The Carpenter’s Son trailer sees Nicolas Cage lead a dark biblical horror reimagining

The Carpenter's Son, a biblical horror flick that presents an alternative take on the life of Joseph, featuring Nicolas Cage, is a fascinating premise where a family hides in the solar baked deserts of Roman Egypt from evils unseen, their young son wielding unimaginable powers. 

Lotfy Nathan’s The Carpenter’s Son is an adaptation of the apocryphal "Infancy Gospel of Thomas", a second century text that describes the early years of Jesus’ life. About The 49th day, Magnolia Pictures opened up a first teaser trailer + poster on Aug 27, 2025 that brings an uneasy preview of a tale that does upset and perturb us. With a planned theatrical release of Fall 2025, the film is bound to cause a stir among horror fans and students of religious history.

Harka, the debut film from Egyptian-American director Lotfy Nathan (who premiered at Cannes in May 2022), universally sculpts The Carpenter's Son in our minds. Nathan repackages the Infancy Gospel of Thomas with layered storytelling, conjuring a horror story that embodies agency over faith, doubt over resolve, and God's will. Nathan who also wrote the screenplay, also uses the Holy Family as a composite whole with supernatural entanglements.

According to Magnolia Pictures' co-CEOs Eamonn Bowles and Dori Begley, the film is "a genre-bending spectacle that surprises at every turn" and indicates a subversive retelling of a sacred story. Nathan fashions a narrative that can blend an ancient heavy context with unsettling visceral horror, as a new story prominently into the extreme exploration of faith.

The Carpenter’s Son trailer: 22 seconds of unnerving mystery 

At only 22 seconds long, the teaser trailer released on August 27, 2025, is a textbook example in building minimalist dread. The scenes open to Nicolas Cage’s Carpenter standing against a blood-red sunrise with the worry lines etched into his face. The quick cuts show Noah Jupe’s Boy looking into the distance with a flicker of defiance in his eyes as FKA Twigs’ Mother pulls him close.

Buzzing flies and distant wailing create disturbing soundscapes, and as the trailer wraps, Cage is seen going back into a cave with bugs swarming him, which is a nod to having to change the location after a bee attack while filming in Greece. The trailer then cuts to black, leaving an audience wanting more.

The Carpenter's Son is set in Roman Egypt. The film follows a family in hiding, with their son (the Boy) growing into mysterious powers. Through another child who is also mysterious, the Boy learns to rebel against the Carpenter (the Boy's guardian) and begins to open the powers he possesses leading to natural and divine disorder. The story, enveloped in secrecy, is indicative of a dark inquiry into faith and destiny, as the family is confronted with the likelihood of peril that is indistinguishable from the human and the mysterious.

Nicolas Cage channels darkness in The Carpenter’s Son

Nicolas Cage, just off the chilling performance in Longlegs (2024), will star as the Carpenter, a protective, but conflicted Guardian, with as much intensity as FKA Twigs, who plays the Mother, drawing from her experience in The Crow (2025). Noah Jupe plays the Boy, a young Jesus grappling with his divinity. With Souheila Yacoub, Isla Johnston, and Tomer Lev Tov as the taciturn voice of an unknown Angel, the cast is diverse and the characters dynamic.

Before we expect the Griffin versus the Carpenter sequence involving Jupe’s rebellious Boy, and Cage's grim, stoic Carpenter in this deeply personal horror narrative, the Carpenter must build the house of brick and the father-guardian must be at the mercy of power. 

Where to watch The Carpenter’s Son

The Carpenter’s Son is planned for release in Fall 2025, though there is no specific date set yet. North American audiences will see the film in theatres through Magnolia Pictures, while audiences in France, the UK, and Latin America will access the film through local distributors.