Director: Natasha Kermani
Writer: Natasha Kermani, Joe Hill
Stars: Titus Welliver, Brady Hepner, Judah Mackey
Synopsis: Abraham van Helsing moves his two sons to the United States in an attempt to escape their past.
The tale of Dracula has truly never gone out of style, and there’s no sign that adaptations of the character and its many secondary characters will be slowing down. Writer and Director Natasha Kermani helms the film based on Joe Hill’s short story simply titled Abraham’s Boys. Isolation has driven an aged Van Helsing to teach his two sons how to be proper men no matter how brutal the lessons are. Deeply rooted in the fear of a looming darkness making its return, Abraham’s Boys: A Dracula Story slowly reveals who should and shouldn’t be feared.
It’s been 18 years since Abraham Van Helsing (Titus Welliver) defeated Dracula, and much has changed since then. Now, Abraham lives in California with his family on an isolated farm, with no neighbors for miles. Raising his sons, Max (Brady Hepner) and Rudy (Judah Mackey), to not only be book smart through his homeschooling methods but also introducing them to his life’s work. Helping him raise these young men is their mother and Abraham’s wife Mina (Jocelin Donahue), whose past is quickly throwing their seemingly perfect farm life through the ringer. When Mina falls ill from her long-ago run-in with Dracula, Abraham begins to unravel. Equipped with wooden stakes and mysterious hidden basements, Abraham’s sons quickly realize that their father might not always know what is best, making vampirism the least of their worries.
From the start, there’s an overwhelming sense of dread; the movie opens up with a woman who stands face-to-face with a dark figure. It’s completely effective in establishing the tone that lasts the duration of the film. Kermani takes that dread and mixes it into Mina’s story perfectly. As the film progresses, Mina begins to show signs that there is potentially a vampire nearby through the physical and mental changes in her behavior. It’s easier to brush off her strange changes in the beginning of the film; but soon her eldest son, Max, begins to see visions of his mother’s past that scare him enough to sleep with one eye open. Abraham’s Boys: A Dracula Story captures a terrifying confusion about what the threat to Mina is and often moves too slowly to keep the film interesting.
Once the film establishes what is going on in the Mina, it fully lets Abraham’s thoughts and actions run wild. It doesn’t go unnoticed that Abraham strives for his sons to be smart and able bodied men, something his father made sure he also understood. Kermani focuses heavily on Abraham’s past and how it shaped him as a father, and also a husband. He’s shown as his family’s protector, but there’s definitely parts of his past that he hasn’t uncovered to them. There’s no shortage of moments that put Abraham’s short fuse on display, although he boasts himself as a man doing God’s work, specifically when he’s dealing with either of his sons. When Max struggles at the kitchen table with his math homework, Abraham makes his disappointment verbally known. And when Rudy refuses to chop off the head of a woman his father claims is a vampire, his disappointment is made physically known. It was an unexpected route for Kermani to go, to show Abraham as a flawed man rather than just his heroic vampire hunting ways.
Taking place in 1915, it’s no wonder Abraham and his sons struggle to communicate; they are young men who have lived in isolation almost their entire lives, and their father rarely speaks to his sons without offering them a lesson. What Abraham’s Boys: A Dracula Story shows is that even under threats of bloodthirsty vampires, isolation breeds resentment that can manifest itself in harmful ways. Max and Rudy have never had a normal childhood or agency to make choices for themselves; everything has been controlled by Abraham, who struggles to keep his place of authority. When Max expresses his desire to leave, Abraham mockingly eggs him on rather than comforting his son.
Mostly due to the duo of Hepner and Mackey, it’s easy to feel for their characters with their sincere and engaging performances. The brothers have a somewhat noticeable age gap. Hepner plays the more physical role with daily wood chopping and taking care of his sick mother. Mackey brings an inquisitive performance with Rudy, a boy who would rather read a book or solve a math problem than shove a stake in someone’s chest. Their scenes together make for some oddly relatable sibling moments that have you wishing for their safety. Welliver does a serviceable job as the titular Abraham; he pulls off the mysteriousness shrouding his life, but often his line delivery is wooden at best. Mina is the heart of the film, and Donahue captures a tortured woman who is filled with love for her family but also a quiet sadness for her bleak fate.
The pacing of Abraham’s Boys: A Dracula Story is where the film hits the brakes, causing a slow burn that might be too slow when the film needs more fuel. The atmosphere of the film is tense, always looking for something lurking in the dark, but as the film goes on, its slow moments left my mind to wander, thinking of when the vampires were going to show up. It’s not completely detrimental to the enjoyment of the film; some of the creepier moments get time to set in rather than them ending up as random jump scares. Paired with some of the best cinematography this year has to offer from the talented Julia Swain, the film captures the bleak isolation through the glimpses of open range with mountains littering the skyline. The film is shot in a 4:3 ratio that helps the film’s overall atmosphere, especially during a black-and-white dreamlike flashback; its tighter frame makes for claustrophobic moments with a family on the brink of falling apart.
There’s more that works with Abraham’s Boys: A Dracula Story than what doesn’t; Kermani tells a uniquely dark story from the mythos of Dracula, showing that even after the monster is gone its impacts are still felt. Showcasing an aging Van Helsing in his fatherhood era gives new life to an old tale. While the film is a slow burn that almost loses its flame, there’s enough within the film’s performances and visuals to get you to the finish line.
