Background Information
Van Helsing (2004), directed by Stephen Sommers, is a horror, action, thriller, and fantasy film about our main protagonist, Gaberial, aka Van Helsing (Hugh Jackman) whose main goal is hunting down monsters and finding out the missing pieces of his past life. Van Helsing undergoes the difficult task set by the secret order from the Vatican of killing the blood-lusted Dracula (Richard Roxburgh) and his three brides, Marishka (Josie Maran), Verona (Silvia Colloca), and Aleera (Elena Anaya), with the aid of our beautiful princess Anna Valerious (Kate Beckinsale).
Released on May 7th, 2004 marking its 20th anniversary this year, it makes me feel old lol. Van Helsing’s reviews through Rotten Tomato may be the biggest turn-off for new viewers who haven’t seen the film, but as an old-timer who saw this when it first came out, I still believe that it does hold up. It did age like fine wine.
Based on Wikipedia’s budget information, the film’s expense was roughly estimated at around $160-$170 million. However, the film did gross over $300.2 million. An expensive film yet it deserved to be a much bigger blockbuster film.
Personal Thoughts
The first time I watched this film was in 2004 on DVD. I remember the DVD came with the film’s novelization, which I hadn’t read. I still have the book and I’ll get to reading it one day. There was also an animated film which I am certain not many people have watched. It was okay, to say the least, but not as good as the live-action film.
Van Helsing (2004), in my honest opinion, is a fun and interesting story of the vampire, werewolf, and Frankenstein’s monster mythos. The visual effects for the CGI with the vampire, and werewolf transformations were glorious to see again after 20 years of originally watching the film. The music score felt like I was watching The Mummy films. Fun fact, Stephen Sommers directed both The Mummy and The Mummy Returns. Great modern action horror films as well.
The acting performances were solid but a little bit lacking in certain scenes of the film, yet I did feel each of the actors and actresses made their performances memorable through their dedication to their roles.
Final Thoughts
I love this film and I don’t have anything negative to say about it despite not getting a sequel. Would a sequel work in this current era? Most likely not since films aren’t what they used to be in terms of experimentation and taking on good risks with developing a remarkable story to garner a wider audience.
If there’s a simple action horror film I would recommend to a friend, family member, or even to a stranger it would have to be Van Helsing (2004).
Also, I forgot to mention that there’s a movie game of the film for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Game Boy Advance if any of you are gamers here. I haven’t played the game before and if I do end up getting the game one of these days, I’ll let you know how it is.
Have a Happy Halloween and be safe out there!
Sources
Rising LionHeart 
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