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Editorial Review:
Like a roller coaster ready to fly off its rails, Van Helsing rockets to maximum velocity and never slows down. Having earned blockbuster clout with The Mummy and The Mummy Returns, writer-director Stephen Sommers once again plunders Universal's monster vault and pulls out all the stops for this mammoth $148-million action-adventure-horror-comedy, which opens (sans credits) with a terrific black-and-white prologue that pays homage to the Universal horror classics that inspired it. The plot pits legendary vampire hunter Van Helsing (Hugh Jackman) against Dracula (the deliciously campy Richard Roxburgh), his deadly blood-sucking brides, and the Wolfman (Will Kemp) in a two-hour parade of outstanding special effects (980 in all) that turn Sommers' juvenile plot into a triple-overtime bonus for CGI animators. In alliance with a Transylvanian princess (Kate Beckinsale) and the Frankenstein monster (Shuler Hensley), Van Helsing must prevent Dracula from hatching his bat-winged progeny, and there's so much good-humored action that you're guaranteed to be thrilled and exhausted by the time the 10-minute end-credits roll. It's loud, obnoxious, filled with revisionist horror folklore, and aimed at addicted gamers and eight-year-olds, but this colossal monster mash (including Mr. Hyde, just for kicks) will never, ever bore you. A sequel is virtually guaranteed. --Jeff Shannon
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 3.0 / 5.0
doh complete rubbish that is not worth bothering with.theres no gore,no scares
the werewolves,vampires and frankensteins monster all look cheap and shoddy,the acting is awful, the script is worse
Crash! Bang! Wallop! But not much else. This is a film that tries to do many things, but only really manages to be incredibly noisy. There are nods to other movies (including James Bond and M) and an attempt to marry horror with wit (not easy, but watch Buffy the equally famous Vampire Slayer to see how it's done). Hugh Jackman plays in fairly straight in the title role, Richard Roxburgh hams it up as Dracula and Kate Beckinsale struts her stuff in ridiculous heels, a wasp waisted corset and a blouse that tries to make her look bare... more info
SHALLOW FOR SURE BUT AMUSING When you want to make one more film on Dracula who counts several hundred films already, both as assets and as drawbacks, you have to be original. No problem ! Let's patchwork together dozens of allusions to other films and create the first ever vampiristic salad. So Dr Frankenstein and his creature will be there. The use of the lightning to get electricity like in Back to the Future 1. The use of strange weapons halfway between Back to the Future 3 and The Lord of the Rings. The costume, dress, apparel of... more info
A little too camp for my liking: Dracula is a parody of a Eurotrash Count. If you can get past that this is kind of fun, however, Van Helsing is more than a little wooden too, so the best comes from the supporting cast. Well made, even stylish, but lacking that certain something that sets it apart. Stephen Sommers was much better with The Mummy.
