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The Carpenter's Son
The mere mention of a biblical horror film immediately pricks the ears of discerning cinema-goers, but when you couple that with an official UK trailer release and a cast headlined by Nicolas Cage and FKA twigs, anticipation goes stratospheric. Altitude is bringing Lotfy Nathan’s genre-bending supernatural thriller, The Carpenter's Son, to British and Irish screens November 2025, and the first look suggests we are in for a deeply unsettling and meticulously crafted nightmare.
Director Lotfy Nathan, drawing from his own Coptic Christian heritage, appears determined to strip away the Sunday school reverence and present the formative years of Jesus of Nazareth as a pressure cooker of spiritual peril. Set in Roman-era Egypt, the remote, ancient backdrop immediately establishes a sense of isolation and creeping dread. This is not the clean, sun-drenched epic Hollywood often delivers; the trailer promises a film steeped in dust, darkness, and palpable threat. Nathan seems to have successfully blended the aesthetic of a historical drama with the unforgiving intensity of a supernatural siege film, turning a familiar narrative into something raw and terrifying.
The casting decisions alone are enough to generate considerable buzz. Nicolas Cage, whose recent career resurgence has cemented him as the patron saint of high-concept genre fare (Mandy, Longlegs), takes on the role of Joseph, the carpenter, whose faith is pitted against a demonic force. The trailer hints at a restrained yet haunted performance, capturing the horror of a protective father facing an enemy he cannot punch. Opposite him, FKA twigs, known for her magnetic and intense on-screen presence, plays Mary. Her limited screen time in the preview suggests a quiet strength and deep weariness, a mother who has long lived 'under threat.'
The dramatic and thematic weight of the film, however, rests firmly on the shoulders of Noah Jupe (Jesus). Depicted here as a teenager—a vessel of immense, potentially destructive power—he is the locus of the spiritual warfare. His family’s tenuous peace is shattered when the enigmatic mysterious girl (Isla Johnston) appears, tempting him away from his father’s devout rules. The trailer brilliantly frames this as a conflict not just of morality, but of adolescent rebellion given cosmic stakes. The temptation is a subtle pull toward a forbidden world, and Joseph’s realisation that this is the work of a powerful, faith-rivaling demonic entity is the core element of the horror.
What is most compelling is the film's refusal to shy away from the horrific potential of the divine and the demonic in direct conflict. The trailer’s visual language suggests a constant blurring between spiritual conviction and existential terror. Nathan's vision appears uncompromising, promising an unnerving and powerful cinematic experience that challenges both faith and genre conventions. We anticipate that The Carpenter's Son will be less of a retelling and more of a deeply disquieting examination of power, temptation, and the human cost of being chosen. It arrives on 21st November.
