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Nicolas Cage may be the ideal selection for a bold horror film focused on Jesus Christ, though not for the motivations certain fans could guess. In reality, Cage doesn't actually act as Jesus in The Carpenter’s Son: his role is referred to only as The Carpenter. Cage is framed as the Joseph of this tale, attempting to uphold his religious convictions while his son (portrayed by Noah Jupe), his now-teenage foster child, begins to show supernatural abilities. The reason it's hard to picture another prominent performer in this role is that while the role becomes stricken with numerous challenges, Nicolas Cage appears nearly emotionally certain that this gloomy, grim small film is worth his time.

The Actor's Current Projects

Cage was spending that time more judiciously in recent years. He still does more movies than the majority of regular audiences may ever watch — for instance, were you informed that he has completed three separate cowboy movies in the past three years? — but he also includes esteemed A24/Neon gigs such as one recent hit, another notable movie, and Longlegs. The Carpenter’s Son appears to be in that category, because it’s genre-adjacent, likely to stir debate, and handles a exaggerated description with gravity.

The Film's Storyline and Direction

Unfortunately, filmmaker Lotfy Nathan does not reward the audience's focus. The film starts from a interestingly wandering place, presented as based on an unknown scripture regarding Christ’s childhood. The Carpenter, The Mother, and their child move frequently, afraid of doctrinal intolerance or doubt regarding The Boy’s strange powers. “Trouble pursues us,” The Carpenter gloomily remarks. It goes on as sinister entities focus on them in their latest settlement, getting a jump-start on that traditional religious challenge for the son.

Sometimes, the film echoes an demonic possession-type possession movie, but not one of the main figures are directly possessed. Instead, they become more and more distant from one another, when these powers affect a resident female (Isla Johnston, named “The Stranger”) who The Boy connects to, and presents everyone troubling visions of a grim future. The Carpenter especially grapples with his position within the plot, at times berating his child he can’t fully understand.

Controversy and Care

The subject matter is likely to invite debate, and the director treats it with a lot of care — overly, possibly. The concept of a young man dealing with his eventual sacrifice and tempted by dark influences is certainly terrifying, but Nathan might be cautious about appearing sensational and eager to signal his aims, therefore he regularly retreats into dimly foreboding filming. The roles constantly ponder — FKA Twigs, who demonstrated genuine potential in the 2024 Crow remake, of all things — yields her performance to her character's costume, at times punctuated by several gruesome scary visuals.

Cage's Performance and Film's Flaws

Meanwhile, the actor flirts with just the sort of overacting that his more snickering appreciators may desire. There is a moment (featured) in promotional material in which he loses control and screams “My belief is broken!” If that kind of dramatic explosion is a component of your Jesus-themed horror movie, perhaps a more openly absurd approach would make better use of Cage’s willingness to be extreme as required. Instead, The Carpenter’s Son echoes the poorer low-budget films Cage made over the last decade — apart from the B-movies but rather the serious stories and paranormal movies that always sound promising, and frequently include some select actor's highlights, but in the end seem like, frankly, low-budget DTV material.

Frankly, a number of those, although simpler, were easier to view overall. This is when I must break my personal rule, not spiritual but career-related: Years back, a respected mentor persuaded me to eliminate adjectives like “tedious” or “uninteresting” from my film-criticism vocabulary. These words convey little except a personal and broadly stated lack of patience, withdrawing from the job of vibrantly communicating the thoughtful and sensation of viewing a specific film. It's challenging to express boredom without seeming uninteresting personally. It's equally vague as terming a movie “engaging.” “Say more,” in other words.

But I must confess, I grew weary throughout The Carpenter’s Son. To the movie’s non-exploitative credit, it’s a devotional type of dullness, not for The Carpenter’s Son is preachy, but because it takes a sort of patient acceptance to view it. After a while in the beginning, the movie settles into a monotonous pattern of simmering distress, and does not