and Thomas (Maxwell Jenkins). By day they potter about the farm or collect scrap from abandoned ships, but at night the farmhouse goes into lockdown when these strange creatures of a weird biology come out looking for a meal.
Now just to complicate matters Thomas has fallen for Charlotte (Sadie Soverall) at the neighboring farm and has taken to bunking off from scavenging missions with his brother. Now this is fine until Thomas falls down a ravine on the way home and dad has to go out and look for him after dark. Paul finds Thomas but so do the creatures and Paul is badly injured. When trying to tap Charlotte’s folks for some antibiotics goes really horribly wrong the two lads plus Charlotte and the dog end up being trapped back in Paul’s farmhouse as the steadily evolving and adapting intelligence of the creatures prepares them to make that final frenzied assault on the remnants of humanity.
A completely gonzo mashup of A Quiet Place, The Thing, I am Legend and Dog Soldiers that rips up the beautifully verdant Irish countryside, Arcadian is a whole bunch of demented fun with great performances from the young leads, edge of seat action and squirmingly good creature effects. We give it a big 666/666. Daily Mail offence scale: smoking and lots of violence
Simon's Horrible Hothouse of Horror 
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