Van Helsing (film)

Van Helsing
Directed by	Stephen Sommers
Produced by	Stephen Sommers Bob Ducsay
Written by	Stephen Sommers
Starring	Hugh Jackman Kate Beckinsale Richard Roxburgh David Wenham Shuler Hensley Elena Anaya Will Kemp Kevin J. O'Connor Alun Armstrong
Music by	Alan Silvestri
Cinematography	Allen Daviau
Editing by	Bob Ducsay Kelly Matsumoto Jim May
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	May 7, 2004
Running time	132 min.
Country	USA
Language	English
Budget	$160 million
Official website
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Van Helsing is a 2004 American action/horror film about vampire hunter Gabriel Van Helsing, written and directed by Stephen Sommers. The film stars Hugh Jackman and Kate Beckinsale. Based on a version of the character of Abraham Van Helsing from Bram Stoker's novel Dracula, the film also incorporates characters from other works such as the film The Wolf Man into the narrative, and draws particularly on literary classics of the gothic horror canon such as Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein. The movie has been compared to Konami's Castlevania popular series of games.

Plot

The film begins in black and white in the fashion of 1950's hammer films. The story opens in Transylvania, 1887, where an angry mob is preparing to storm Dr. Frankenstein's (Samuel West) castle, as his infamous reanimation experiment is about to complete. Count Dracula (Richard Roxburgh) has commissioned the experiment, because he wants to use the monster (Shuler Hensley) for an evil scheme. When Dr. Frankenstein refuses to abide, Dracula bites, transforms, and sucks all the blood from his body,causing his death. Immediately afterward, the mob breaks into the castle. Frankenstein's monster takes his "father's" body and runs off to a nearby windmill. Igor, Frankenstein's assistant, accidentally blows his master's location, and the mob follows. The mob burns it down, and the monster and Dr. Frankenstein fall into a cavern below. Dracula and his brides managed to frighten the mob away to watch the horrible end of a perfect plan. Returning to color, it is revealed that Van Helsing (Hugh Jackman) is a monster hunter for a secret organization called "The Order" whose mission is to fight evil. One year after the Frankenstein incident, he is assigned to bring in Dr. Henry L. Jekyll/Mr. Edward Hyde (Robbie Coltrane), but fails by killing him accidentally. Van Helsing is hunted himself, branded a murderer, as most of the monsters he kills change back to human form once they're dead and found by the authorities. Also, he is haunted by memories of some sort of past life, most of which are of events that occurred hundreds of years ago. The Order sends him after Count Dracula, partially because the Order believes he might find the answers to his real past on the journey. He, and his assistant friar Carl (David Wenham), arrive in Romania and meet Anna Valerious (Kate Beckinsale). Anna is one of the last of the Valerious family, along with her brother, Velkin (Will Kemp). Their family has been trying to kill Dracula since their ancestor swore to God that their family would never enter heaven until Dracula was dead. Velkin is attacked and apparently killed by a werewolf during a failed attempt to kill the creature, making Anna the last Valerious, and just as determined to kill Dracula. Upon arriving, Van Helsing and Anna are attacked by Dracula's three brides. Using special weapons designed to kill vampires, Van Helsing defeats one (Marishka) (Josie Maran) by shooting her with crossbow bolts dipped in holy water from a nearby church. Anna and Van Helsing form an alliance to kill Dracula, who is using Castle Frankenstein for some mysterious purpose. They find that Dracula and his Brides have been breeding and trying to produce thousands of offspring. Because the Count and his Brides are dead, their children are conceived dead as well, and the Count is using Victor Frankenstein's work to bring them to life. However, every attempt he makes fails, and he needs Frankenstein's monster to make it work. He is partially successful with werewolf venom from Anna's brother Velkin, who was not killed and is now in Dracula's servitude, but the results prove insufficient, as the children die after a short period (the Count's last experiment resulted in the death of Anna and Velkin's father, who is actually also a werewolf and the monster who attacked Velkin earlier in the film). Dracula confronts Van Helsing (whom he refers to as "Gabriel") and tries to bargain with him, saying that he knows about his past, but Dracula leaves once he learns his children are dead. Caught in the rain, and on the run, Anna and Van Helsing arrive at the windmill that was burned down in the prologue. Anna tells Van Helsing that no conventional method to kill Dracula will work. While at the windmill, the floor gives way, and Anna and Van Helsing fall into a cavern. Meanwhile, Carl, who had slept with a woman he saved from Dracula's children, finds a hidden painting of two knights fighting, framed by a Latin inscription. As he recites it, the knights come alive and fight, one of them turning into a werewolf, the other a vampire. Van Helsing observes the cavern and describes the last creature who stepped in. Anna asks him how he knows, to which he responds "Because he's standing right behind you". Frankenstein's monster has been hiding down there, away from Dracula and the merciless townspeople. Van Helsing cannot kill the creature, as it is not evil, so attempts to spirit it away to the Vatican in Rome, where it will be safer. A chase ensues between Van Helsing and the Maidens of Dracula, where another is killed by an explosion of stakes in a decoy carriage. Velkin, in werewolf form, attacks and wounds Van Helsing, however, Van Helsing succeeds in killing Velkin. Infuriated at the death of her brother, Anna turns on Van Helsing, asking how he could do such a thing. Van Helsing responds "Now you know why they call me a murderer." Anna is captured by Dracula's minions, and Van Helsing has only two nights before becoming a full Werewolf. The last of Dracula's brides tells them her master is willing to trade Anna for the monster. Van Helsing wasn't intent on doing it and neither was Dracula. Van Helsing and Carl tranquilize Frankenstein's monster and hide him in a cemetery. Dracula is hosting a masquerade ball, where he intends to make Anna another bride, but before he bites her, Van Helsing rescues Anna; however, all the patrons are Vampires and Frankenstein's monster is captured by Dracula's henchmen. Escaping by killing all the vampires with a device that produces a powerful burst of light, Van Helsing must now find Dracula's lair... as he begins to transform. Carl deciphers the clues in the Valerious house. Apparently, Dracula was the son of Anna's ancestor. After he was killed in 1462, Dracula made a deal with the devil for eternal life which can only be sustained by drinking blood (there was a picture with people between Dracula and Satan, but when folded, it shows Dracula touching Satan's finger). Anna's ancestor had his son banished to a frozen land and went to Rome to ask for forgiveness, which is how the Valerious pact was made. It is discovered that only a werewolf can kill Dracula. A map of Transylvania in the study creates a portal to Castle Dracula with an incantation Van Helsing was given back in Rome. Frankenstein's monster, who is imprisoned in a block of ice, reveals that Dracula had a cure for werewolves, should one turn on him. Helsing goes to fight Dracula, while Carl and Anna force Igor (Kevin J. O'Connor) to find the cure. Igor pulls a fast one on them and locks them in the room with the cure. Anna fights another Maiden, while Carl runs to Helsing with the cure but is attacked by Igor. Van Helsing transforms into a werewolf and fights Dracula with his new-found strength (which side-effects his human form, giving him the strength to bend iron bars and hurl chairs 50 feet through the air). Frankenstein's monster helps Anna fight the Maiden and is surprised when Anna thanks him. Dracula reveals that Van Helsing is the "Left hand of God", another name for the archangel Gabriel, which may explain Van Helsing's long life and his aptitude at destroying evil. Dracula reveals that Van Helsing was the one that murdered him in 1462, and that he will tell Van Helsing everything he's forgotten, if he will become Dracula's partner. Van Helsing refuses this offer, transforms again, and kills Dracula. Anna runs in, and is attacked by Van Helsing who kills her before realising who she was. She manages to inject him with the cure before she dies, however. Anna is given a proper cremation by Van Helsing and Carl, while Frankenstein's monster takes to the sea to evade the Vatican's orders to have him killed, and to find somewhere where he is accepted. Van Helsing looks to the sky and sees Anna and her family ascend to heaven, and then he and Carl ride off into the setting sun.

Cast

• Hugh Jackman as Gabriel Van Helsing
• Kate Beckinsale as Anna Valerious
• Richard Roxburgh as Count Vladislaus Dracula
• David Wenham as Carl
• Will Kemp as Velkan Valerious / The Wolf Man
• Shuler Hensley as Frankenstein's monster
• Silvia Colloca as Verona, the oldest bride of Dracula
• Josie Maran as Marishka, the middle bride of Dracula
• Elena Anaya as Aleera, the youngest bride of Dracula
• Kevin J. O'Connor as Igor
• Alun Armstrong as Cardinal Jinette
• Samuel West as Dr. Victor Frankenstein
• Robbie Coltrane as Mr. Edward Hyde (voice)

Other media

Sommers expanded the story of Van Helsing in two direct spin-offs. The animated prequel titled Van Helsing: The London Assignment takes place before the main events of the film, focusing on Van Helsing's mission to try to end a Jack the Ripper-style murderer, who turns out to be Mr. Hyde, from terrorizing London. There was also a one-issue comic book titled , that follows Van Helsing on a self-contained adventure that occurs during the events of the film, just after the death of Jekyll/Hyde in Paris but before Van Helsing returned to Rome. In the adventure, Van Helsing deals with Doctor Moreau and his hybrid mutants. A spin-off television series, titled Transylvania, was planned, using the film's village sets, but due to poor US box-office, critical panning and a considerable budget for each episode, the series' status is currently unknown. The series was to be set in the same period as the film, and was reportedly to focus on the story of a Texas cowboy who becomes sheriff in a Transylvanian village, where he must keep the peace between two warring families with some "monstrous genes". Sommers wrote the pilot and supervised six episode scripts. Vivendi Universal Games also published a Van Helsing video game for PlayStation 2, Xbox and Game Boy Advance. The game follows a similar plot to the movie, has gameplay similar to Devil May Cry and the PS2 and Xbox versions feature the voice talent of many of the actors including Hugh Jackman and Richard Roxburgh. Lavastorm Entertainment produced a mobile game that followed the plot of the movie, but was poorly received.^[1] A direct to DVD sequel was hinted at recently. It will likely have an all new cast and a lower budget than the previous film.^[2] The sequel has been rumored to star Julian McCahon of Charmed and Fantastic Four fame. Rumors have also indicated that the invisible man and the creature from the black lagoon would be the villians/monsters.

Reception

Originally, the film received highly negative reviews, earning a 22% "rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Years later, it has become something of a minor cult film.

References

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Van Helsing (film)

• Official U.S. website
• Official Video Game website
• Dark Horse Comics' Van Helsing one-shot comic book
• Official UK website
• Official UK website for the DVD
• Official Japanese website
• Van Helsing at the Internet Movie Database
• Van Helsing at Rotten Tomatoes
• Van Helsing at Metacritic
• Van Helsing at Box Office Mojo