Between Nosferatu, Renfield, and The Final Voyage of the Demeter, we’ve seen a variety of variations on the Dracula story not too long ago. However regardless of all of the ways in which Hollywood has already tried to spin it, Abraham’s Boys has a juicy premise that differentiates it from the pack. Primarily based on the brief story of the identical title from Joe Hill’s assortment twentieth Century Ghosts, Abraham’s Boys takes place shortly after Dracula’s loss of life, as Abraham Van Helsing teaches his sons learn how to defend themselves from the undead. This next-gen revamp is like Younger Frankenstein, nevertheless it’s performed straight as a horror movie.
Titus Welliver is the standout of the solid, bringing loads of grizzle and gravitas to his brooding flip as Abraham. Jocelin Donahue can also be terrific as his spouse, Mina, who grows more and more paranoid that Dracula has adopted them to their new house. However the focus of the story is, in fact, on Abraham’s boys themselves. Whereas I actually favored Judah Mackey because the curious, inquisitive youthful son, Rudy, I didn’t purchase Brady Hepner because the angsty older son, Max. When he’s lashing out at his dad and mom or bullying his brother, it’s simply not convincing.
Abraham’s Boys Has A Actually Creepy Rating Deserving Of A A lot Higher Horror Film
Brittany Allen’s Foreboding, Atmospheric Music Is The Finest Half Of The Movie
Brittany Allen’s foreboding, atmospheric rating retains you on the sting of your seat, ready for a giant scare. However, very like John Carpenter’s rating for the Firestarter remake, it’s a rating deserving of a a lot better film. You’re on the sting of your seat, ready for that scare, for what appears like an eternity. After the spooky chilly open, there isn’t one other massive fright till the half-hour mark. Abraham doesn’t begin coaching his sons within the artwork of vampire-slaying till the midpoint. The film is barely 89 minutes lengthy, so it doesn’t have time for that a lot dilly-dally.
Abraham doesn’t begin coaching his sons within the artwork of vampire-slaying till the midpoint. The film is barely 89 minutes lengthy, so it doesn’t have time for that a lot dilly-dally.
The 4:3 facet ratio does job of recapturing that old-school Common monster film really feel, however the compositions have a shiny digital sheen that detracts from these old-school vibes. A movie-grain filter or an older-style lens would’ve gone a good distance. Nonetheless, writer-director Natasha Kermani consists of some actually ingenious photographs: a vampire’s decapitated head, full of garlic, sitting in focus within the foreground, whereas the Van Helsings, out of focus, dig a grave within the background; an ominous shot/reverse shot sequence of Max on horseback, trying up the path, and creepy whispers coming from an unseen presence hiding across the bend.
Abraham’s Boys: A Dracula Story might be launched in theaters on July 11, 2025, earlier than streaming on Shudder at an as-yet-undisclosed later date.
The movie’s sun-drenched setting of Central Valley, California, lends it a particular visible fashion separate from the grim Transylvanian locales of conventional Dracula films. Kermani made full use of her filming location, capturing a ton of beautiful golden-hour photographs of dusty hills and colourful fields. This setting provides the entire thing a pleasant western aesthetic, like Little Home on the Prairie with vampires.
Regardless of Its Premise, Abraham’s Boys Is not Very Scary
There’s An Occasional So-So Leap Scare
Horror films, like comedies, are fairly straightforward to guage. If a comedy made you snigger, it succeeded, and if a horror film scared you, it succeeded. Therein lies the deadly flaw with Abraham’s Boys: it’s not very scary. I might depend on one hand the variety of first rate scares on this film. The Dracula design, glimpsed in a few dream sequences, seems to be extra just like the live-action Grand Inquisitor than the Prince of Darkness. It’s an enormous let-down after the unforgettable design of Invoice Skarsgård’s Rely Orlok only a few months in the past.
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Abraham’s Boys: All the things We Discovered On The Set Of Titus Welliver’s Twisted New Dracula Story
ScreenRant visits the set of Abraham’s Boys: A Dracula Story, which stars Titus Welliver as Van Helsing in an adaptation of Joe Hill’s brief story.
All all through the movie, it appears to be constructing as much as a giant, bloody climax that by no means arrives. When the film does lastly attain an action-packed conclusion, it’s extra laughable than thrilling. Abraham’s Boys needs to drive house a message about violent legacies and the endless cycle of generational trauma, however the payoff feels incongruous with the setup, the ultimate kill feels unearned, and the B-movie execution makes it unintentionally humorous.
Abraham’s Boys: A Dracula Story will start streaming on Shudder on July 11.
Abraham’s Boys
3/10
- Launch Date
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July 11, 2025
- Runtime
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89 minutes
- Director
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Natasha Kermani
- Writers
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Joe Hill
- Brittany Allen gives a foreboding, atmospheric rating that retains you on the sting of your seat
- Titus Welliver provides a brilliantly brooding flip as Van Helsing
- Abraham’s Boys takes a extremely very long time to get going
- The film is brief on real frights
- Brady Hepner is not very plausible as an angsty teen
- The climactic showdown feels unearned