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Based on Joe Hill’s short story by the same name, “Abraham’s Boys: A Dracula Story” (2025) is a fascinating watch. Writer-Director Natasha Kermani, with plenty of help from cinematographer Julia Swain, presents a languidly beautiful dissection of the long-term horror inflicted by the king of vampires himself, Count Dracula. It focuses on the Van Helsing family, two decades after the events of Bram Stoker’s “Dracula.” The film explores the psychological scarring of those events through the eyes of two Van Helsing boys, the sons of Abraham Van Helsing. All the while, the palpable shadowy aura of Dracula looms large.

Abraham’s Boys: A Dracula Story (2025) ‘Shudder’ Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:

As mentioned before, two decades have passed since the events of “Dracula.” Although “Abraham’s Boys” mostly adheres to Stoker’s Dracula story, there is one significant change made here. Unlike the original text, here Mina Harker does not survive along with her then-husband,...

Dracula is one of the most iconic characters in horror, having been adapted countless times on stage and screen. Robert Eggers recently reinvented the timeless tale in Nosferatu, and now another distinct approach to the vampire mythos is coming to the big screen. Based on Joe Hill’s short story of the same name, Abraham’s Boys: A Dracula Story is a sequel to Bram Stoker’s epistolary novel. Picking up decades later, it is a psychological horror story about Abraham Van Helsing and his family.

The film follows Max and Rudy Van Helsing, who have spent their lives under the strict and overprotective rule of their father, Abraham. Unaware of his dark past, they struggle to understand his paranoia and increasingly erratic behavior. But when they begin to uncover the violent truths behind their father’s history with Dracula, their world unravels, forcing them to confront the terrifying legacy they were never meant to inherit.

Game Of Thrones cast members are reuniting for an intriguing new horror movie, but one star says the romantic dynamic between their characters felt a little odd. Based on the A Song of Ice and Fire book series by George R. R. Martin, the fantasy drama remains one of the most popular HBO series of all time.

After premiering in 2011, the hit show came to a divisive conclusion in 2019 with season 8. Though the show may now be over, the world of Westeros lives on in the House of the Dragon spinoff show, with several more Game of Thrones spinoffs in the works, including A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight.

The main Game of Thrones cast, though, bid farewell to the franchise in 2019, their characters' arcs concluded. Many who appeared in the show have gone on to participate in various exciting projects in the world of TV and movies.

For eight long, grueling seasons, as the House Stark seemingly crumbled under the weight of conspiracies from their enemies, Sophie Turner and Kit Harington played siblings, Sansa Stark and Jon Snow, in the critically acclaimed television series, Game of Thrones. By the time the series ended, they were half of a handful of Starks that had survived. The pair have reunited in The Dreadful, an upcoming gothic horror film written and directed by Natasha Kermani. Rather than play siblings, this time around Turner and Harington play lovers. Set against the backdrop of the 15th-century War of the Roses, the film sees Turner's character Anne's life changed when Harington, playing a figure from her past, returns.

Sansa and Jon endured varying ordeals in the HBO series, but in this gothic horror, romance will be their bond, not familial blood. And Turner is quite aware that it is quite weird. "I did...

Sophie Turner and Kit Harington are playing lovers now, and yes, it’s actually happening. Their upcoming gothic horror movie, titled The Dreadful, pairs the Game of Thrones siblings in a romantic storyline that’s making fans roll their eyes. Through the eight-season storyline of Thrones, Jon and Sansa never even hugged properly, but now they’d be involved in a proper love affair. On their “weird” situation, the actress added via Vogue:

I did a movie last year which I’m really excited about with my old, but very good friend, Kit Harington, who played my brother on ‘Game of Thrones.’ We’re doing a gothic horror, but we play lovers. Sorry guys, it’s really weird for all of us.

While this premise is shocking, maybe that’s what makes it work. And watching two actors with deeply ingrained sibling chemistry twist it into something romantic? That...

Four years ago, we heard that Tea Shop Productions, the company behind 47 Meters Down, had hired Imitation Girl and Lucky director Natasha Kermani to write and direct a feature adaptation of Joe Hill‘s short story Abraham’s Boys. Two months ago, we finally got an update on the project when it was announced that Rlje Films and the Shudder streaming service had acquired the worldwide distribution rights to the film. They recently brought it to theatres, and JoBlo’s own Alex Maidy had the chance to talk to cast member Titus Welliver (Bosch) about the character he plays in the film – the legendary Abraham Van Helsing! You can find out what Welliver had to say about his approach to the character by watching the video embedded above.

Hill’s action-horror story is described as a “follow-up of sorts” to Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The story tests the relationships Stoker formed in his original novel.

Our Digital Features are where we take the time to delve into something special, spotlighting the creators, films, and ideas that are pushing horror forward. These stand-alone interviews exist outside our monthly covers, allowing us to delve deeper into the projects we can’t stop thinking about. This time, we’re turning our attention to Abraham’s Boys: A Dracula Tale and my recent conversation with Joe Hill, a Master of Horror, responsible for its frightening source material.

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Joe Hill has always lived with monsters. But with Abraham’s Boys: A Dracula Tale—a new Shudder-backed adaptation of his short story from 20th Century Ghosts—those monsters are finally stepping into the sun.

“I got paid 150 bucks for this short story 23 years ago,” Hill recalls with a grin. “So the idea that now it’s this terrific, Hitchcockian...

Both Kit Harington and Sophie Turner played two iconic characters in ‘Game of Thrones,’ – Jon Snow and Sansa Stark. The two were raised as siblings despite the messed-up family tree, which is a staple for the fantasy show.

Now, Turner and Harington will soon be seen romancing each other in a film by Natasha Kermani.

For a segment with Vogue, the actress talked about the upcoming film while making pasta and demonstrating the dos and don’ts of the process. Dressed in a Jw Anderson sequinned pink dress, Turner revealed that she filmed the movie with Harington last year, and pointed out the absurdity of it all, given the fact that they played siblings in their last project.

She said,

I did a movie last year which I’m really excited about with my old, but very good friend, Kit Harington, who played my brother on ‘Game of Thrones.’ We...

Abraham's Boys: A Dracula Story is the upcoming adaptation of Joe Hill's acclaimed short story of the same name, which is in turn inspired by Bram Stoker's iconic piece of gothic horror, Dracula. The movie stars Brady Hepner, Titus Welliver, and Jocelin Donahue in the lead roles, with newcomer Natasha Kermani behind the camera.

For the most part, the story of Abraham's Boys stays true to Hill's narrative: it follows the two young sons of Abraham Van Helsing as they reckon with their father's paranoid behavior and erratic experiments. The story offers a fresh take on Stoker's timeless character, exploring themes as universal as humanity, ambition, and fatherhood in the process.

However, Kermani's on-screen adaptation of Abraham's Boys also takes some major creative liberties and diverges from Hill's story in many instances. Speaking with ScreenRant's Grant Hermanns, the director elaborated upon her decision to rewrite the...

In the 128 years since Bram Stoker’s genre defining Dracula was published, we’ve seen Abraham Van Helsing depicted in a number of ways. From a scientific savior and eccentric kook to an action star staking vampires in 19th century finery, we know him as a knowledgeable champion and the malevolent Count’s greatest rival. It’s he who swoops in to save the undead Lucy Westenra from an eternity of stalking children through the night and he who becomes the galvanizing force that ultimately ends Dracula’s reign of terror.

But not everyone views this Dutch nobleman as an unwavering protagonist. Joe Hill’s 2005 short story “Abraham’s Boys” takes a different approach, positioning the scientific crusader as equally nefarious to his bloodsucking foe. Director Natasha Kermani expands this disturbing exposé in an unusual sequel to Stoker’s classic tale. Abraham’s Boys: A Dracula Story challenges our belief in...

What if a classic hero turns out to be a villain in someone else’s story? Adapted from Joe Hill’s short story, Abraham’s Boys, Natasha Kermani’s rendition is a slow burn that at first focuses on creating an eerie environment, making the audience wait in anticipation of the unknown. You gradually realize that the floating pale figure with fangs and cold breath that you’ve been waiting for might not be the cause of the horror and agony the family we witness experiences; instead, it was the familiar that left them traumatized.

Abraham’s Boys: A Dracula Story is centered around Abraham Van Helsing from the gothic novel “Dracula” and his beloved family. It had been eighteen years since Count Dracula’s death, and the Dutch polymath doctor/vampire slayer had moved to California with his family. He’d built a house in the hills, away from the population.

Plenty of horror movies have shifted the focus from vampires to vampire hunters, imagining an underground network of stake-drivers combatting the elusive breed of bloodsuckers. Sometimes the two sides overlap, as in the “Blade” films. “Abraham’s Boys” has the gist of an original angle that goes straight to the primary source of modern vampire mythologies.

Here, the protagonist is Dutch undead expert Dr. Abraham Van Helsing, who’d been called to England to fight a supernatural nemesis in Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel “Dracula.” That polymath, famously played by everyone from Peter Cushing, Laurence Olivier and Anthony Hopkins to Willem Dafoe (in last year’s “Nosferatu”), is now a recluse in the New World, hiding out from spectral pursuers 18 years after he’d helped orchestrate the Count’s extinction.

The twist is that fear of reprisal has turned this learned man into a paranoid tyrant, holding his family hostage in joyless...

Dracula, Bram Stoker's 1897 novel, endures as a towering monument of gothic literature, its shadow stretching across centuries and cultures. With a mesmerizing blend of horror, sensuality, and dark romanticism, the Count has seduced generations of readers and filmmakers alike, from F.W. Murnau's silent nightmare Nosferatu (1922) to Bela Lugosi's haunting gaze in Dracula (1931).

Christopher Lee starred in Hammer's Dracula movies, his sanguine presence on full display in ten films, cementing the Count's cinematic immortality. Later, Francis Ford Coppola's opulent 1992 adaptation draped the tale in velvet and tragedy. More recently, Robert Eggers breathed eerie life into the legend with a new Nosferatu. Each adaptation reflects each era's fears and fascinations, but the Count's hypnotic pull remains undiminished.

However, not all Dracula adaptations are kissed by moonlight, and in fact, there is a new movie coming out that is drawing the ire of critics.

Abraham's Boys: A Dracula Story...

Since first being dreamt up in Dracula, Bram Stoker’s iconic piece of dark gothic fiction, Abraham Van Helsing has been reimagined and adapted almost as many times as the undead killer at the center of the tale. Movies like Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Patrick Lussier’s Dracula 2000 have brought the monster slayer to live-action form, as he shows up to be the savior of those caught under the hypnotic demon’s spell. But when Joe Hill set out to write his short story, Abraham’s Boys, he wanted to paint the heroic character in a different light. Instead of the brave and selfless Van Helsing that audiences have seen in the past, Hill’s main character would depict the culmination of trauma from hunting things that go bump in the night all while trying to keep his family safe — or at least his definition of “safe.

Have you ever wandered the post-apocalyptic wasteland with a nuclear bomb in your pocket? I sure have. And although it may not seem like the “Fallout” games have much to do with writer/director Natasha Kermani’s “Abraham’s Boys: A Dracula Story” — adapted from the horror tale by Joe Hill (“The Black Phone”) — the film evokes a feeling that’s familiar to many gamers. It’s the one where you hang onto your best weapon the whole time, waiting for the right moment to use it, only to reach the end and realize it’s too late. You wasted every chance.

“Abraham’s Boys” has many secret weapons. The film’s stars, Titus Welliver (“Bosch”) and Jocelin Donahue (“The Last Stop in Yuma County”) are two of the best in the game. They play Abraham and Mina Van Helsing, characters from the pages of “Dracula” who married after the death of Mina’s husband.

Titus Welliver is trading cold cases for cold-blooded monsters. With Bosch: Legacy wrapped and the Ballard spin-off about to begin, Welliver is stepping into very different territory in Abraham’s Boys: A Dracula Story, a haunting new reimagining of Van Helsing lore from director Natasha Kermani. The film, based on Joe Hill’s short story, premieres July 11 — and if you’re expecting a campy vampire romp, think again.

“Well, I didn’t read the story until I read the script, Natasha’s adaptation, first, which I was kind of blown away by,” Welliver told Collider. “That was not a hard decision to make. I felt like the characters were all really incredibly well realized and compelling. And then I read the short story by Joe Hill, and they mesh really perfectly.”

The story follows Welliver’s Abraham Van Helsing in 1915, raising his two sons (played by Judah Mackey and Brady Hepner...

Welcoming thrillers and chillers like The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It and Malignant into cinemas around the globe, 2021 was a terrific year for horror at the movies. Amidst the stand-out hits, one title knocked audiences off their feet with its story, direction, and performances — The Black Phone. Taking a page (or several) from Joe Hill’s short story of the same name, filmmaker Scott Derrickson paired C. Robert Cargill to co-scribe the screenplay and signed on a leading cast that included Mason Thames, Ethan Hawke, and Madeleine McGraw to answer the call and bring the author’s terrifying tale to life. Thanks to its crushing box office success, staggeringly positive feedback from critics, and a dedicated following, the director went on to receive the green light — from both Hill and Universal Pictures — for a sequel.

Now, just a few months out from Black Phone 2’s October 17 release,...

The story of Dracula has become so ossified in our cultural memory, its beats so familiar, that it practically serves as a modern myth. We know the hero, Van Helsing, wins. But Natasha Kermani’s film asks a deeply uncomfortable question, one rarely posed about our monster-slayers: what happens next? What becomes of the victor when the war is over and the only thing left to fight is the narrative residue clinging to his family?

The answer is found in an arid, sun-punished California idyll, a location so antithetical to Gothic gloom it feels like a deliberate provocation. Here, Abraham Van Helsing lives in a state of paranoid exile with his wife Mina and their two sons.

This is Van Helsing’s retirement phase (if you can call it that), less a celebrated academic and more a petty tyrant of the homestead. When a strange malady, seemingly born from Mina’s past trauma,...

A morbid curiosity lingers throughout Abraham’s Boys, the new horror drama from director Natasha Kermani and writer Joe Hill. It takes the same foundational impulse behind the recent wave of low-effort childhood character reinventions—think public domain exploitation with no budget or vision—but filters it through a prestige lens and genuine creative ambition. Instead of nostalgia bait, it turns to one of horror’s most enduring literary texts, mining Bram Stoker’s gothic classic Dracula for something deeply intimate and unsettling. Hitting theaters this month via IFC and Shudder, the film is a deliberate and unnerving exhumation of legacy and monsters, both real and remembered. Sun-drenched and slow-burning, Kermani’s latest feature reimagines the Dracula mythos with striking originality.

Based on the short story by Joe Hill, Abraham’s Boys picks up years after the events of Dracula, centering on the sons of Abraham Van Helsing: Max (Brady Hepner) and Rudy (Judah Macley). Their father,...

UK distributor and producer-financier True Brit has co-financed $125m of UK film production budgets in the company’s first 18 months of operation, confirmed founder and CEO Zygi Kamasa at the company’s inaugural slate presentation in London yesterday (July 2).

Kamasa described it as “one of the largest single investments in independent British movies by any one company in the last 12 months”.

He is very much on track to fulfil the strategy outlined when the company was launched towards the end of 2023 of co-financing more than $150m of UK independent productions over True Brit’s first three years, with backing from...

Exclusive: True Brit Entertainment has acquired UK-Ireland rights from Anton to US filmmaker Zachary Wigon’s horror thriller Victorian Psycho.

The film will begin shooting on August 18 in the UK and Ireland, and stars Longlegs actor Maika Monroe alongside Jason Isaacs and Thomasin McKenzie.

It is set in Victorian England as an eccentric governess arrives at a remote gothic manor where strange happenings stir suspicion she is not what she seems.

Virginia Feito has adapted the script from her novel of the same name, released earlier this year.

Producers areDan Kagan for his Traffic banner, who also produced Longlegs, alongisde...

This one really flew under the radar, but an adaptation of Joe Hill's Abraham's Boys is on the way from Shudder and Rlje Films, and the first trailer and poster have now been released online.

Based on Hill's short story from his 20th Century Ghosts anthology, Abraham's Boys: A Dracula Story (they were always going to get big D's name in the title) finds Abraham Van Helsing (Titus Welliver) living a secluded life far away from the horrors of his legendary vampire slaying past alongside his wife and sons.

When Abraham's wife (Jocelin Donahue) - it seems the old dog ended up marrying Mina Murray/Harker after the events of Bram Stoker's novel - begins to exhibit some very strange behaviour, Van Helsing must come clean to his sons about his history with the infamous Transylvanian Count.

According to the official synopsis: "Max and Rudy Van Helsing have spent...

In Abraham’s Boys, the horrors of the past are inherited rather than slain. A thoughtful and quietly unnerving adaptation of Joe Hill’s acclaimed short story, the upcoming feature explores what happens when the myths of Bram Stoker’s Dracula meet the emotional reality of a family trying to live with its legacy.

Set long after Van Helsing’s infamous battles, the film centres on Max and Rudy, two boys raised under the strict, watchful eye of their father, Abraham. They know him only as a paranoid and controlling parent. They don’t understand his rules, his fears, or the quiet desperation he carries. But when they begin to uncover the truth behind his history – and the identity of the monster he once hunted – they’re forced to confront a terrifying reality they were never meant to know.

“I think they can expect to be scared,” says Joe Hill, whose...

Abraham’s Boys is a continuation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, originally written as a short story by Joe Hill, author of NOS4A2 and The Black Phone. Directed by Natasha Kermani, this film adaptation is a suspenseful trek into the story of a father, his sons, and his dark legacy.

The story follows Abraham Van Helsing, played by Titus Welliver, and his family years after the events of Dracula. In their new home, Abraham and his now wife, Mina (Jocelin Donahue), raise their two sons, Max (Brady Hepner) and Rudy (Judah Mackey). The family seems typical of the time, patriarchal, religious, tight-knit, but also emotionally cold and distant. When their haunting past creeps back into their lives, the Van Helsings’ secrets come to the surface.

This film is a quiet, slow-burning exploration of the complexity of familial ties, history, and purpose. Max goes through his own hero’s journey by...

Earlier this year we reported that Shudder had acquired the rights to Abraham's Boys, a new vampire horror movie based on the short story by Joe Hill. Directed by Natasha Kermani, we now have our first trailer for the horror flick, which stars Bosch favorite Titus Welliver as the famed vampire hunter, Abraham Van Helsing.

Set to hit theaters on July 11, Abraham's Boys takes place years after the events in Dracula, and the new trailer (seen below) gives us a taste of what Van Helsing has been up to since. Now a husband and the father of two boys, Max and Rudy (Brady Hepner and Judah Mackey), we see the family living a quiet life in the rural countryside until an old enemy comes back to seduce his wife (Jocelin Donahue). As things progress, Van Helsing tries to teach his sons about the family business, and share secrets from his dark past.

A new vampire horror movie is on the way, and it’s based on a short story by Joe Hill, the son of Stephen King. The movie is called Abraham’s Boys: A Dracula Story, and it comes from Hill’s 2004 story “Abraham’s Boys,” which was part of his 20th Century Ghosts collection.

The movie takes a darker look at the Van Helsing family, showing what happens after the famous vampire hunter’s fight with Dracula. This isn’t your usual vampire movie. Instead of just hunting monsters, this one focuses on Van Helsing as a father, and the kind of damage that can come from the life he’s lived.

His two sons, Max and Rudy, grow up under his strict and paranoid parenting, not knowing what he’s gone through.

Related: 12 Best Found Footage Horror Films Ever Made, Ranked

Shudder, the horror-focused streaming service, is handling the release.

Shudder has unveiled the official trailer for Abraham’s Boys, a new horror film based on the excellent short story by Joe Hill, one of my favorite horror authors. Set to hit theaters on July 11, 2025, this one promises to offer a bold new take on the Dracula mythos through the eyes of Van Helsing’s traumatized children. Should be wild.

Directed by Dread alumni Natasha Kermani, Abraham’s Boys stars Titus Welliver as Abraham Van Helsing, a man haunted by his past encounters with the Prince of Darkness. The cast also features horror icon Jocelin Donahue (The House of the Devil), Aurora Perrineau (Blumhouse’s Truth or Dare), Judah Mackey (The Morning Show), and Brady Hepner (The Black Phone).

The story here is focused on Max and Rudy Van Helsing, two brothers raised in isolation under the paranoid and authoritarian eye of their father. Unaware of the monstrous history Abraham is trying to keep buried,...

"Now is a time to rid the world of a demon." Rlje Films and Shudder have revealed the official trailer for an indie horror-thriller creation called Abraham's Boys: A Dracula Story, with that subtitle added on after the original debut title of just Abraham's Boys. This premiered a few months ago at the 2025 Overlook Film Festival and will be out to watch in limited theaters this July - and then streaming on Shudder later in the year. Following the events of Dracula, Abraham van Helsing moves his two sons, Max and Rudy, to the US in an attempt to escape their past. Based on the spine-tingling short story by Joe Hill. Abraham's Boys: A Dracula Story, directed by Natasha Kermani, re-imagines vampire lore through the eyes of Van Helsing's sons as they unravel their father’s haunted legacy, blending classic gothic vampire horror with a modern exploration of generational trauma.

The first trailer for Abraham’s Boys: A Dracula Story has officially dropped, and horror fans are already buzzing with anticipation. The gothic thriller, a chilling new entry into the Dracula mythos, stars Bosch and Deadwood actor Titus Welliver as the tormented Abraham Van Helsing, reimagined as a father struggling to shield his sons from a horrifying legacy.

Based on the acclaimed short story by Joe Hill, Abraham’s Boys serves as a psychological prequel and reinterpretation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, examining the fallout of Van Helsing’s infamous battle with the vampire lord through the eyes of his two sons. The film is directed by Natasha Kermani, known for her atmospheric storytelling and deep emotional undercurrents—qualities clearly on display in the newly released trailer.

Set against a bleak Midwestern backdrop, the trailer opens with a montage of eerie stillness: shadowy hallways, flickering gas lamps, and distant howling winds. Welliver...

Titus Welliver is trading Harry Bosch’s badge for a crucifix and a stake. In the newly released trailer for Abraham’s Boys: A Dracula Story, the Bosch and Bosch: Legacy star takes on the legendary role of Abraham Van Helsing — but this time, the monsters aren't only in the dark. They're in the family. Directed by V/H/S/85filmmaker Natasha Kermani and based on Joe Hill’s 2009 short story, Abraham’s Boys reimagines Dracula lore through a modern lens of generational trauma, because life isn't tough enough without vampires. The film is set in 1915 and follows Max and Rudy Van Helsing (Judah Mackey and Brady Hepner), two brothers raised under the strict, paranoid rule of their father Abraham. As his behavior grows increasingly erratic, they begin to uncover the violent truth behind his past — and the horrifying legacy they were never meant to inherit.

The trailer blends gothic imagery with an eerie domestic unease.

Four years ago, we heard that Tea Shop Productions, the company behind 47 Meters Down, had hired Imitation Girl and Lucky director Natasha Kermani to write and direct a feature adaptation of Joe Hill‘s short story Abraham’s Boys. Two months ago, we finally got an update on the project when it was announced that Rlje Films and the Shudder streaming service had acquired the worldwide distribution rights to the film. They’re planning to bring it to theatres (under the title Abraham’s Boys: A Dracula Story) on July 11th, and with that date right around the corner, a trailer has dropped online. You can watch it in the embed above.

The Abraham in question here is vampire hunter Abraham Van Helsing as Hill’s action-horror story is described as a “follow-up of sorts” to Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The story tests the relationships Stoker formed in his original novel.

Joe Hill’s short story comes to the screen in Abraham’s Boys: A Dracula Story, a unique approach to Bram Stoker’s horror classic from director Natasha Kermani (Lucky).

Abraham’s Boys reimagines vampire lore through the eyes of Van Helsing’s sons as they unravel their father’s haunted legacy, blending gothic horror with a modern exploration of generational trauma. It’s coming to theaters from Rlje Films and Shudder on July 11, 2025.

Watch the official trailer below.

In Abraham’s Boys: A Dracula Story, “Max and Rudy Van Helsing have spent their lives under the strict and overprotective rule of their father, Abraham. Unaware of his dark past, they struggle to understand his paranoia and increasingly erratic behavior. But when they begin to uncover the violent truths behind their father’s history with Dracula, their world unravels, forcing them to confront the terrifying legacy they were never meant to inherit.

Four years ago, we heard that Tea Shop Productions, the company behind 47 Meters Down, had hired Imitation Girl and Lucky director Natasha Kermani to write and direct a feature adaptation of Joe Hill‘s short story Abraham’s Boys. Two months ago, we finally got an update on the project when it was announced that Rlje Films and the Shudder streaming service had acquired the worldwide distribution rights to the film. Now the movie is making its way toward release, and it just took an important step on that path: it got its rating from the Motion Picture Association ratings board. Abraham’s Boys has officially been rated R for bloody violence and grisly images.

The Abraham in question here is vampire hunter Abraham Van Helsing as Hill’s action-horror story is described as a “follow-up of sorts” to Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The story tests the relationships Stoker formed in his original novel.

There are two sides to every story. Take Abraham Van Helsing’s legacy. Bram Stoker’s Dracula positions Van Helsing as a vampire-hunting savior who vanquishes the bloodsucking count—but what if that’s propaganda? Natasha Kermani’s adaptation of Joe Hill’s short story “Abraham’s Boys” portrays a different side of Van Helsing. The line between hero and monster is wafer-thin, which Kermani explores in a 1900s period piece that takes an iconic horror figure to task.

Titus Welliver stars as Dr. Abraham Van Helsing, who has relocated his family to a secluded plot of land in California’s Central Valley. We evaluate Abraham from his eldest son Max’s (Brady Hepner) perspective: an overprotective husband to his ill wife Mina (Jocelin Donahue) and a stern parent to his littlest Rudy (Judah Mackey). Mina’s affliction is related to vampirism, and Abraham lives in constant fear that creatures will storm their household,...

Shudder is teaming up with SFX makeup legend Greg Nicotero on a brand-new horror competition series titled Guts & Glory. The upcoming competition show will feature six episodes where participants will compete against each other in unexpected challenges that flip the script on traditional game shows. The unscripted show promises to be an immersive horror experience involving SFX makeup and is expected to premiere on both Shudder and AMC+ later in 2025.

In a press release from AMC Networks, Nicotero described Guts & Glory as a mix of Survivor and The Blair Witch Project.The makeup artist expressed his excitement about what he believes is one of his most creative and organic projects. According to Nicotero, the show will include participants creating FX that have to happen in real time and capture honest reactions to their work. He also added several crew members from The Walking Deaduniverse who came together to bring the competition series to life.

Though there have been countless Dracula movies in the past, as well as a ton of films that deal with Van Helsing, there's been nothing quite like director Natasha Kermani's Abraham's Boys, which has just been picked up for release by Rlje Films and Shudder. Based on the short story by Joe Hill, who also penned The Black Phone and NOS4A2, the new horror flick premieres this weekend at the Overlook Film Festival in New Orleans, and it's already generating a lot of buzz because of its unique premise.

Per Bloody Disgusting, Rlje and Shudder have acquired distribution rights to Abraham's Boys, which serves as a sequel to Bram Stoker's Dracula. The story was first published in the 2004 anthology The Many Faces of Van Helsing before it was reprinted in Hill's short story collection that was released in 2005, 20th Century Ghosts. Instead of dealing with how the...

Rlje Films and Shudder announced today that they have acquired Natasha Kermani’s horror flick, Abraham's Boys, ahead of its world premiere at the Overlook Film Festival this Saturday, April 5th. Based on a short story by the same name, by author Joe Hill, the story, "... follows Max and Rudy Van Helsing, who have spent their lives under the strict and overprotective rule of their father, Abraham. Unaware of his dark past, they struggle to understand his paranoia and increasingly erratic behavior. But when they begin to uncover the violent truths behind their father’s history with Dracula, their world unravels, forcing them to confront the terrifying legacy they were never meant to inherit". Rlje Films will handle the theatrical release later this year. Shudder should...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Bosch star Titus Welliver's Dracula sequel, Abraham's Boys, just received an exciting update. The film has been acquired by Rlje Films and Shudder.

Per Variety, Abraham's Boys is written and directed by Natasha Kermani (Lucky) and based on a short story written by horror legend Stephen King's son, Joe Hill. The film will premiere at the Overlook Film Festival, a four-day celebration of all things horror taking place in New Orleans between April 3 and April 6.

Abraham's Boys follows Max and Rudy Van Helsing, the children of Dracula's legendary Abraham Van Helsing. After learning about their father's history with Dracula, Max and Rudy's worlds are turned upside down as they uncover the reasons for their father's unhinged and violent behavior. Welliver stars alongside Jocelin Donahue (The House of the Devil), Judah Mackey (The Young and the Restless), Aurora Perrineau (Westworld) and Brady Hepner (The Black Phone).

Image via Shudder...

About four years ago, we heard that Tea Shop Productions, the company behind 47 Meters Down, had hired Imitation Girl and Lucky director Natasha Kermani to write and direct a feature adaptation of Joe Hill‘s short story Abraham’s Boys. Now, we finally have an update on the project, as Variety reports that Rlje Films and the Shudder streaming service have acquired the worldwide distribution rights to the film.

The Abraham in question here is vampire hunter Abraham Van Helsing as Hill’s action-horror story is described as a “follow-up of sorts” to Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The story tests the relationships Stoker formed in his original novel. The plot follows Max and Rudy Van Helsing, who know nothing of their father Abraham’s past and cannot understand his overprotective attitude and strange behavior. To make matters worse, Abraham is becoming increasingly more unhinged, paranoid, and violent. The film centers...

Rlje Films and Shudder have acquired the worldwide rights to Abraham’s Boys, an adaptation of the Joe Hill short story that serves as a sequel to Bram Stoker‘s Dracula, Variety reports.

Written and directed by Natasha Kermani, the film premieres this weekend at the Overlook Film Festival in New Orleans.

Max and Rudy Van Helsing have spent their lives under the strict and overprotective rule of their father, Abraham. Unaware of his dark past, they struggle to understand his paranoia and increasingly erratic behavior. But when they begin to uncover their father’s history with Dracula, their world unravels, forcing them to confront the terrifying legacy they were never meant to inherit.

Titus Welliver (“Bosch”), Jocelin Donahue (The House of the Devil), Judah Mackey (“The Young And The Restless”), Aurora Perrineau (“Westworld”), Brady Hepner (The Black Phone) star.

The film is produced by Tim Wu and James Howard...

Rlje Films and Shudder have acquired the worldwide rights to writer-director Natasha Kermani’s Dracula sequel “Abraham’s Boys,” adapted from Joe Hill’s 2007 short story and premiering at the Overlook Film Festival, Variety can exclusively reveal.

The plot follows Max and Rudy Van Helsing, who both struggle under their overprotective father, Abraham. After they dig into Abraham’s history with Dracula, Max and Rudy’s world unravels as they discover the history and legacy they have unknowingly inherited. The cast includes Titus Welliver (“Bosch”), Jocelin Donahue (“The House of the Devil”), Judah Mackey (“The Young And The Restless”), Aurora Perrineau (“Westworld”) and Brady Hepner (“The Black Phone”).

“We can’t wait to bring ‘Abraham’s Boys’ to audiences and expand the Dracula legacy with a fresh and compelling perspective,” Rlje Films’ Chief Acquisitions Officer Mark Ward said in a statement. “Natasha Kermani has woven a gripping, character-driven horror story...

We’re less than one month away from the Overlook Film Festival, an annual celebration of all things horror. And while not every film has been announced, we do have at least a tease of what the four days of terror will bring. Check out some of what you can expect below:

Opening the 2025 Overlook Film Festival will be Christopher Landon’s Drop, which has the following plot: “A widowed mother, on her first date in years, arrives at an upscale restaurant where she meets her handsome suitor. But their chemistry begins to curdle when she is terrorized by a series of anonymous drops to her phone.” Landon will be one of many directors in attendance with their new films. Others include Natasha Kermani with Abraham’s Boys, Eli Craig with Clown in a Cornfield, Joseph Kahn with Ick, Brett Whitcomb & Bradford Thomason with The Spirit of Halloweentown, and many more.

Meghann Fahy and Brandon Sklenar in ‘Drop,’ directed by Christopher Landon. (Photo Courtesy of Overlook Film Festival)

The 2025 Overlook Film Festival announced its first wave of films, with director Christopher Landon’s Drop starring Brandon Sklenar (1923) and Meghann Fahy (The Perfect Couple) set as the Opening Night film. This year’s popular horror film festival will take place April 3-6 in New Orleans and will include 47 films, live performances, interactive events, and special guests.

Attendees will also be treated to screenings of classic horror films including director Ernest Dickerson’s Tales From the Crypt: Demon Knight and the 40th anniversary 4K restoration of Stuart Gordon’s Re-Animator.

“No matter how many years this festival runs, every time we get to re-open the gates of our spectral summer camp feels like a miracle,” stated Landon Zakheim, co-founder and executive director of the Overlook FIlm Festival. “For all wayward souls and monster...

The Overlook Film Festival returns to “America’s most haunted city” from April 3 to 6. A cat on its ninth life, the annual event in New Orleans was founded almost a decade ago to celebrate scary movies and immersive horror experiences. This year, the festival lineup emphasizes tradition — honoring Shudder’s 10th birthday at its opening night party, programming a retro series with “Ash” director Flying Lotus, offering a conversation with genre literary legend Joe Hill, and more.

“I feel like we are standing at the crossroads of horror history,” said Michael Lerman, co-founder and director of film programming. “This year really showcases the old and new guard coming together. We have astounding debuts from exciting newcomers. We have veteran masters that keep reinventing themselves with new work. And we’re just getting started so stay tuned for more.”

From narrative films like “The True Beauty of Being Bitten by a Tick...

The Overlook Film Festival has announced this morning their first wave of programming for the upcoming 2025 edition, taking place April 3 – April 6 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Get ready to descend on America’s most haunted city for interactive events, live performances, immersive programming and special guests.

The fest announces 47 films (25 features and 22 shorts) from 10 countries, as well as five live presentations and three immersive experiences, with many more exciting surprises to be announced as the festival approaches. Kicking off the festivities as the Opening Night film will be Universal Pictures’ upcoming thriller Drop from Blumhouse and Platinum Dunes. Following the screening, festival-goers and special guests will make their way to an unmissable party celebrating both the start of the festival and the tenth anniversary of Shudder, the iconic horror curation and streaming service. Hosted by Shudder, this one-of-a-kind event will kick off with a horror-infused second line and will include some very special guest performances.

From feeling tarantulas crawling on my face and attending a midnight séance to meeting amazing creators and seeing movies such as Talk to Me and Evil Dead Rise conjure up scares on the big screen, these past several years I've been fortunate to experience the thrills and chills awaiting horror fans in the Big Easy at The Overlook Film Festival. Likened to being "a summer camp for horror fans," Overlook is always circled on my calendar, and this year is no exception, as the festival's first wave lineup is brimming with must-see movies and immersive experiences.

Taking place April 3rd–6th in New Orleans' Prytania Theatres, the first wave lineup for this year's Overlook Film Festival pays homage to horror's hallowed past while celebrating its promising future with an eclectic lineup of films including Christopher Landon's Drop, David Cronenberg's The Shrouds, Eli Craig's Clown in a Cornfield, the...

Game of Thrones wrapped up six years ago on HBO, but some of the cast members have been working together on other projects. To wit: Kit Harington and Sophie Turner, who played half-siblings/cousins/it's complicated Jon Snow and Sansa Stark, reunited for a horror movie called The Dreadful, which according to Radio Times has just wrapped filming in Cornwall, England!

The Dreadful isn't just any horror movie; it's a medieval period horror movie set against the backdrop of the War of the Roses, which happens to be the same war from which author George R.R. Martin drew a lot of inspiration when writing his A Song of Ice and Fire series; people have long seen parallels between that war and the story of Game of Thrones, with House Stark standing in for the House of York and House Lannister for the House of Lancaster. So it's funny that these...

Zygi Kamasa’s True Brit Entertainment has picked up UK and Ireland rights toNatasha Kermani’sThe Dreadful starring Sophie Turner and Kit Harington.

The gothic horror is now in post after a shoot in Cornwall.

Former Game Of Thrones stars Harrington and Turner reunite in a story about an isolated young woman whose life is turned upside down by the arrival of a man from her past.

Marcia Gay Harden, Laurence O’Fuarain and Jonathan Howard co-star.

Turner also produces the feature alongside Luke Daniels of Redwire Pictures/Tunnell; Patrick Hibler from Storyboard Media; Adam G. Simon, Bull Blumenthal, and Lucas Jarach.

Sophie Turner and Kit Harington, who starred together in ‘Game of Thrones,’ are reuniting for ‘The Dreadful,’ a gothic horror film. The movie, written and directed by Natasha Kermani, is set during the War of the Roses. It follows Anne (Turner) and her mother-in-law, Morwen, who live a tough, isolated life.

Their world changes when a man (Harington) from their past returns, triggering a series of events that alter Anne’s life.

The War of the Roses was a series of civil wars in England between 1455 and 1487, fought between two rival factions: the House of Lancaster (represented by a red rose) and the House of York (represented by a white rose). The conflict was over control of the English throne, ultimately leading to the rise of the Tudor dynasty.

The producers of ‘The Dreadful’ include Luke Daniels from Redwire Pictures/Tunnel, Patrick Muldoon and Patrick Hibler from Storyboard Media, Lucas Jarach,...

Oscar-winner Marcia Gay Harden is set to join a new gothic horror movie that will reunite two of Game of Thrones' biggest stars.

Per Deadline, Harden will join Sophie Turner and Kit Harington in a new horror film titled The Dreadful. The film also stars Laurence OFuarain (The Gentlemen) and Jonathan Howard (Thor: The Dark World). The film will reportedly be set during the War of the Roses, a period in which several civil wars were waged for control of the English throne. The Dreadful follows "Anne (Turner) and her sinister mother-in-law Morwen (Harden), who live a solitary, harsh life on the outskirts of society. But when a man (Harington) from their past returns, he sets off a sequence of horrifying events that become a turning point for Anne."

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George R.R. Martin teases a "fun...