There have been a slew of films hiding their true premises in their trailers this year — not spoiler-level twists, just selling the public a different idea. Abraham’s Boys is right there with Sinners, Materialists, 28 Years Later, and The Life of Chuck, all good to great movies with distributors who think the films will come off as too highfalutin, preachy, or boring, having no trust in their ability to capture audiences. Abraham’s Boys is the worst of the trend, but it remains a good film despite sunburnt wings. The last few years have brought us Dracula on a Boat, Dracula in a Fur Coat, and now Dracula Smote. The film follows the survivors of Bram Stoker’s Dracula novel 18 years after its final chapters, and it is an immaculate meditation on fear that won’t go away.
Brady Hepner as Max Van Helsing in Natasha Kermani’s ABRAHAM’S BOYS: A DRACULA STORY. Photo courtesy of RLJE Films & Shudder. An RLJE Films & Shudder Release.
“Come with me and we’ll finish the lesson.”
Adapted from the Joe Hill novel of the same name, Abraham’s Boys: A Dracula Story stars the bully from The Holdovers (2023), Brady Hephner (The Black Phone), a Joe Hill adaptation veteran, as Max. He’s the son of an overbearing Abraham Van Helsing, embodied fully by Titus Welliver (Argo; Bosch). Welliver’s eyes overflow with repressed despair, regret, and fear as he sternly parents Max and his younger brother Rudy, played serviceably by Judah Mackey (Ario the Alligator Boy; Deadcon). The mother, having made it out of the novel in this adaptation, is a haunted Mina Harker, now Van Helsing, played by Jocelin Donahue (Doctor Sleep). Eagle-eyed cinephiles may remember her as the standout performance of last year’s The Last Stop in Yuma County (2024). In the wild west of California’s hills, a new railroad track is encroaching on their sanctum, and the modern world brings the most modern innovation of all — sun-free travel for the undead.
Titus Welliver as Abraham Van Helsing in Natasha Kermani’s ABRAHAM’S BOYS: A DRACULA STORY. Photo courtesy of RLJE Films & Shudder. An RLJE Films & Shudder Release.
This is an anxious and foreboding film with very few moments of joy or love. It is literary in its dialogue and is composed in a 4:3 aspect ratio, framing gorgeous vistas and an abundance of negative spaces. The colors are faded like the early photographs this Van Helsing uses to document his medical practice, and the soundscape is as empty as the vistas. The cinematography oscillates between breathtaking and oppressive. It looks how a good novel feels, and that’s the most important thing. The script is ornate, plunging well into how the untreated fear of survivors can curdle into new abuses and fears in ways we rarely want to speak or think about. But it’s not perfect. The transition to Act 3 will leave some audience members behind, not from twists, but seemingly from the lack of budget to sell the film’s pretty basic needs. I am among them. But director Natasha Kermani (Lucky; Imitation Girl) seems to know that, and the final act of the film gets itself over with so speedily that I’ll have no problem throwing the film on again many times. Maybe one day it’ll convince me to like the ending.
In theaters July 11th, 2025.
Final Score: 4 out of 5.
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Categories: In Theaters, Reviews
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