Nicolas Cage's Arcadian is streaming on Hulu, introducing a new audience to its uniquely disturbing monsters and creatures.
The 2024 horror film follows Cage as Paul, a father who traverses a monster-filled post-apocalypse with his two sons, Joseph and Thomas.
While the movie earned middling reviews upon release, it has taken on another life since coming to streaming. During its first weekend on Hulu, it became the number-one movie on the platform. Part of this success can be attributed to its unique movie monsters.
What Are the Monsters in Arcadian?
Arcadian features a unique take on movie monsters and creatures, pulling influences from across not just horror but movie and TV as a whole.
The monsters in the film are foul dog-like hairy beasts whose origins and exact biological specifics remain a secret throughout the film. They have long fore and hind legs, standing upright to create a kangaroo-like bipedal stature.
They also notably have a hard, camouflaged forehead that resembles an almost human face; however, their actual faces are much more terrifying. They sport a long, hippo-like snout and a dog-like skull.
As demonstrated in the film, these monsters are nocturnal and pose a deadly threat to humans thanks to their long claws extending upwards of one meter.
While these creatures are wholly original creations (like that of its another 2024 monster movie, Azreal), the creative team on Arcadian took inspiration from a somewhat unlikely place for their creation.
Speaking to IGN about the movie, director Ben Brewer revealed that the biggest source of inspiration for the movie's monsters and creatures came from the beloved Disney character Goofy.
"Goofy, the Disney character, was a big inspiration," Brewer posited, pointing to the beasts' "big nocturnal eyes, and massive spaced-out teeth:"
"From the beginning, I had this idea of big nocturnal eyes, and massive spaced-out teeth. Teeth way too big for the creature’s mouth. Goofy, the Disney character, was a big inspiration."
He directly referenced a sequence in The Goofy Movie in which Goofy's son Max has a nightmare about transforming into his father and becoming this truly unsightly version of the Disney mainstay.
"That's where the Goofy thing comes in," Brewer remarked, calling that dream sequence "terrifying:"
"That's where the Goofy thing comes in, because in that film, that dream sequence or even like the way Bigfoot is depicted [in 'A Goofy Movie'], it's terrifying. t's too much personality. We gave our creatures too much personality because it would be freaky for people."
While the final product does not look like a Disney character, looking at concept art for the monsters, one can easily see the resemblance between the Arcadian monsters and Disney's "Gorsh"-spouting canine.
The concepts for the creatures feature these mismatched large teeth kind of like that of Goofy, as well as large, almost cartoony eyes.
In that same conversation, Brewer called the creatures a "combination of organisms" and a "symbol for what can survive on Earth," insinuating that these beasts are what would happen if the Earth's ecosystems were pushed to the brink:
"The combination of organisms becomes a symbol for what can survive on Earth. If this horror show with all these weird attributes is the most competitive species now, then what does that say about our role as the species taking care of the planet?"
This results in a deformed mishmash of animalistic influences that make up the Arcadian monsters: part bear, part praying mantis, part dog, and (yes, of all things) part Disney cartoon.
Arcadian is streaming on Hulu, along with the likes of fellow horror hit Carved.
