{"id":46880,"date":"2025-10-07T10:20:41","date_gmt":"2025-10-07T14:20:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?p=46880"},"modified":"2025-11-14T13:24:29","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T18:24:29","slug":"could-nicolas-cages-take-on-joseph-the-father-of-jesus-in-new-horror-pic-be-blasphemy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2025\/10\/could-nicolas-cages-take-on-joseph-the-father-of-jesus-in-new-horror-pic-be-blasphemy.html","title":{"rendered":"Could Nicolas Cage\u2019s Take on Joseph the Father of Jesus in New Horror Pic Be Blasphemy?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Kathy Hutchins \/ lev radin \/ Debby Wong \/ Shutterstock.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fall is the season of jack-o-lanterns, pumpkin spice, and cozy sweaters. It\u2019s not often a month looked to for biblical stories, particularly a horror take on a biblical story. But that\u2019s exactly what The Carpenter\u2019s Son,<\/em> 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\u2019s Son<\/em> will feature Joseph with his wife, Mary (played by FKA twigs), and a teenage Jesus (referred to as \u201cthe boy\u201d) played by Noah Jupe.<\/p>\n

The film sells itself as a supernatural thriller, with the carpenter Joseph and his family \u201ctargeted by supernatural forces.\u201d A mysterious figure, played by Isla Johnston, attempts to pull the young Jesus away from his devout father\u2019s rules, revealing to Joseph \u201cthat a demonic power is at work.\u201d Jesus\u2019s new \u201cfriend\u201d turns out to be none other than Satan himself.<\/p>\n

Such a twist on the biblical story must certainly have its detractors. Firstly, there is the film\u2019s trailer<\/a>, 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\u2019s 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\u2019s also an event that happens, presumably, after Joseph\u2019s death, as he disappears from the Biblical record during Jesus\u2019 ministry days.<\/p>\n

The film\u2019s reception has been mixed on social media. \u201cTruly sick and evil!\u201d wrote one user on X<\/a>. \u201cNicolas Cage headlines horror film about Jesus’ childhood in first trailer for \u2018The Carpenter’s son.\u2019\u201d It has also been \u201creview bombed\u201d on Google, amassing a rating of just 1.4. \u201cA disgusting attempt to defame and mock the Christian faith,\u201d wrote one reviewer. \u201cThe phrase most used in the Bible is \u2018do not be afraid\u2019- 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\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fall is the season of jack-o-lanterns, pumpkin spice, and cozy sweaters. It\u2019s not often a month looked to for biblical stories, particularly a horror take on a biblical story. But that\u2019s exactly what The Carpenter\u2019s Son, which hits theaters November 14, aims to be. The film features Nicolas Cage in the unlikely role of Joseph,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":516,"featured_media":46883,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-television"],"yoast_head":"\nCould Nicolas Cage\u2019s Take on Joseph the Father of Jesus in New Horror Pic Be Blasphemy?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Nicolas Cage stars as Joseph in The Carpenter\u2019s Son, a horror take on Jesus\u2019 childhood that\u2019s drawing backlash from Christians online.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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