I’m a simple man. I enjoy the art of cinema. I hear “Nicolas Cage in a faith-based horror movie,” and I’m intrigued. Say what you will about his performance choices, but he automatically makes any film he’s a part of infinitely more interesting.
Such is the case with The Carpenter’s Son, a psychological horror film loosely inspired by the apocryphal Infancy Gospel of Thomas. Noah Jupe (A Quiet Place) stars as the nebulously-named Boy, who arrives in a small Egyptian village after a young life on the road with his parents (played by Cage and English musician FKA Twigs). The family tries to settle, but is only greeted by local prejudice and an evil force that seeks to corrupt them.
To say much more story-wise would give away the film’s core concept, which doesn’t become crystal clear until the final act. Everything up until then is a drawn-out slow burn, to almost a painful degree – it starts with an aversion to naming most of its characters, but heightens to an anticlimax that feels obligatory more than anything else. It makes you second-guess why you stuck through the whole thing to begin with; in fact, it doesn’t even commit to being a horror movie until the end is in sight, which makes one yearn for the version of this film that could have been – one that seriously examines the true power of existential evil.
The cast is spectacular, but they’re not given much to work with. Noah Jupe (who has a significant role in Hamnet later this year) seems to be looking for challenging roles to expand his skillset, but his role here – despite ostensibly being the co-lead – doesn’t do him any favors. FKA Twigs is good, but again, her part in the story is thankless and unrewarding. Nicolas Cage (who is, frankly, the one that people will watch this movie to see) delivers a similar offbeat performance to ones we’ve seen a hundred times before. You can always count on him for odd enunciation, weirdly-paced energy swings, and hilarious line deliveries, but he has done this exact same thing many times before in more interesting movies. He was what drew me to this film in the first place, and I’m sorry to say he couldn’t save it. Watch Prisoners of the Ghostland instead for your Cage fix.
The film’s best quality is its production value, much of which is naturally lent by gorgeous filming locations in Greece. The village itself is rustic and simple, and the color-stained sky is a gorgeous backdrop for a story that, frankly, doesn’t deserve it. I don’t enjoy ragging on high-concept movies made for a low budget (the fact that it got made at all is a miracle), but The Carpenter’s Son feels half-baked; there isn’t much exploration into the nuances and subtleties of its concepts beyond the very basic ideas it seeks to explore. I can’t say I had many expectations going in, but I was still disappointed.
The Carpenter’s Son opens in theaters this Friday, November 14.
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