How Nicolas Cage became an horror icon After a series of mediocre films, horror has breathed new life into his career.

The horror genre, in all its ramifications, is by its nature low-budget and, throughout its history, across different eras and countries, has always welcomed famous mainstream cinema actors whose careers had experienced a decline. The horror genre is often a "lifesaver" for actors on the downslope because it provides them with memorable roles and eccentric characters, along with a very loyal audience that appreciates over-the-top performances. This was the case for Bette Davis and Joan Crawford after What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, but also for Vincent Price and Christopher Lee, who became icons of the genre after a series of far less memorable roles.

But none of these cases is similar to that of a very well-known actor whose career had stalled in the world of B-grade action films before finding a second life as an icon of independent horror. The actor in question is Nicolas Cage, and his new film, The Carpenter’s Son, coming next month, is even a horror version of Jesus' childhood, based on the apocryphal gospels and somewhat similar, in some ways, to the small cult hit Brightburn. But why is Cage considered a modern "Scream King"?

The first phase: the B-Movies

At the beginning of his very long career (115 films to date), Cage starred in the comedy Vampire's Kiss, a film that established his fame as an absurd and over-the-top actor, which created the first myth about his dedication to roles when he really ate a real cockroach for a scene and even gave us one of the very first memes, the infamous "You don’t say?". After that film, Cage's most engaged career phase began and only declined years later, in 2006, when another horror film, The Wicker Man, began to mark the long decline that the actor's filmography would see toward the end of the 2000s and the beginning of the 2010s. That film was the first in which people talked about his exaggerated acting (to this day, the line "Not the bees!" is infamous) and his habit of wearing not-excellent-quality wigs.

Already the following year came the proto-Marvel film Ghost Rider, with a diabolical theme, which didn't do very well at the box office, and then the underrated Knowing, a supernatural thriller. Still staying in the world of B-Movies, two or three years later, in an objectively dull phase of his career, Cage starred in two fairly trashy action-horrors, Drive Angry and Season of the Witch. In 2014, then, came the last film of this initial phase, namely Pay the Ghost, also relatively forgettable. For the following years, Cage focused on spy, action, and thriller films—all more or less on-demand and more or less forgettable. But things were about to change thanks to an Italian-Canadian director who, with just two films under his belt, has become one of the most revered voices in independent horror in recent years: Panos Cosmatos.

From Mandy to Longlegs: Nicolas Cage's horror revival

Almost ignored outside horror circles upon its release and now considered a cult film, Mandy is a film that took Cage's proverbial exaggerated acting to new heights. The film, whose plot is actually very classic, is practically the most beautiful fantasy a metalhead on LSD could have: Cage, in the role of a lumberjack who must free his melancholic girlfriend Mandy from a sect of Satanist biker cultists, gives it all, and his role requires everything—from every extreme of human emotion, from love to delirium, from murderous fury to depression, animating a hallucinatory and ultra-violent film. Some may disagree, but Mandy is an underrated masterpiece of the horror genre and it is also thanks to Cage.

In the same year came a second one, Mom & Dad, more satirical, with another '90s cult actress, Selma Blair—a film about two parents "reprogrammed" by some kind of alien sound who want to kill their own children. A horror comedy of very rare viciousness that, like many indie gems of the genre, was appreciated by all (for John Waters it was the best film of 2018) but seen by very few. In 2018 followed two forgettable films, the psychological thriller Looking Glass and the strange Between Worlds; but in 2019 came the second masterpiece: Color Out of Space by Richard Stanley, one of the most fascinating film adaptations of the eponymous and famous Lovecraft story. Like Mandy, this film is also surreal and ultra-violent—and Cage fits perfectly into it.

That year Cage also starred in a film by the legendary Japanese director Sion Sono, who doesn't make films for the faint of stomach, called Prisoners of the Ghostland. A post-apocalyptic story of ghosts, samurai, and curses that, however, didn't see the light until 2021, after the lockdown. That same year mainstream cinema returned to appreciating Cage thanks to the drama Pig, and the actor returned to the horror-comedy genre with Willy's Wonderland, which briefly became very popular on the internet but as a film was more valid than excellent. Two years later, following the success of surreal comedies like The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent and Dream Scenario, there was another horror-comedy, more successful and fun, namely Renfield, which saw Cage return to a more prominent production alongside Nicholas Hoult.