Another of Joe HIll’s vampire tales is making its way to the screen, this time being his unique take on the world of Bram Stoker’sDraculawithAbraham’s Boys: A Dracula Story. Hill, the son of horror master Stephen King and an iconic writer in his own right, has had a few of his works adapted for the screen thus far, most notablyfellow vampire storyNOS4A2, which ran for two seasons on AMC,Locke & Key, which ran for three seasons on Netflix after two prior failed adaptations, andThe Black Phone, among others.
Abraham’s Boys: A Dracula Story, whose short story was first published inThe Many Faces of Van Helsing, serves as a sequel to Bram Stoker’s classic novel. Set in 1915 California, the story centers on Abraham Van Helsing having built a family after killing the iconic Count, though as he attempts to teach his sons about the dangers of vampires, doubt begins to creep in with one of them about their whole lives.Boschalum Titus Welliverleads theAbraham’s Boyscast alongside Jocelin Donahue as Mina Van Helsing, Brady Hepner as their eldest son Max and Judah Mackey as their younger son Rudy.
Ahead of the movie’s release,ScreenRantinterviewed Joe Hill to discussAbraham’s Boys: A Dracula Story. The author/executive producer opened up about his unique take on Stoker’s characters and his interpretation of whether Abraham and Mina had actually encountered vampires in the past, or were going through some kind of delusion, as well as why he let writer/director Natasha Kermani run with her vision for the story and his appreciation for the cast of the film. He also shared his enthusiasm forThe Black Phone 2’s script and the secret sequel setup in the first film.
Abraham’s Boys Is Something Of An “Elseworld” Adaptation Of Van Helsing
“…It Kind Of Sounds Like The Way Ted Bundy Spent His Weekends.”
While there have been a variety ofadaptations of Stoker’sDraculaover the years, Hill’s original short story is a rarity in how it explores the aftermath of it,particularly since it puts the focus on Van Helsing. In reflecting on the inception ofAbraham’s Boys, the author/executive producer explained that one of the biggest hooks for him with the story was the general idea that “Van Helsing is a man who goes out on Friday night to a graveyard, tears open the coffin of someone recently deceased, finds a young lady sleeping there, and then uses a mallet to slam a stake through her heart”.
Complete with chopping off said victim’s head and “jamming a bulb of garlic into her screaming mouth”, Hill humorously points out"it kind of sounds like the way Ted Bundy spent his weekends", even if he’s ultimately seen as “heroic” because “vampires are evil”. From there, the author found his way into the “Elseworld story” of the character, feeling it was an element that “I can explore profitably, creatively speaking” and expressing that it “all worked out in the end” with the film adaptation. “The story aged like fine wine, and now we’re finally ready to decant it and share it with everyone,” Hill expressed.
It doesn’t seem like a healthy, wholesome way to spend a night. I don’t know about you, I like to watch Shudder in the evening, kick back with some popcorn or something.
GivenAbraham’s Boysposes the question of whether Abraham’s vampire beliefs are real or not, it’s fair to wonder whether Hill lands on one side or the other of the discussion,and the author himself is pretty open to letting readers and viewers come away with their own interpretation. Acknowledging that he’s “perfectly content” to “just play it straight” with Stoker’s good versus evil battle in the originalDracula, he also admits to having a unique relationship with the character as, well before he read the classic book, he “got kind of screwed up when I was a kid” and actually read Fred Saberhagen’sThe Dracula Tapebefore.
The 1975 novel served as a reimagining of Stoker’s novel, being told through “a series of home recordings that had been discovered in an abandoned car in a snow drift” and being “Dracula narrating his life story”, particularly the events of Stoker’s book. As Hill explains, the book’s exploration of the original eventsmakes it clear “Abraham Van Helsing is a psychotic”, with those working with him to stop the Count instead feeling like members of a cult rather than a group of fellow heroes.
Van Helsing, in The Dracula Tape, isn’t much saner than that. So, reading that before Dracula, I always kind of had the idea in my head that you couldn’t trust Van Helsing, and that the story wasn’t what we thought it was. So, I’ve never had a normal response to the Stoker text. I think Paperbacks from Hell might republish Saberhagen’s Dracula Tape, and I hope they will. I’d kind of like to read it again and see how it holds up.
Hill Entrusted Natasha Kermani To Bring Her Own Vision To The Story
“She’s Not There Competing With Modern Films…”
Though having been involved with the writing of the pilot forNetflix’sLocke & Keyadaptation, Joe Hill has largely left the adaptation of his works to those leading the charge on said properties, which did extend to Natasha Kermani forAbraham’s Boys. With the film taking a few deviations from his source material,including Mina being alive and part of the story, Hill shares that there wasn’t much of a conversation ahead of time between him and Kermani about what should be in the film, describing he doesn’t generally “take a prescriptive attitude towards any of the adaptations”.
The author goes on to express that he feels “like I had my turn at this story” in his short stories and books, and rather than restrict other creatives to what they can do with the material, he’s instead “kind of curious what they’re going to bring to the party”. Hill was further wowed by the job Kermani did with translatingAbraham’s Boysto the screen,describing there being a “suffocating air of suspense” to the filmand comparing it to some of the best “mid-century Hitchcock” movies, includingPsychoandVertigo.
He also points out that, in her desire to “play her own game”, Kermani also bringsa “John Ford Western” feel to the film, describing such sights as “Brady Hepner outside with a hatchet, and the sun is setting over a dusty California hill country”. The author/EP goes on to praise her approach as being “timeless” and could “sit comfortably with, in a way, much older films”. “It feels like you’re getting a story, a vision of immigrants in the American West, a sort of classic fable of the new settlers,” Hill expressed. “And I think that’s powerful, too.”
Hill Was Amazed By Jocelin Donahue’s Work On The Film
“…Bringing Mina Into It Was A Great Idea.”
As previously mentioned, one of the biggest changes from the short story was including Mina in the film, withThe Last Stop in Yuma County’s Jocelin Donahueplaying the iconicDraculacharacter. To start, Hill was thrilled with Donahue’s work in the role,calling her “extraordinary as Mina”, while also praising Kermani for having “made all the right moves” both in adapting his story and building the “great cast” ofAbraham’s Boys.
Hill goes on to point out the importance of the movie expanding Mina’s role from the story, in which she was “out of the picture for 10 years”, asit now makes her “the emotional heart of that family”. “She’s where Max gets his sense of empathy, and his curiosity, and some of his courage, and some of his willingness to challenge the world around him,” the author explained.
As such, withAbraham’s Boysalso showing Mina “slipping away psychologically” as she still appears to be drawn to the apparently dead Count, and dealing with an unclear physical illness, Hill finds thatit adds a “terrifying” undercurrent to the movie’s story. “We sense she’s losing her mind, and we feel intensely that she’s under threat, that she is facing mortal peril from forces unknown,” Hill shared.
Hill Determined The Black Phone 2’s Story Before Scott Derrickson & C. Robert Cargill
“Originally, Scott And Cargill Weren’t Sure There Was A Sequel There…”
Abraham’s Boys: A Dracula Storyisn’t the only one of Hill’s works to be coming to the screen this year, as this October also marks the arrival ofthe highly-anticipatedBlack Phone 2, the follow-up to the hit 2023 adaptation of his 2004 short story. The film, which isbased on a story concept pitched by Hillto co-writer/director Scott Derrickson and co-writer C. Robert Cargill, will see Mason Thames' Finney and Madeleine McGraw’s Gwen finding themselves tormented by the spirit of Ethan Hawke’s The Grabber, in spite of his death in the first film, in a snowy camp setting.
While the firstBlack Phone 2trailer showed The Grabber seemingly returning in a Freddy Krueger-like fashion, Hill is careful not to say too much about the nature of the villain’s return, confirming he has “seen the theories” and ultimately saying"I would just point out The Grabber is dead", but even still that “being dead hasn’t stopped people from reaching out to Finney before”. As to the development of the idea for a follow-up, Hill reveals that Derrickson and Cargill “weren’t sure there was a sequel there”, but that the author was sure there would be for a few reasons.
For starters, Hill recalls when he first saw The Grabber’s mask as developed by Jason Baker and Tom Savini’s Callosum Studios, he knew “there’s gonna be a bunch of these pictures”, feeling it to be “iconic in the way of Freddy Krueger’s glove and Michael Myers' mask”, among others. He also recalls a “brief thing” he saw inthe firstBlack Phonemoviethat immediately led to his feeling"that’s a trap door into the second film", even if he wasn’t sure Derrickson and Cargill knew “they just stuck this thing in the movie that’s the obvious door to fling open” for the sequel.
From there, Hill took to pitching his idea for the sequel to the creative duo, which he says “they both thought was really cool” and Derrickson subsequently “brought in some more stuff” to flesh out the piece. He also recalls how the firstBlack Phonewas"very autobiographical" for Derricksonfrom his childhood “growing up dirty in the 1970s in Denver” which, when mixed with Cargill being “a masterful engineer” in crafting suspenseful sequences, led to “a great script” for the sequel that he’s excited for audiences to see.
Abraham’s Boys
Cast
Abraham’s Boys follows Abraham van Helsing as he relocates his sons, Max and Rudy, to the United States after the events of Dracula.
