use CGI::Carp qw(fatalsToBrowser set_message);
    BEGIN {
       sub handle_errors {
          my $msg = shift;
          print "<h1>Oh gosh</h1>";
          print "<p>Got an error: $msg</p>";
      }
      set_message(\&handle_errors);
    }

In order to correctly intercept compile-time errors, you should call set_message() from within a BEGIN{} block.