Cast: Titus Welliver, Brady Hepner, Judah Mackey, Jocelin Donahue

Written and Directed By: Natasha Kermani, based on characters created by Bram Stoker

Original Score By: Brittany Allen

Studio: RELJ/Shudder

Release Year: 2025

Audio Description Provided By: Audio Eyes

Written By: Sean Boggs

Narrated By: Nicole Cyrille

What Is It?: Abraham Van Helsing has left his pst behind him, moved his wife Nina, and their two sons all the way across the world to California, hoping to escape evil. But, evil is everywhere. Maybe evil followed them. Maybe… it never left them.

I don’t normally hit big spoilers in my reviews, especially without warning, but I can’t discuss the core of my feelings about this without spoilers.

What Works: this movie got so close. I knew critics weren’t all about this film, and the IMDb score wasn’t great. I like Titus Welliver, and because I consume film differently as a blind film critic, I was ready for a great story. Dammit, this is a rewrite or a second pass away from it.I’m impressed it is a writer/directorial debut, and I think she hit something here. the problem is that Abraham’s Boys wants to dance on a thin line, which is not meant to be danced on. There’s a dichotomy here that must work in order for the film to be sold as what it ultimately wants, and it can’t quite get there.

I knew what ws happening early on. It’s because the balance isn’t played well. Natasha isn’t quite sure how to convince the audience vampires are real, and perhaps even Dracula followed them to California, while also keeping it grounded in reality, so it turns out Abraham is just good old fashioned crazy.He would have been great in the Salem Witch Trials, taking his holier than thou approach to seeing evil inherently within women.

Welliver seems game, and the plot is conceptually strong. had you pulled it off, it’s kind of brilliant. It is asking the audience to bring their preconceived notions when they hear Van Helsing, and allude to what your brain is programmed to think. You go in assuming there will be vampires. And instead, there aren’t any. You then have a father who has been grooming his two sons to be zealots like him, which his eldest, Max, has figured out, and his youngest, Rudy, is scared of.

this film should have that third act where it’s Jack Nicholson in the Shining, where the boys try and survive their father, maybe save another life in the process, after all the pieces are put together. Natasha just doesn’t know how to dangle burning candles at both ends to keep you believing in the supernatural. When you realize how few moments there are, then it becomes more obvious where we are headed. Natasha needed to be able to make an explosive writer/directorial debut that tricked the audience, and relished in the third act twist. instead, the reveal comes at almost the end of the film, and there’s not much to enjoy from it.

I know this is the what works section, but in many ways, it is also the what doesn’t work section, because this film theoretically works. I think if a more experienced auteur had given notes, Natasha’s film would be one of the great surprises of 2025. Instead, it is a disappointment, not because it is really awful, but because something here could have been great. Other films never had a chance. War Of The Worlds isn’t disappointing, because there’s no spark of imagination. Here, I’m compelled by this. I just wish someone else along the way had been able to step in and say “have you tried this?”

What’s a great way to convince the audience vampires are real, through imagery, through tension, without betraying the film. How can we convince the audience that Abraham is altruistic and not sadistic? What about some levity, to show a later change in the dynamic between father and sons? And, leave yourself some room to have a bit more fun when you realize Abraham is really the problem.

The Audio Description: I love Nicole. Not every Audio Eyes track works for me, and I do prefer performative audio description. Sometimes, they do this shouting thing, which they pair with mounting tension. Here, Nicole does it, and it does feel like we’re mounting, instead of just going from zero to eleven. I love the moments chosen for this too, because this really is not a scary film. So, she makes tension out of other moments, like the pounding of a stake into a victim that isn’t really fighting back, or the simple opening of a curtain. sean wrote a solid script. Most of their stuff is decent, pretty good, or great. It’s certainly interesting to see the choices the Audio Eyes team makes. This was good though.

You Might Like it If: You like horror films that don’t rely on jump scares. It’s gory, and it builds tension, so there’s a possibility you could like it.

Why You Might Not Like it: I’d almost call this gateway horror if we cut out a few decapitations. Like, it’s overall pretty tame. But, it shouldn’t be. It doesn’t need more gore, or jump scares, but an understanding of how to balance this really interesting plot they’ve tapped into. It is an excellent elevator pitch, but it never becomes more than that.

Final Thoughts: Sometimes it’s the movies that come the closest, and have the most going for them, that disappoint us the most when they miss the mark. it’s so easy to lament what might have been, but sadly we have to live with what is.

Rotten: Final Grade: 5.2/10