Since author Bram Stoker published "Dracula" in 1897, countless adaptations of the novel have been released from films seeking to bring the words on the page to life to authors adding their own spin to the tale through original works. One such adaptive work is author Joe Hill’s "Abraham’s Boys," first published in 2007 and now adapted for the big screen by writer/director Natasha Kermani ("Imitation Girl;" "Lucky") in "Abraham’s Boys: A Dracula Story." Kermani’s original work held its world premiere at The Overlook Film Festival 2025 and is now set for a theatrical release on July 11th.
In the third of four interviews, EoM Contributor Joel Winstead sits down with author of the source material Joe Hill ("Horns;" "Locke & Key") to discuss his work, the adaptive process, and a whole lot of Alfred Hitchcock in this eight-minute conversation.
In theaters July 11th, 2025.
Official Synopsis: 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.
Official Trailer: youtu.be/-2BJrCzvEZQ
Directed/Written By: Natasha Kermani Based Upon the Short Story by: Joe Hill Cast: Titus Welliver, Jocelin Donahue, Judah Mackey, Aurora Perrineau, Brady Hepner, Corteon Moore
00:00Hey guys, contributor Joel here again. I got to sit down with Joe Hill, the author of Abraham's Boys, which is now a feature film coming out July 11th in theaters and streaming after that probably on Shudder.
00:15Joe Hill, the son of Stephen King, prolific writer in his own right, great horror writer. Got to sit down and talk to him. He got distracted by my shelf behind me and we talked about Hitchcock most of the time, but I got to tie that into kind of the film and pick his brain a little bit. But I hope you enjoy it.
00:38I'm doing great.
00:40What's the Hitchcock, what's the DVD behind you with Hitchcock's profile on it?
00:44This guy right here?
00:46Yeah.
00:47This is one of several volumes that came out. It's a 4K of Rear Window Vertigo, Psycho and the Birds.
00:53You know, it's funny that you should have that behind you. It's an interview day and I, so I've done a few other interviews today. And one of the things I keep coming back to is that you have to, I'm sorry, we'll come back to that. You have to slate yourself to say your name and then we'll start again.
01:09Joel Winstead from Elements of Madness.
01:11So, so it's funny you having that Hitchcock collection right over your right shoulder. It's an interview day. I've, you know, I've been talking about the picture for a little while with a few other people.
01:24One of the things I keep coming back to is, you know, Natasha had a very short period of time to make the film in and very little money.
01:35And those could have been liabilities. They could have undermined the film, but instead she used them as opportunities, you know, to make the film, you know, more, more compressed and more suspenseful.
01:47And ultimately the picture she wound up making is very Hitchcockian, you know, it has a feel that house all by itself out in the middle of rattlesnake country, you know, has the feel of the Bates Motel.
02:04Which is also this kind of isolated, frightening place, this outpost far from hell.
02:13And, and, you know, when in the film, when we're watching Abraham's Boys and we're inside that house or it's after dark, we're in a Hitchcock film.
02:22Um, when we're outside and it's daylight, then we're in a John Ford Western, you know, Brady happened to be standing around in his hat with his sleeves, he's got the hatchet and the golden California sunlight is spread over the hills.
02:38Feels like we could be looking at Gregory Peck in a John Ford Western, you know, or, you know, uh, uh, John Ford Western from 1960, you know?
02:48Um, and I sort of love that. I sort of love that she, you know, she didn't play the modern game.
02:54She's not in competition with modern films. You know, Natasha went out and made something more timeless, something that could slot right next to Vertigo or High Noon.
03:05Um, yeah, that's one of the reasons I have it here because this film reminded me of a Hitchcock film.
03:10Um, you know, it's, it's very, um, it felt very isolated.
03:16These people are dealing with this traumatic thing that everyone knows about, but we're not talking about.
03:21And, and it's kind of just felt like they were alone in that room and very beautifully photographed. Yes.
03:26Yeah. So the classic Hitchcock scenarios are like, what if everyone was really out to get me, you know, or what if this person I love isn't who I thought he was?
03:37What if, what if, you know, um, um, you know, this person is actually out to kill me, you know, Hitchcock, Hitchcock took the viewer and threw them into a whirlpool of paranoid fantasy.
03:50And that's really what we have here too. That's very much the case of Abraham's boys where, you know, you have these two children and their father is the famous vampire hunter, Abraham Van Helsing.
04:01But the kids are starting, starting to wonder if dad is all right and how much of what they've told him, they told them about his life is true, you know, and their mother.
04:13So dad is a, dad is a paranoid and violent fantasist and their mother is losing her mind and they're stuck out there in the middle of nowhere.
04:21It's classic Hitchcock stuff. It's very, you know, they're very isolated and, and, you know, they're in a world of trouble.
04:27And if you consider the time period, you know, that they're going to get ready to jump out of that into the frying pan in world war one.
04:33So I know, right.
04:35You know, a lot going on Natasha and I have, have talked about, I've actually heard Natasha talk about following Max into world war one and what that story was like.
04:44But I think the more interesting story would be to go back in time to, you know, go further back in the past.
04:50And it turns out that Abraham Van Helsing is Jack the Ripper.
04:55Okay. I would take that.
04:56It still works with the whole psychology of what we've created.
05:00It does. It does.
05:02Seeing, seeing your story on the screen, you know, a lot of your, your works are adapted to television and movies.
05:08I've been very lucky.
05:10Where do you fall in that when, once it gets to that point, are you, do you set it free and let them do their interpretation or are you, do you stay involved?
05:17Yeah, for sure.
05:18Yeah, for sure.
05:19You know, there's, you know, I, when someone adapts something for film or for TV or sometimes for comic books, I've had some stuff adapted for, you know, graphic novels where I wasn't writing it.
05:32Someone else was writing it, you know, and, and I always feel like I did my version of the story.
05:39You know, what's your version of the story going to look like?
05:41What was it in the material that spoke to you?
05:44How can you make it personal and how can you adapt it to a different format?
05:48I'm glad to help, you know, look at a script, answer questions, be a resource.
05:53I also think it pays not to be too underfoot.
05:55Because, because, you know, because they've got to tell their version of the story.
06:01They can't, they can't do much.
06:02It's impossible for them to do my version and they can only do that version, you know?
06:07So you want to give them the freedom to make their own artistic choices and to express themselves and to find what matters to them and the material.
06:16You know, you know, C.S. Lewis used to believe that every story had a platonic version of itself and that, that a writer was sort of only doing their best attempt to capture that platonic version.
06:28And I sort of think that's true, you know?
06:31Well, at the end of the day.
06:33Yeah, go ahead.
06:35Sorry.
06:35I was going to say, at the end of the day, Abraham's Boys is still going to be Abraham's Boys.
06:38You know, your version still exists no matter what happens.
06:42Yeah.
06:42Well, there's Natasha's version and there's my version.
06:45And I think they're both really fun in their own ways.
06:48Out of all the stories that you've written, what's one that hasn't been adapted yet that you want to see?
06:56And why is it When the Locusts Sing?
07:02No, it probably isn't When the Locusts Sing.
07:05I mean, the one that I'd really like to see adapted is the new novel, King Sorrow.
07:10I have a new book out in October, King Sorrow.
07:13It's 900 pages long.
07:15If you drop it on your foot, you know, it probably breaks some bones.
07:20But I wanted to create a big cinematic, you know, beach read page turner, you know.
07:25And it's about six friends in the 1980s who bring a dragon through into our reality to help them with a problem.
07:35And then it turns out this dragon is in their life forever.
07:38And it follows the next 25 years and this dragon winds up battling F-16s and, you know, you've got an Indiana Jones style plunge into a troll's cave.
07:54And, you know, there's a lot of big action set pieces.
07:57I think it would make a kind of fun TV show.
08:00I'd like to see some of that on the screen.
08:02That would be cool.
08:03Yeah, it already sounds cinematic.
08:05Well, thank you so much for your time today.
08:06And I really enjoyed this version of Abraham's Voice.
