Since first being dreamt up inDracula,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 likeFrancis Ford Coppola’sBram Stoker’s DraculaandPatrick Lussier’sDracula 2000have 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 whenJoe Hillset 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.”
During a chat with Collider’sChris McPhersonin preparation for the cinematic release ofNatasha Kermani’s feature-length adaptation ofAbraham’s Boys: A Dracula Story, Hill opened up about how he crafted this very different version of the famed vampire slayer. Pointing to Van Helsing’s bizarre and brutal career choice, Hill said,
“When I wrote the story,I was thinking about what kind of guy Van Helsing is. And I was thinking about, like, this is a guy who goes out on a Friday night and he tears open a coffin and finds some young woman sleeping there. And thenhe slams a stake through her chest, chops off her head, and shoves garlic into her screaming mouth. Like, I spend my Friday night watching Netflix or Shudder. I sit back, I kick back on Friday night throwing something on Shudder.”
Exploring Van Helsing’s Serial Killer Tendencies
InAbraham’s Boys, audiences tag along withTitus Welliver(Bosch), who plays the titularvampire hunter,as he imparts his wisdom onto his two sons, Max (Brady Hepner) and Rudy (Judah Mackey). The family has uprooted their lives and moved to the United States in hopes of getting out of the business, but soon, the monsters from Abraham’s past catch up with him. What happens next is a paranoia-fueled horror fest as the patriarch begins to go off the rails in his quest for safety.
Comparing Van Helsing to aninfamous serial killerand further questioning his true intentions, Hill continued,
“We know that Van Helsing is a good guy becausewe’ve been taught that vampires are evil. Vampires are infected. They must be destroyed. But still,his Friday night looks a lot like Ted Bundy’s Friday night. And that’s kind of what I tapped into – this guy’s way of passing the time is not a normal way to pass the time.”
Abraham’s Boys
Abraham’s Boys: A Dracula Storywill slay cinemas on July 11.
