Abraham’s Boys, 2025.
Written and Directed by Natasha Kermani.
Starring Titus Welliver, Jocelin Donahue, Brady Hepner, Judah Mackey, Aurora Perrineau, Corteon Moore, Jonathan Howard, Larry Cedar, Nick Epper, Paul Wong, and Fayna Sanchez.
SYNOPSIS:
Abraham van Helsing moves his two sons to the United States in an attempt to escape their past.
Abraham’s Boys, a film that follows the van Helsing family after the killing of Dracula, is inherently intriguing. Written and directed by Natasha Kermani, the film is adapted from a short story by Joe Hill (Stephen King’s son) and, at the very least, should have been a short film. There isn’t enough here to sustain the 89 minutes that, in theory, should feel short yet drag on, as the idea is limited while building towards an inevitable conclusion that doesn’t have much of a payoff.
The foundation is a slow burn exploration of vampire hunter Abraham van Helsing (Titus Welliver, too proper in his sternness ever to feel like he is genuinely going mad) drags Dracula’s obsession, Mina Harker, (Jocelin Donahue) and his boys Max (Brady Hepner) and Rudy (Judah Mackey) to a remote part of California circa 1915, getting far away from vampirism as possible (a disease that is explained in detail with opening text as if this will be someone’s introduction to vampires). He is akin to a paranoid doomsday prepper, awaiting vampires and prepared to kill them at the expense of nurturing his sons.
Whatever intrigue there might be in exploring Mina’s life following these traumatic events is set aside to render her ill. At the same time, Abraham gradually decides to teach his boys about vampires, pressuring them to prepare themselves to fight back should they ever cross over from Transylvania. To make things more complicated and contrived, the older Max doesn’t get along with Rudy, primarily bullying him, but eventually eases up on this as he becomes more concerned that his father might be losing his mind. The boys themselves have no character beyond this, and nothing remotely interesting is happening between them, often making them feel like afterthoughts in a movie ostensibly about them.
Abraham’s Boys is more of a psychological thriller than a vampire movie, clearly urging viewers to question whether or not Abraham has anything to fear. There are also other characters questioning whether or not what happened with those in the past afflicted with vampirism was murder or not, also bringing into the realm of possibility (at least for this story) that Abraham van Helsing might have been a quack. Then again, he seems to know what he is doing when fixing up Elsie’s (Aurora Perrineau) brother after he sustains an injury while working in railroad construction. Again, that’s a solid idea for a horror-adjective drama, but in practice, it’s relentlessly boring, with nowhere near enough characterization and story to be stretched out into a feature-length film.
What makes Abraham’s Boys more frustrating is that Natasha Kermani is a competent filmmaker with strong control over mood and dread. Every directorial choice is calculated, whether it be shot framing or dissolve transitions (some of them paying homage to iconic ones). Taking the story away from Transylvania and into California is a novel choice in itself, captured here with gorgeous landscape shots, but also falls into the issue of style and little substance. No filmmaker can overcome the crippling flaw that some ideas and stories aren’t meant to be fleshed out even to 90 minutes. The ominous atmosphere is welcome, but it’s not in service of anything terrifying or engaging.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Robert Kojder
