For the first half of the film, Cage gives a very restrained performance as the lumberjack who enjoys his quiet existence in the woods with his girlfriend. The interactions between Red and Mandy give the impression that Cage’s Red Miller needs Mandy to complete him, and nothing more. He’s the kind of man who’s just content standing near her aura, and their relationship fills the film with a tender, heartfelt warmth.

Cage’s subdued demeanor enhances his tumultuous transformation in the second half, which he told Entertainment Weekly was inspired by none other than Friday the 13th’s Jason Vorhees:

“Before he drinks that supernatural drug, or whatever it is, his fighting style is more ferocious, is more cat-like and feral. Whereas after the drug, there’s a transformation where he becomes almost like a golem, the ancient Jewish golem that was a supernatural statue that came to life. And I think Panos wanted that, he wanted me to be almost like Jason-esque, you know, from those horror films that were so popular. Panos and I really both decided what the graph of the performance would be. How much more Jason-esque is he there? Or like a statue there? We built this both together.”

Cage’s performance is everything you’d expect from this eccentric icon (and, yes, there are a handful of Cageisms that will live immortally hereafter); however, he gets slightly eclipsed by Linus Roache’s terrifying performance as Jeremiah Sand.