Nicolas Cage demonstrates once again that he is the lodestone of madness, the captain of the crazy ship, the no-idea-too-out-there-for-me champion as far as contemporary American actors go. In “Dream Scenario,” a film written and directed by Norway-born Kristoffer Borgli (Sick of Myself”) and produced by Ari Aster (“Midsommar”), Cage plays Paul Matthews, a not particularly interesting tenured biology professor in some unidentified American state (the film was shot in Toronto).

Paul, who has a graying beard and a circle of dark unkempt hair around a bald pate, is not invited to the chic dinner parties given by his colleague Richard (Dylan Baker). But Paul and his wife Janet (Julianne Nicholson) have a working marriage. They have two semi-well-adjusted adolescent daughters: Hannah (Jessica Clement) and Sophie (Lily Bird, “Beau Is Afraid”). In his classroom, we see Paul talk about zebra coloration and the advantage of “sticking out.” Earlier, in what turned out to be a dream sequence, Paul cleans up around the family pool, when suddenly a glass tabletop breaks and one of his daughters starts to levitate.

Paul talks repeatedly about a book of which he has not written a page. He begs a colleague (Paula Boudreau) to acknowledge his dubious contribution to some paper she is about to publish. In short, Paul is a loser. After attending a play, Paul and Janet run into Claire (Marnie McPhail), a woman Paul once dated, who tells them that she has been having dreams about Paul. We also learn from her that Paul took his wife’s last name when they married. Soon, thousands of people are having dreams about Paul. Trent (a sharp turn by Michael Cera), the head of a viral marketing firm, wants Paul to be photographed holding a bottle of Sprite, creating the first collective dream-state advertisement.

The Dean (a reliably fine Tim Meadows) of Paul’s college isn’t quite sure what to do about Paul’s newfound fame. Paul’s students treat him like a celebrity. His daughters think their dad might be “cool.” Paul’s status makes his wife more popular with her co-workers. Molly (Dylan Gelula), Trent’s assistant, tells Paul that the two of them have sex in her dreams. Things turn much darker. Paul begins attacking people horribly in their dreams. He gets canceled and becomes a pariah.

“Dream Scenario” is a dark fantasy about fame, cancel culture and the dangers of “going viral.” We see people’s dreams of Paul re-enacted, the harmless ones first and then the terrifying ones. In a harbinger of what is to come, a mentally unstable young man breaks into Paul and Janet’s house and threatens them with a knife, claiming that he could not help himself. Richard finally invites Paul and Janet to dinner, although it does not turn out well. Paul is warned that his status is “catnip for lunatics.” Having a drink with Molly, Paul realizes that some of the people around him, most of them costumed for Halloween, are staring at him. He is the strange man in their heads.

Paul is a real-life Freddy Kruger. “Dream Scenario” often reminded me of the 2021 entry “Don’t Look Up,” another allegorical cautionary tale that I found a bit half-baked. In many ways, “Dream Scenario” really is the art house version of “A Nightmare on Elm Street” the 1984 horror film sensation written and directed by horror auteur Wes Craven (“The Hills Have Eyes”). But there’s no denying that Cage delivers a top tier man-on-the-verge-of-a-nervous-breakdown performance as this film’s loser-turned-nightmare-stalker. How exactly do the Talking Heads figure in all of this? I’m going to make a wild guess and say someone took “Psycho Killer” way too seriously. Fa-fa-fa-fa.

(“Dream Scenario” contains profanity, sexually suggestive scenes and extreme, graphic violence)

“Dream Scenario”

Rated R. At Landmark Kendall Square. Grade: B