Tag Archives: Aurora Perrineau

Nov 21 2025

Mel’s 5 Second Review: Abraham’s Boys

Abraham’s Boys (2025)
Titus Welliver, Brady Hepner, Judah Mackey, Jocelin Donahue, Aurora Perrineau, and Jonathan Howard
Directed by: Natasha Kermani

This one popped up on Shudder the other day, and being the vampire fanatic that I am, I was excited and put it on as soon as I had time. And… oh boy.

Years after defeating Dracula, Abraham Van Helsing and his wife Mina are raising their 2 sons on a seculded ranch. After finding a woman locked up under the house, the boys are told that the evil has followed them, and the monsters must be erradicated. But who’s the real monster?

SPOILERS INCOMING

Now listen. The concept is amazing. 10/10. It’s based on a story written by Joe Hill, so I’m not overly surprised. But the execution… eh. I’ll start with the acting, which ranged from mediocre to laughably bad. I don’t like to harp on child actors, cause it’s a tough gig, but man. There are good child actors out there. The movie looked decent. They got a suitably creepy old house to film in (not sure if it’s “new old” or “old old”), and the dusty, desolate landscape just adds to the ambiance they were going for.

The idea that Van Helsing is simply a murderer that tricked people into thinking there were real vampires is actually really solid. I guessed it from the beginning of the film, but that’s because I’ve seen movies before. I know how they work (most of the time. I still get surprised every so often.) I tried to track down the source material, but could not find it for the life of me. Should anybody read this and knows where to find it, please let me know. The pacing was all over the place, sometimes so slow that you wonder if anything is happening at all, and other times almost frenetic with its movements. I’m not sure what they were going for, but whatever it was, they failed.

So do I recommend it? Eh. Not really. Unless you’re a diehard fan of vampires. But then again, there were no vampires in this vampire movie. Vampire adjacent? Yeah, that’s it. 5/10

M.

This film is currently on Shudder.

Nov 22 2019

Mel’s 5 Second First Impressions: Prodigal Son

Prodigal Son (2019 – )
(Season 1 cast) Tom Payne, Michael Sheen, Lou Diamond Phillips, Aurora Perrineau, Bellamy Young, Halston Sage, Frank Harts, Keiko Agena, Charlayne Woodard

First, let me get this out of the way: Tom Payne as Malcolm Bright is a stone cold fox. Got it? Good, we can move on.

8 episodes of this show have aired on Global Montreal (I imagine the same amount have aired elsewhere). I’ve seen 6 of them. And really, it’s some of the best new tv that’s played in a long time.

Payne plays an FBI profiler fired from his job, despite being the best, for being overly reckless. He goes back to his home town of NYC where he’s hired by the local police to help on some cases. He has horrible night terrors stemming from his childhood. His father, you see, was a serial killer known as “The Surgeon”, and Malcolm was very traumatised by the fact. As the episodes go on, he’s trying to separate fact from fiction, as he’s having different and more vivid dreams that he thinks may be memories.

I’ve always had a soft spot for serial killer shows, so maybe I’m a bit biased, but I love this show so far. The acting is mostly good, the stories are great, the characters are engaging, and, to no one’s surprise, Michael Sheen is electric as good old dad. I for one can’t wait to watch more, and I hope it lasts on tv for a while. They tend to can shows I like quickly, so here’s hoping that doesn’t happen this time.

M.