(2004) *1/2
The first 5-10 minutes of this flick were awesome. I loved it. Black and white, successful capture of the classics. The start of Van Helsing got my expectations up. Way way up. And then it all came tumbling down.., and was awful and boring and just too much of a let down for me to be able to appreciate any of the cliches, or well, to appreciate anything. If only the beginning hadn't been so good! The opening had me geared up for the perfect action horror flick, and then it didn't deliver. The film opens in 1887 with Dr. Frankenstein and Igor bringing their monster to life for the evil Count Dracula.
Dracula in black and white and full of awesomeness
Dracula reveals he wants the monster to bring life to his multitude of undead children, kills Frankenstein, and the monster attempts to escape to a windmill which is quickly burned down by a ravenous mob. The opening closes after the mob flees in fear of Dracula and his 3 flying vampire brides. The movie shifts to color with the introduction of an amnesic Van Helsing (Hugh Jackman) in hot pursuit of Jekyll/Hyde and subsequently being prepared by the Knights of the Holy Order to pursue Dracula. Van Helsing is told he his to protect the remaining Valerious siblings, Anna (Kate Beckinsale) and Velkan (Will Kemp) who are the last of a family that swore to kill Dracula whose many generations so far have failed and are stuck in purgatory.
Werewolf in color and lame FX--not full of awesomeness
Lots of action and action movie cliches ensue with just enough werewolf and vampire involvement for me to think this met my requirements for this years horrothon, although, I think I'd say this was definitely an action movie, not a horror flick, despite it's label as a horror film. (see my Dracula review for this years personal horrorthon requirements/goals).
4 comments:
I'm not a fan of Stephen Sommers' movies but this one was especially atrocious. It only serves to bolster my aassertion that CGI should be used sparingly in horror movies. This film plays like a vide game and aside from the opening credits, as you note, it's never interesting. I'm sure Sommers was hoping for a Van Helsing film series but thankfully this one tanked.
I liked reading this review because it reminded me about the time I tried watching it. I had low expectations (e.g. NO expectations) and I still found it unwatchable! However, Hugh Jackman's musical Oklahoma! is more unwatchable than Van Helsing.
Peter Cushing was rolling over in his grave when this was made.
I'm the only person in the world who likes those two Brendan Frasier Mummy movies and I found this to be a big pile of poo. You're right, that high-contrast b&w opening is a total tease!
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