Nicolas Cage's Religious Horror Movie Isn't as Wild as It Sounds

The acclaimed actor is likely the perfect pick for a daring horror film about the biblical figure, though not for the causes certain fans could guess. Truthfully, Cage doesn't actually play Jesus in the new film: his character is listed merely as The Carpenter. Cage is cast as a father figure of this narrative, striving to keep his beliefs while The Boy (acted by the young actor), his now-teenage adopted son, begins to display miraculous gifts. Why it's hard to envision any other leading star in this role is that while the figure becomes weighed down with numerous trials, Cage himself seems almost touchingly certain that this murky, grim small film is worth his time.

The Actor's Current Film Selections

Nicolas Cage was allocating that time more carefully lately. He still makes more films than most average viewers may ever watch — as an illustration, were you informed that he has filmed a trio of separate frontier films recently? — yet he also includes esteemed A24/Neon gigs such as Dream Scenario, another notable movie, and a further title. This new film seems like one of those, because it’s not strictly scary, potentially provocative, and takes a campy-sounding premise with gravity.

The Film's Plot and Direction

Unfortunately, writer-director Lotfy Nathan does not justify the audience's focus. The Carpenter’s Son opens in a interestingly wandering place, marketed as inspired by an apocryphal lost gospel about Christ’s childhood. Cage's character, The Mother, and the boy relocate frequently, afraid of religious persecution or suspicion over their son's mysterious gifts. “Trouble pursues us,” The Carpenter mournfully notes. It goes on when sinister entities attack the household at their new home, initiating with that familiar Biblical temptation for The Boy.

At times, this production echoes an demonic possession-type supernatural thriller, except that not one of the lead characters are explicitly taken over. Instead, they are progressively isolated mutually, as these entities affect a nearby girl (Isla Johnston, credited as an outsider) who The Boy bonds with, and presents all troubling visions of a bleak destiny. The Carpenter especially fights with his place within the plot, occasionally scolding the boy he can’t fully understand.

Debate and Care

The subject matter is prone to invite debate, and Nathan approaches it with much care — too much, perhaps. The idea of a young man confronted with his eventual sacrifice and seduced by dark influences is certainly frightening, but the filmmaker may be hesitant regarding looking exploitative and anxious to signal his aims, so he often falls back on dimly foreboding visuals. The figures continually reflect — the singer-actress, who demonstrated notable talent in another movie, of all things — cedes her acting to her character's costume, sometimes broken up by a few disturbing frightening scenes.

The Star's Portrayal and Movie's Flaws

At the same time, Cage dabbles in exactly the kind of overacting that his ironic fans may desire. One scene (also included) in previews in which he erupts and shouts “My faith has been shattered!” When this sort of florid outburst is included in your Jesus-themed horror movie, possibly a more brazenly silly style would make better use of the actor's readiness to go over the top when necessary. On the other hand, the film more closely resembles the weaker low-budget films he starred in during the 2010s — apart from the B-movies so much as the narrative films and paranormal movies that often seem intriguing, and often contain a few choice actor's highlights, but ultimately feel like, well, inexpensive direct-to-consumer content.

Honestly, a number of those, though not as grand, were more entertaining in general. At this point I must disregard my usual practice, not faith-based but work-oriented: Years back, a beloved editor convinced me to eliminate words like “tedious” or “uninteresting” from my analytical lexicon. Such terms communicate minimal other than a subjective and broadly stated lack of patience, disengaging from the task of clearly expressing the intellectual and sensation of seeing an individual production. It's hard to communicate monotony without sounding boring yourself. It’s no more expressive as calling a movie “interesting.” “Explain further,” in other words.

However, I admit, I was bored throughout the film. In its defense, it’s a religious style of boredom, not for The Carpenter’s Son is moralizing, but because it takes a type of patient acceptance to watch it. Eventually early on, the film enters a cyclic tempo of simmering anguish, and fails to