Top 10 Nicolas Cage Freakouts

He’s the king of unintentional comedy. Welcome to WatchMojo.com, and today we’ll be counting down our picks for the "Top 10 Nic Cage Freakouts."

For this list, we’re taking a look at the times Nic went full-Cage for a role. Whether he’s happy, sad, or smoking crack with gangsters, these are the ultimate Nic Cage freakouts.

No Nic Cage supercut would be complete without a couple of entries from this 2006 horror remake. The film falls squarely into the “it’s so bad it’s good” category, thanks to Cage’s over-the-top performance. From slapping the hell out of someone in a bear costume—don’t worry they were evil—to questioning another about how a doll got burnt in the most insane fashion, Cage proves once again that no one overacts quite like him. The cherry on top of the crazy cake comes during the film’s climax, as Cage screams like a wild banshee while he’s tortured in the most bizarre way possible. Uh…enjoy?

This film about a widow who falls for her new fiancé’s younger brother was a critical and commercial success when it hit theaters back in 1987. However, if you think for a second that that means Cage didn’t crank his acting style up to 11, you are sorely mistaken. As the aforementioned younger brother, Cage is moody and prone to dramatic outbursts, both of which are on display in this scene. It begins with Cher’s Loretta visiting him to invite him to his estranged brother’s wedding. However, Cage’s character is having none of it and explodes into a fiery rant that culminates with him demanding “the big knife” so that he can kill himself. Yikes!

After his great-great grandfather is accused of planning the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, Ben Gates embarks on a quest to restore his family name. His journey brings him to Buckingham Palace where, wouldn’t you know it, he’s called upon to create a distraction. This is one of the few times in Cage’s career that one of his on-screen freakouts actually advances the plot. Cage walks like a deranged lunatic, screams at the top of his lungs, puts on a laughable British accent and is eventually escorted out by security guards. Whether they were acting or just doing their job remains to be seen…

Oh yeah, this is gonna end well. As the titular “Bad Lieutenant,” Nic Cage threatens the elderly, mocks the dying and does every drug in the book. Near the end of the film Cage’s character winds up smoking crack with some gangsters and the results are predictably hilarious. Cage laughs like a hyena while regaling his new fume-buddies with the stories from the depths of his crack-induced fever dreams. The scene ends with a shootout and Cage’s character demanding that a dead man be shot again as his “soul is still dancing.” The look on Cage’s face after the deed is done: priceless.

Ghost Rider and its sequel Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance provided Nic Cage with ample opportunities to flex his craziness muscles. Who could forget the scene in which he transforms into the titular superhero for the first time? We can only imagine what it must have been like to be on-set for that one, as Cage alternates between maniacal laughter and screams of pure terror. Is he happy? Confused? Scared? Who knows? His craziness carried over to the next film in the series and was on full display during an unintentionally funny interrogation scene. Talk about chewing the scenery!

After losing sixty-five thousand dollars to a wealthy gambler, Cage’s Jack Singer agrees to let the man spend the weekend with his fiancé in order to erase the debt. However, he comes to regret the decision and does everything he can to get her back. This includes waiting in one of the most infuriating airport lineups of all time. Everyone has his or her breaking point and Singer’s comes when the monotonous man at the front of the line admits that he isn’t even flying on that day. In real life this kind of freakout would certainly land you in “airport jail,” but in the film it earns Singer a round of applause.

Directed by Ridley Scott, Matchstick Men is about Roy Waller, a con man with obsessive-compulsive disorder played by Nicolas Cage. After discovering that he has a teenage daughter, he decides to pull a big con and blah, blah, blah who cares? We both know the real reason you’re here is to see Nic Cage freak out; and boy does he ever. During a trip to the pharmacy, a frantic Cage goes absolutely nuts while trying to procure a prescription. He berates the other customers and throws a fit that would make a toddler rolls its eyes. Let’s just say that it doesn’t end well.

With a 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a box office of about $18,000, Deadfall is easily one of the worst movies Nic Cage has ever appeared in. However, is Cage’s performance bad because of the film or is the film bad because of Nic Cage’s performance? We’re going to say that... it’s a bit of both. Deadfall is littered with terrible writing, nonsensical plot twists, and some of the worst acting ever put on screen; and Cage turns in an unhinged performance that is borderline insane. Homing in on just one scene would be just too hard, so we’re going with the entire film for this entry.

There are plenty of great Nic Cage freakouts in this 1997 action film from director John Woo. And while we love the opening scene of him dancing like a maniac while dressed as a priest, it’s pretty hard to top this scene, in which he beats the crap out of a fellow inmate while screaming “I’m Castor Troy” over and over again. The deranged look in Cage’s eyes as he kicks and punches the poor guy to a bloody pulp would be intimidating coming from any other actor. But with Cage holding the reins, it’s nothing short of hilarious.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are some honorable mentions:

• Burned Alive, Kick Ass (2010)
• Paint Time, Zandalee (1991)
• Crying in the Street, Vampire’s Kiss (1989)

The crown jewel of Cage’s filmography, at least from the standpoint of epic freakouts, Vampire’s Kiss is the story of a literary agent who thinks he’s turning into, yep, a vampire. Throughout the film Cage is given ample opportunity to show just how big he can go when given free rein on a set. There’s the scene where his eyes practically leap out of his skull, later becoming an Internet meme. Or the time, as we just saw, he tries to kill himself, fails and then begins to cry. But the cherry on the sundae is this scene, wherein he angrily reminds one of his employees how the alphabet works. Give this man all the Razzies!