Watch: The first full trailer for biblical horror movie The Carpenter's Son
The film — which stars Nicolas Cage as Joseph, FKA twigs as Mary, and Noah Jupe as a teenaged Jesus — is coming to theatres November 14.
The first full trailer for The Carpenter’s Son—a horror movie starring Nicolas Cage as Joseph, FKA twigs as Mary, and Noah Jupe as a teenaged Jesus—is here.
You can watch it below:
A few quick notes:
The trailer begins with Joseph asking, “What awaits us when we turn at last to death?” This gets me wondering if Joseph will die over the course of this film. It is generally assumed that the biblical Joseph died before Jesus was an adult, because he never appears in the gospels aside from the birth-and-childhood narratives. I wonder if this film will tell the story of how that happened. Maybe Joseph will die in some sort of sacrificial way that affirms Jesus’ messianic future. Or maybe this film will go the direction of Brightburn and end on a much bleaker note.
Jesus brings a dead grasshopper back to life. This is reminiscent of how films like The Young Messiah and The Bible Collection: Jesus have shown the young Jesus bringing dead birds back to life. (Those scenes were inspired by a passage in the Infancy Gospel of Thomas in which Jesus turns clay birds into real birds — and that, too, has been depicted in films like A Child Called Jesus and The Book of Clarence.)
A female tempter calls herself “the accuser of light” and “the adversary”. The Hebrew word satan can be translated “accuser” or “adversary”, and the description of this character as an “accuser of light” sounds like it’s borrowing from one of Paul’s letters in which he said “Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light” (I Corinthians 11:14). There’s no masquerading here, though!
An earlier teaser showed a male figure tormenting Jesus, and a snake emerging from that figure’s mouth. Are the male and female figures different versions of the same character? Or are they meant to be different demons? (Satan assumed both male and female forms while tempting Jesus in The Bible Collection: Jesus.)
There is a lot that could be said about the idea that Jesus screamed in anguish as the spirits tormented him, or that Joseph wondered whether Jesus came from angels or demons, but I’m reluctant to get into any of that based on a few clips that have been thrown together more-or-less out of context. Already I can think of a few passages from the gospels that might offer precedents for this. But I can wait until the film comes out before having an opinion about all that.
The distributor has also released a poster for the film:
And it has announced a North American release date: November 14, just in time for the Nativity Fast! (The film is still slated to open in Mexico and Argentina a couple weeks before that, on October 30, according to the IMDb.)
I’ll be keeping an eye on this one, for sure. Stay tuned.
Update: The Magnolia Pictures website now has a description of the film:
A remote village in Roman-era Egypt explodes into spiritual warfare when a carpenter, his wife and their child are targeted by supernatural forces in The Carpenter’s Son. Joseph (Nicolas Cage), Mary (FKA twigs) and their teenage son Jesus (Noah Jupe) have lived for years under threat, clinging to their faith and traditions. But a stopover in a small settlement unleashes growing chaos when a mysterious stranger (Isla Johnston) tries to entice young Jesus to abandon his devout father’s rules. With every pull of temptation, the boy is lured into a forbidden world, as a terrified Joseph realizes that a demonic power is at work. Violent, unnatural events inexplicably follow Jesus, and he begins to experience nightmarish visions of the future. Finally, he learns the fearsome truth about his new playmate, as well as the child’s real name: Satan. Writer and director Lotfy Nathan, drawing from his Coptic Christian background, delivers a meticulously crafted, genre-bending supernatural thriller packed with unshakeable images of the divine and demonic at war.
You can find this information at the movie’s website, too.
Previous videos for The Carpenter’s Son:
The first 20-second teaser (August 27, 2025)
The second 20-second teaser (September 19, 2025)
Upcoming Bible movies and TV shows:
now-October 29, 2025 — The Promised Land: Season 1 (streaming: YouTube)
October 5, 2025 — House of David: Season 2 (streaming: Prime Video - Wonder Project)
October 17, 2025 — The Chosen Adventures (streaming: Prime Video)
November 14, 2025 — The Carpenter’s Son (theatrical: Magnolia)
November 2025 — Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints: Season 2 part 1 (streaming: Fox Nation)
December 19, 2025 — Zero A.D. (theatrical: Angel Studios)
March 22-April 5, 2026 — The Faithful (television: Fox)
April-May 2026 — Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints: Season 2 part 2 (streaming: Fox Nation)
second half of 2026 — The Chosen: Season 6: Episodes 1-6 (streaming: Prime Video)
March 12, 2027 — The Chosen: Season 6: Finale (theatrical: Amazon MGM)
March 26, 2027 — The Resurrection of the Christ: Part One (theatrical: Lionsgate)
May 6, 2027 — The Resurrection of the Christ: Part Two (theatrical: Lionsgate)
March 31, 2028 — The Chosen: Season 7: Premiere (theatrical: Amazon MGM)
no release date specified — David (theatrical)
no release date specified — Jacob (theatrical: Angel Studios)
no release date specified — Joseph of Egypt (streaming: Prime Video)
who knows when Malick will finish it — The Way of the Wind (theatrical)