The Carpenter’s Son is released in UK cinemas this week, but early reviews of the Biblical Nicolas Cage-starring horror film have seen it labelled “tedious” and “misconceived”.
Also starring FKA Twigs, Noah Jupe, and Souheila Yacoub, Lofty Nathan’s latest film tells a childhood tale of Jesus with a horror twist.
The film’s official synopsis reads: “The Carpenter’s Son tells the dark story of a family hiding out in Roman Egypt. The son, known only as ‘the Boy’ (Jupe), is driven to doubt by another mysterious child and rebels against his guardian, the Carpenter (Cage), revealing inherent powers and a fate beyond his comprehension.
“As he exercises his own power, the Boy and his family become the target of horrors, natural and divine.”
It comes to UK cinemas on November 21 after being released in the US a week prior, but early reviews have seen it land a poor 33% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Altitude Films
Related: UK film release dates: Find out when all the latest movies are coming to cinemas
The critics’ consensus reads: “The Carpenter’s Son is peculiar enough to hold some cult appeal, but for all the promise this biblical horror’s conception holds, its execution proves far from immaculate.”
In their review, RogerEbert.com wrote: ” The film is a generally tedious and occasionally goofy horror/coming-of-age saga featuring a performance from Nicolas Cage that will inspire more shrugs from viewers than anything else.”
Variety reasoned: “It’s a thoughtfully conceived and executed film that is hard to love, but neither can it be glibly dismissed – the kind that may be more exciting to debate afterward than it is to actually watch.”
The Guardian said: “It’s all so hard to define not because it’s too brave and original to fit into the system, but because it’s never all that clear that anyone involved knows what the hell they’re making.”
Altitude Films
Meanwhile, The Hollywood Reporter added: “For all its visual stylishness, The Carpenter’s Son feels like such an essentially misconceived project that it seems destined for future cult status, with audiences at midnight screenings shouting out the more outrageous lines in unison with the actors.”
AV Club simply said: “It takes dedication to make a dull movie where Nicolas Cage plays Joseph and Jesus gets into a fistfight with Satan, but The Carpenter’s Son sets to its task with devotion, if little else.”
Speaking ahead of the film’s release, Nathan explained how he has reacted to the controversy around The Carpenter’s Son’s religious themes, with backlash surrounding the horror stylings.
“I knew going in that this would be controversial,” he told Nerd Reactor. “It wasn’t the reason that I made it. There’s another thing fundamental to this story, something that I hadn’t seen before in a film. This missing piece of the puzzle was really compelling to me.
Altitude Films
“The way I see it, there are a couple of aspects of the controversy. One is the depiction of horror, that brand, and that spin on this story. I think that, for me, it really just came out of an effort to portray this with realism in mind, this setting.”
He continued: “As I was reading the apocryphal texts to start the script, I thought that a lot of the Bible, in fact, is scary. And I also then thought about the art that I had seen growing up, and this tradition of art throughout Christianity, and showing those different sides of it.
“And that, to me, is just kind of like a color value. It was like a palette to use. So it wasn’t really meant to shock that way.”
The Carpenter’s Son is released in UK cinemas on November 21
The new edition of Living Legends is here! Buy Ariana & Witches in newsagents or online, priced at just £8.99.
Freelance Reporter, Digital Spy
Rebecca is a freelance journalist who specializes in TV and film. After beginning her career as a digital entertainment journalist for the Express & Star and Shropshire Star, she embarked on a freelance career in 2021 contributing to the likes of Metro UK, The Sun, WhatCulture, Screen Rant, FilmHounds Magazine and more.
Her particular field of interest is horror cinema and she has written for genre publications such as Ghouls Magazine and Moving Pictures Film Club.
LinkedIn