Title – The Surfer (2024)

Director – Lorcan Finnegan (Vivarium)

Cast – Nicolas Cage, Finn Little, Julian McMahon

Plot – Returning to his small home town The Surfer (Cage) and his teenage son The Kid (Little) come across a group of territorial surfers who follow the lead of Scally (McMahon), setting in motion a series of spiralling events as The Surfer’s grip on reality loosens.  

“Don’t live here. Don’t surf here”

Review by Eddie on 02/07/2025

This far into his long and storied career we all know that when Nicolas Cage’s name appears on the cast list of a film there’s going to be a certain level of uniqueness and quirkiness involved, with locally made Australian oddity The Surfer certainly fitting the Crazy Cage billing.

Directed by Vivarium filmmaker Lorcan Finnegan, the concept of The Surfer may sound like a rather generic everyday citizen pushed to the edge type of thriller but be warned, Finnegan is not at all interested in making his sun-baked and crazy-eyed feature tow the line of the expected as Cage’s unnamed surfer goes head to head with a bunch of cultish locals who have taken up residence on the beach of his childhood town.

A visually stunning production that feels as though it’s coming straight out of the 80’s era of Ozploitation films and is infused by composer François Tétaz’s psychedelic score, The Surfer wastes precious little time on establishing its set-up that sees Cage and his son (played by rising Australian actor Finn Little) get into a confrontation with a local group of surfers who are under the control of Julian McMahon’s Scally, leading to Cage setting up shop in a beach carpark, spiralling into a series of events that slowly but surely head towards a chaotic endgame.

Taking place entirely within the confines of this beach setting, there’s going to be a lot of viewers that will quickly grow bored or disinterested in Cage’s quest to surf the break at his old stomping ground but despite its many varied flaws and shortcomings there’s an odd charm and dark magic present within Finnegan’s demented and comically tinged affair and you’ve got to admire everyone’s commitment to the cause here in a feature that is quite clearly not to be taken too seriously.

Front and centre throughout the entirety of this devilishly bizarre offering is a new Cage turn that is likely to enter into his ample meme/pop culture vault of delights and whether his waltzing around with a rodent protruding from his pocket, entering into back and forwards with coffee shop merchants or throwing down with burly surf types, Cage is all in here and if you’re entering into this viewing journey in hope of finding new Cage delights, you’re in for a genuine smorgasbord of offerings.

With the local Australian film industry floundering along, filling the semi-regular quotas of generic offerings and po-faced dramas/family friendly affairs, The Surfer stands out as a unique and unexpected feature that may not be refined or deep-meaning but does all it can to be something we’ve never seen before.

Final Say –

With a memorable visual presentation and typically bonkers Nicolas Cage performance, The Surfer is an unashamedly unhinged Australian feature that is destined for a long shelf life in the cult film circuit.

3 bottles of water out of 5