Fall is the season of jack-o-lanterns, pumpkin spice, and cozy sweaters. It’s not often a month looked to for biblical stories, particularly a horror take on a biblical story. But that’s exactly what The Carpenter’s Son, which hits theaters November 14, aims to be. The film features Nicolas Cage in the unlikely role of Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus. While Joseph is often relegated to nativity scenes in theaters, Carpenter’s Son will feature Joseph with his wife, Mary (played by FKA twigs), and a teenage Jesus (referred to as “the boy”) played by Noah Jupe.

The film sells itself as a supernatural thriller, with the carpenter Joseph and his family “targeted by supernatural forces.” A mysterious figure, played by Isla Johnston, attempts to pull the young Jesus away from his devout father’s rules, revealing to Joseph “that a demonic power is at work.” Jesus’s new “friend” turns out to be none other than Satan himself.

Such a twist on the biblical story must certainly have its detractors. Firstly, there is the film’s trailer, which features a Nic Cage voice over and choppy, cryptic scenes of blood and possible possessions, along with a very disturbed-looking teenage Jesus and Mary and Joseph at each other’s throats. The horror genre aside, the story itself is also extra-biblical, apparently inspired by the non-canonical Infancy Gospel of Thomas. While the Gospels do contain an account of Satan tempting Jesus in the desert, it is a grown-up Jesus at the start of his ministry facing off against the Accuser, not a teenager. It’s also an event that happens, presumably, after Joseph’s death, as he disappears from the Biblical record during Jesus’ ministry days.

The film’s reception has been mixed on social media. “Truly sick and evil!” wrote one user on X. “Nicolas Cage headlines horror film about Jesus’ childhood in first trailer for ‘The Carpenter’s son.’” It has also been “review bombed” on Google, amassing a rating of just 1.4. “A disgusting attempt to defame and mock the Christian faith,” wrote one reviewer. “The phrase most used in the Bible is ‘do not be afraid’- this false, twisted, horror is blasphemy and holds a very dark agenda. For over two thousand years Christians are being persecuted and ridiculed, yet survive and prosper through God, in love and peace. I am disgusted but at peace knowing that Jesus Christ himself foretold the world’s hatred for us, yet lead the example by enduring inhumane torture and murder so that we may have salvation through him, and comfort, as he rose from the dead.”