East Coast Premiere

A sun-soaked fever dream of midlife crisis, territorialism, and full-throttle Cage Rage™, The Surfer is a sweat-slicked psychological thriller that hangs ten between existential drama and deranged B-movie bliss.

When our Odyssean hero (Nicolas Cage, in all his red-faced, vein-popping glory) returns to the Australian coast with his son in tow, he’s hoping to reclaim more than his childhood beach house—he’s chasing a dream, a legacy, the ultimate wave. But paradise has since been claimed by a gang of aggressive gatekeeping surf bros, led by the smiling, shark-like Scally (Julian McMahon). Their message is clear: locals only, mate. The humiliation is swift, the rejection absolute. But Cage’s washed-up wanderer refuses to go down without a fight, squatting in the dunes, plotting unhinged surf-samurai vengeance.

As much a villain as the territorial alpha surfers, the brutal Aussie sun beats down with an almost mythic hostility, turning paradise into a sweltering, disorienting purgatory. This microcosm of masculinity-most-toxic is drenched in its golden rays, belying the nightmare unfolding beneath as our aggrieved hero stands his ground while ever-insaner indignities are hurled his way.

Director Lorcan Finnegan (2019’s Vivarium) delivers an escalating spiral of humiliation, brutality, and hallucinatory madness that evokes everything from The Swimmer to Point Break. Impeccably scripted by Thomas Martin, The Surfer taps into primal anxieties—belonging, masculinity, the terror of aging—before snapping into full-blown psycho-thriller mode, where the only rule is: suffer first, surf later.

A delirious, bare-knuckled, wave-crashing descent into the abyss, this is Cage Unleashed at its most gloriously unhinged—feral, desperate, and utterly hypnotic.

– Nicole McControversy

Special thanks to Lionsgate & Roadside Attractions

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