Abraham’s Boys: Titus Welliver as Abraham Van Helsing

In the vintage Universal Monster movies, Dracula definitely had a daughter (Gloria Holden), but it is rather ambiguous whether Count Alucard (Lon Chaney, Jr.) in Son of Dracula was truly his son, or in fact, Dracula himself. Regardless, Joe Hill’s short story makes it clear his longtime nemesis had two sons. Unfortunately, they are both rather disappointingly not chips off the old block in Natasha Kermani’s Abraham’s Boys: A Dracula Story, which opens today in theaters.

After the “troubles” in London, Abraham Van Helsing relocated to California’s rural Central Valley, with his new wife, Mina, whom he saved from vampires. That is a bit of shocker, right? Imagine Lily-Rose Depp marrying Willem Dafoe in Nosferatu. Yet, for years, they made it work. Of course, Van Helsing never really gave up his undead-hunting ways. Perhaps that is a good thing, because they can both sense vampire activity in the Valley, which she would be particularly susceptible to, as a survivor of vampiric blood-sucking.

On the other hand, it will be hard to explain to their sons, Max and Rudy. It sounds crazy, perhaps even psychotically murderous. Van Helsing needs his sons’ trust, but his cold demeanor and secretive ways always kept his sons at arm’s length. Instead, most of their love was saved for their suddenly ailing mother.

Although subtitled “A Dracula Story,” the Count is only present in memory and perhaps by suggestion. Consequently, anyone hoping for a traditional vampire movie will be disappointed. Kermani intentionally capitalizes on the ambiguity of Hill’s story to create a psychological thriller rather than an undead horror movie. That approach works for a while (probably even the entire first and second acts), but there comes a time to fish or cut bait. Yet, Kermani continues to play is-he-or-isn’t-he games, well past that point.

Nevertheless, the early scenes are impressively evocative and suggestive, thanks in part to the constrained aspect ratio (more-or-less Academy Ratio) and Julia Swain’s dusty, sun-dappled cinematography, which gives the film a vibe akin to Jan Kroell’s pioneer films and Sergio Leone spaghetti westerns.

Titus Welliver is also blisteringly intense as old man Van Helsing. He really keeps viewers hooked, until the film craters due to its excessive coyness and an apparent contempt for its own genre. Jocelin Donahue is also surprisingly poignant as Mina Van Helsing (it is still strange to refer to her as Mrs. Van Helsing). However, the titular sons are a rather drippy, tiresome twosome. Honestly, you can’t blame the old man for his sour frustration with them.

Arguably, Kermani is a victim of her success building such palpable atmosphere early, which seems to promise a big Sinners-level payoff that never comes. The tension is well executed, but not the release. Indeed, even fans of arty “post-horror” are apt to feel “cheated.” The results are interesting, but not sufficiently successful to recommend, when Abraham’s Boys opens today (7/11) in New York, at the AMC Empire.