Son of Stephen King Brings New Vampire Horror to Life in Abraham’s Boys: A Dracula Story

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.

Shudder, the horror-focused streaming service, is handling the release. They’ve already shared the first trailer, and it’s pretty creepy. The trailer shows Van Helsing trying to keep his family safe in a quiet, rural place, but something dark is clearly catching up to him.

His wife starts acting strangely, almost like she’s under a spell, and things only get weirder from there. At one point, we even get a quick look at Dracula. Fans online are already saying he looks a lot like Mr. Barlow from Salem’s Lot.

According to the official description from Shudder, “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.”

Joe Hill’s work has been turned into movies and shows before. Horns became a movie in 2013 with Daniel Radcliffe. His comic Locke & Key was made into a Netflix show in 2020. He also worked with his dad, Stephen King, on In the Tall Grass, which Netflix adapted in 2019. And Hill’s short story The Black Phone became a hit horror movie in 2021, with a sequel coming soon.

Abraham’s Boys: A Dracula Story is directed by Natasha Kermani and stars Titus Welliver, Jocelin Donahue, Judah Mackey, Aurora Perrineau, and Brady Hepner.

The film will premiere in theaters on July 11 and will stream on Shudder later on.