Nicolas Cage's Jesus-inspired horror movie The Carpenter's Son probably won't make it into rotation for Christmas movie marathons in the future. The 2025 blockbuster, which was written and directed by filmmaker Lotfy Nathan, loosely adapts lesser-known and disputed stories of Jesus Christ's teenage years into a brutal and bloody tale about the religious figure (A Quiet Place Part II and The Night Manager's Noah Jupe) and his family on the run from demonic forces. In The Carpenter's Son, Jesus is desperate for answers over whether the man who raised him (Cage) is his true father. His confusion could lead him into falling prey to a sinister entity known as The Stranger (The Queen's Gambit star Isla Johnston). Pop star FKA Twigs also has a leading role as "The Mother," another mysterious figure who unquestionably holds crucial answers over Jesus Christ's origin. Despite the film's impressive cast and spooky story, The Carpenter's Son has been mostly savaged by critics, who derided it as Jesus Christ's "first and most boring temptation" and insisted seeing it was "like watching paint dry for an hour and a half." As of November 2025, The Carpenter's Son has an overwhelmingly negative 35 percent critical score on Rotten Tomatoes. Nicolas Cage Reveals Sharks and Weather Plagued Latest Movie Keep scrolling for more on the negative reviews and The Carpenter's Son's disputed subject matter. What Is 'The Carpenter's Son' About? An official synopsis for The Carpenter's Son cryptically hints: "A remote village in Roman-era Egypt explodes into spiritual warfare when a carpenter, his wife and their child are targeted by supernatural forces." The script was written and directed by Lotfy Nathan, who gained international recognition for following a group of urban dirt bikers in Baltimore, Maryland, in the 2013 documentary 12 O'Clock Boys. The Carpenter's Son is partially inspired by The Infancy Gospel of Thomas. What Is 'The Infancy Gospel of Thomas'? The Carpenter's Son is a mostly original story that takes some inspiration from The Infancy Gospel of Thomas, a disputed addition to the New Testament that supposedly fills in gaps from Jesus's adolescence. Religious scholars have attacked The Infancy Gospel of Thomas as heretical for the way it deviates from traditional biblical dogma. The Infancy Gospel of Thomas takes place during Jesus Christ's childhood, between ages 5 and 12, as the future Messiah of Christianity learns to use his superhuman powers for good. One story involves a mishap where Jesus accidentally turns his neighbor blind after the man complained to his parents, Mary and Joseph, while another passage references the young Messiah transforming clay pigeons into living birds. "[The Infancy Gospel of Thomas] is written like a laundry list of events. It doesn't really have an arc, so to speak," Nathan told the Associated Press. "I had a historian pull a lot of research for me before I wrote the first draft." FKA Twigs in The Carpenter's Son Courtesy of Magnolia Pictures The Carpenter's Son introduces an original character named The Stranger (Isla Johnston), who possesses strange and disturbing powers of her own. The Carpenter's Son official trailer hints that The Stranger is a demonic entity - or perhaps Satan herself - on a mission to use Jesus' powers for her own evil means. Has 'The Carpenter's Son' Caused Controversy With Religious Groups? Yes. The Carpenter's Son has proved to be very controversial for turning the life of Jesus Christ into a gruesome horror movie and for adapting the disputed Infancy Gospel of Thomas. The American Family Association (AMA) created a petition demanding producers Magnolia Pictures "cancel this dark and blasphemous film" in September 2025. The organization warned its readers not to be "misled by the title" of The Carpenter's Son. "This is not a Christian film," the group complained. "The Carpenter's Son is not a biblically accurate portrayal of Christ's childhood. Inspired by the apocryphal Infancy Gospel of Thomas, the movie focuses on the childhood of Jesus from a horror perspective." 12 Must-Watch Hulu Thrillers to Stream Right Now (November 2025) Their statement went on, "Details of the plot are vague, but the unsettling trailer describes Jesus' life as a horror-thriller with a possessed and supernatural force. This is not a movie Christians want to see." The AMA argued that it was "extremely disrespectful to Christians" to purposefully create a movie that was "blasphemous," before warning that The Carpenter's Son could be "dangerous and confusing to children." Other religious groups objected to the movie potentially portraying Jesus as an "inherently evil or malevolent force," and there were even protests planned outside of theaters screening The Carpenter's Son. What Are Critics Saying About 'The Carpenter's Son'? Critics were not much kinder to The Carpenter's Son than religious groups - though they had different complaints. One of the overriding criticisms of The Carpente