Common Sense Media Review
By Jeffrey M. Anderson
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Gory but anticlimactic Van Helsing tale is toothless.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 16+?
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Abraham's Boys
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
In ABRAHAM'S BOYS, it's 18 years after the death of Count Dracula, and Abraham Van Helsing (Titus Welliver) is now living in California with his wife, Mina (Jocelin Donahue)—formerly Mina Harker—and sons Max (Brady Hepner) and Rudy (Judah Mackey). Mina is sickly, and her health is a concern to all. At the same time, the boys live in fear of their strict father, but bolder younger brother Rudy musters the courage to break into Abraham's secret office. There they find a terrifying creature imprisoned. When their father discovers his sons' crime, he tells them of his secret calling: hunting vampires. He tries to teach them how to hammer a stake and cut off a head, but it's at that moment that Max has a horrifying realization.
Is It Any Good?
A stiff, awkward "further adventures" story of the Van Helsing character from Bram Stoker's Dracula, this sort-of horror movie is, given the talent involved, surprisingly lifeless and anticlimactic. Adapted from a 2004 short story by Stephen King's son, Joe Hill (from the same collection as The Black Phone), Abraham's Boys doesn't do much to flesh out its source material. It seems to stretch it instead, filling it with empty spaces. The movie really has only one idea, and, like the story, it's hard to keep that under wraps long enough to create a truly shocking reveal. It just slides downhill into a rather pointless finale.
For most of the film's 89 minutes, characters interact in artificial ways, blocks of dialogue tumbling out, with each thing that's said feeling unrelated to the previous thing that was said. The movie invents some new characters, including Black siblings Elise (Aurora Perrineau) and Eddie (Corteon Moore), but they don't help very much. It's barely even a horror story, with only a few jump scares and generic nightmare sequences that try to tingle the spine. (The movie's tacked-on subtitle, A Dracula Story, is misleading at best.) The entertaining The Last Voyage of the Demeter showed how a successful story could be spun off from Stoker's original tale, but Abraham's Boys isn't on that level. It's mostly toothless.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about Abraham's Boys' violence. How did it make you feel? Was it exciting? Shocking? What did the movie show or not show to achieve this effect? Why is that important?
Is the movie scary? What's the appeal of horror movies? Why do people sometimes enjoy being scared?
Why are vampires such enduring creatures in movies and pop culture?
What's the relationship like between the movie's father and sons? How does it compare to your own relationships? How does communication factor in?
How does the Van Helsing character in this movie compare to other portrayals of the same character in movies, television, and literature?
Movie Details
- In theaters : July 11, 2025
- On DVD or streaming : August 5, 2025
- Cast : Titus Welliver , Jocelin Donahue , Brady Hepner
- Director : Natasha Kermani
- Inclusion Information : Female Movie Director(s) , Middle Eastern/North African Movie Director(s) , Female Movie Actor(s) , Female Movie Writer(s) , Middle Eastern/North African Movie Writer(s)
- Studios : RLJE Films , Shudder
- Genre : Horror
- Topics : Faith ( Christianity , Judaism ) , Family Stories ( Dads , Siblings ) , Holidays ( Father's Day )
- Run time : 89 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- MPAA explanation : bloody violence and grisly images
- Last updated : September 4, 2025
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