Jesus was a refugee. You’ve no doubt heard that observation before, but how many times have you seen it transformed into a horror film about paranoia, familial resentment, and dread? From its opening minutes, Lotfy Nathan’s The Carpenter’s Son lets you know that’s what you’re about to see, and then some.
At first glance, if you’ve only been vaguely paying attention to this new film, starring Nicolas Cage as Joseph the father of Jesus, you might be expecting something a bit like Brightburn, the story of a petulant child taking their new superpowers too far. To its eternal credit, The Carpenter’s Son does not take this obvious, if reliably entertaining, road, at least not very often. No, this is a film after something bigger, and while it doesn’t always hit what it’s aiming for, there is something undeniably appealing in its ambition.
Based on the apocryphal Infancy Gospel of Thomas, which describes Jesus’ early years and first brushes with his holy gifts, The Carpenter’s Son opens with the night of Jesus’ birth (It’s technically a Christmas movie!), and puts a harrowing spin on things. It’s anything but a silent night, as Mary (FKA Twigs) has barely had time to catch her breath before Joseph (Cage) tells her they have to leave. The Biblical Massacre of the Innocents is already unfolding outside, and Joseph knows that if King Herod’s goons find Jesus, they’ll promptly kill him. So the family makes their escape, setting up a life on the run while passing by a truly harrowing scene of slaughter outside.
Fast-forward 15 years, and the family is still living a frustrating, nomadic existence. They pull up to a town, Joseph finds carpentry work wherever he can, and they stay until people start to inevitably get suspicious. Jesus (Noah Jupe) does not yet know what he is, but his parents, of course, have known from the beginning. For Mary it’s a blessing, a purpose she wholeheartedly embraces as she dotes on her son. For Joseph, who’s also well-aware that he is not Jesus’ real father, it’s the worst Stepdad gig in recorded history, and it gets worse when Jesus starts to realize what he’s capable of doing.
It’s here that the story splits into two distinct threads. In one you have Joseph, trying to provide for his family, forced to carve pagan idols for money despite his intense faith in the God of Abraham, constantly looking over his shoulder for trouble. In the other you have Jesus, a 15-year-old boy who, despite his holy provenance, kinda just wants to be a 15-year-old boy. That means temptation, both physical and supernatural, toward sin and away from his destiny. There are dark forces at work in the world, and they’re well aware that if they can tip the balance of the war between Heaven and Hell if they can recruit God’s only son to their side.
When this is the story, and Nathan’s film leans hard into playing with Christian mythology in ways both beautiful and terrifying, The Carpenter’s Son works as a taut piece of horror-fantasy. There are demons in the world, and tempting serpents, and strange visions of impending doom. There are miracles and magic and monsters, and caught between them all is a child on the verge of manhood who has no idea that he’s meant for greater things. It’s the First Temptation of Christ, and it’s very fun to watch, particularly when Nathan’s camera lets the natural beauty of the family’s surroundings shine through the narrative.
The family drama on the other side of Jesus’ story, though, doesn’t land nearly as well. Apart from a few flashes of greatness from Cage, particularly during Joseph’s intense bouts of prayer, these segments of The Carpenter’s Son feel stiff and predictable. Twigs, once her role in the story as the woman who birthed Christ is fulfilled, barely gets to be a character, and has to be content as an emotional crutch for her son rather than a fully formed person. Jupe, who seems to delight in playing with Jesus’ powers, also struggles a bit with this portion of the material. At times his entire personality seems to be “mad at his Dad,” which isn’t unwelcome in this kind of drama, but it’s also not done well enough for us to keep caring. Refugee horror can be quite potent, as anyone who’s seen films like His House knows very well, but after that opening sequence, this half of The Carpenter’s Son never finds those high notes again.
Paradoxically, the biggest issue The Carpenter’s Son struggles with is the weight of its story. There is an automatic heft to the story of Jesus’ youth, and while the film succeeds in portraying the supernatural side of that heft, it doesn’t do so well with the human side. These moments of pure family strife leave you wanting, and they build toward a predictable end.
But these shortcomings, at least for me, are not enough to overshadow what The Carpenter’s Son does well. Is it a tonally confused, deeply uneven movie that tries to run parallel emotional threads and tangles them up? Absolutely, but when it’s a fun piece of supernatural horror about arguably the most consequential teenager in human history? That’s what makes you want to stick around. The Carpenter’s Son is a mess, but it’s an ambitious mess, and the scarier side of the story, while not all that scary, has something for Christian mythology nerds and fans of demonic horror alike.
The Carpenter’s Son is in theaters now.
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