Van Helsing (DVD)

Van Helsing is a 2004 action gothic horror film written and directed by Stephen Sommers. It stars Hugh Jackman as Dutch monster hunter Van Helsing, and Kate Beckinsale as Anna Valerious. The film is a homage and tribute to the Universal Horror Monster films from the 1930s and 1940s (also produced by Universal Pictures which were in turn partially based on novels by Bram Stoker and Mary Shelley), of which Sommers is a fan.

The eponymous character was inspired by the Dutch vampire hunter Abraham Van Helsing from Irish author Bram Stoker s novel Dracula. Distributed by Universal Pictures, the film includes a number of monsters such as Count Dracula (and other vampires), Frankenstein s monster, Duergar, Mr. Hyde and werewolves in a way similar to the multi-monster movies that Universal produced in the 1940s, such as Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, House of Frankenstein and House of Dracula. The film received mostly negative reviews but grossed $300 million worldwide against a budget of $160–170 million.

Plot

In 1887 Transylvania, Dr. Victor Frankenstein, aided by his assistant Igor and Count Dracula, creates a monster. Dracula kills Frankenstein and as an angry mob storms the Castle, the monster flees to a windmill with Frankenstein s body. The mob burns down the windmill, seemingly killing the monster. A year later, monster hunter Gabriel Van Helsing travels to Notre-Dame de Paris and kills Mr. Hyde after a brawl. Helsing pursues evil on behalf of the Holy Order, which has protected mankind from time immemorial . Van Helsing, who remembers nothing before he was found crawling up the steps of a church, hopes to earn pardon for his forgotten sins and regain his memory.

At the Order s Vatican City headquarters, Van Helsing is tasked with traveling to Transylvania, destroying Dracula and protecting Anna and Velkan, the last of an ancient Romanian family, the Valeriouses. Their ancestor vowed that his descendants would kill Dracula or spend eternity in Purgatory. In Transylvania, Anna and Velkan attempt to kill a werewolf controlled by Dracula, but it falls with Velkan into a deep river gorge.

Van Helsing, along with Carl, a friar and weapons inventor, arrive at a village and join Anna s fight against Dracula s brides – Verona, Marishka and Aleera, slaying Marishka in the process. That night, Velkan visits Anna to warn her of Dracula s plans but transforms into a werewolf as the full moon appears and escapes. Van Helsing and Anna pursue Velkan to Frankenstein s castle. They stumble upon Dracula s plan to duplicate Frankenstein s experiments to give life to thousands of his undead children using living people s energy. It is revealed that Boris Valerious, father of Anna and Velkan who vanished a year earlier, was actually captured by Dracular to use in the experiment which led to his death and Dracular now proceeds to use Velkan in hope that a werewolf s energy will provide the desired result.

During the fray, Dracula confronts Van Helsing, whom he addresses as Gabriel and regards as an ancient rival. Dracula s spawn come to life only to die shortly after, due to the lack of Frankenstein s original formula. Van Helsing and Anna escape and stumble upon Frankenstein s monster at the windmill, who reveals that his energy will give life to Dracula s brood and the ones that perished earlier came from only one bride. Eavesdropping on their discussion, Velkan escapes with this new information.

In Anna s castle, Carl discovers a hidden painting of two rival knights. It comes to life, revealing the knights as a vampire and a werewolf in battle. While attempting to bring the monster to Rome, Van Helsing and his crew are ambushed by the brides and Velkan, near Budapest. Verona and Velkan are killed, but Van Helsing is bitten. Aleera kidnaps Anna and offers to trade her for the monster at a masquerade ball. Van Helsing locks the monster in a crypt, but the undead retrieve him for Dracula. Van Helsing and Carl rescue Anna and destroy the masquerade guests, revealed to be vampires.

At Anna s castle, Carl explains that Dracula is the son of Valerious the Elder. When he was first killed in 1462 by a figure alluded to be the right hand of God, Dracula made a pact with the Devil and lived again but had to sustain his existence with human blood. Valerious went to the Vatican to repent for having such an evil son and was told to vanquish Dracula to gain salvation for his entire family. Unable to carry out this act, he imprisoned the vampire in an icy fortress and left clues behind for his descendants to complete the mission. A fragment of the map in the Valerious study that the Elder brought to Rome (which was in turn given to Van Helsing by the Cardinal) once inserted back into the whole map, opens a one way path to Dracula s castle.

They find the monster, who reveals that Dracula possesses a cure for lycanthropy, since only a werewolf can kill him. Van Helsing, fighting the curse, sends Anna and Carl to retrieve the cure, killing Igor and Aleera in the process. Van Helsing attempts to free the monster but is struck by lightning before he is completely free, sending his energy to Dracula s children and bringing them to life. Dracula and Van Helsing turn into their bestial forms and battle. Dracula reveals that it was Van Helsing who killed him and offers to restore his memory. Van Helsing refuses and kills Dracula, consequently triggers his brood s immediate deaths before they cross the border of his castle. Anna arrives and injects the cure into Van Helsing, but is killed by him in the process.

Van Helsing and Carl cremate Anna s body on a cliff overlooking the sea. The monster departs by raft, and Van Helsing sees Anna s spirit reuniting with her family in Heaven. Van Helsing and Carl ride off into the sunset.

Cast

• Hugh Jackman as Abraham Gabriel Van Helsing, a legendary hunter of monsters.
• Kate Beckinsale as Anna Valerious, the last descendant of an ancient Romanian family.
• Richard Roxburgh as Count Vladislaus Dracula, a powerful vampire.
• David Wenham as Carl, a friar of the Holy Order.
• Shuler Hensley as Frankenstein s monster
• Kevin J. O Connor as Igor, a servant of Frankenstein s, now working for Dracula.
• Will Kemp as Velkan Valerious, Anna s brother, who is turned into a werewolf.
• Elena Anaya as Aleera, one Dracula s brides.
• Alun Armstrong as Cardinal Jinette, Van Helsing s superior in the Holy Order.
• Silvia Colloca as Verona, one of Dracula s brides.
• Josie Maran as Marishka, one of Dracula s brides.
• Tom Fisher as the Undertaker.
• Samuel West as Victor Frankenstein
• Stephen Fisher as Dr. Jekyll
• Robbie Coltrane as the voice of Mr. Hyde

Soundtrack

The film s original soundtrack was composed by Alan Silvestri.

Merchandise

Video game

Vivendi Universal Games published a Van Helsing video game for PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Game Boy Advance. The game follows a similar plot to the film, 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.

Slot games

Van Helsing also features in a slot game produced by International Game Technology. The game is available in real world casinos and online, though users in Argentina, Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Russia, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey, and the US are excluded from playing the online games.

Reception

Box office

The film earned $51 million at #1 during the opening weekend of May 7–9, 2004. The film eventually grossed US$300,257,475 worldwide, of which US$120,177,084 was from the US.

Critical reception

Van Helsing received mostly negative reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that 24% of 226 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating is 4.28/10. The site s consensus calls the film a hollow creature feature that suffers from CGI overload . Metacritic rated it 35/100 based on 38 reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of B on an A+ to F scale. James Berardinelli of ReelViews gave an extremely negative review, rating the film half a star out of four and calling it the worst would-be summer blockbuster since Battlefield Earth . Furthermore, he wrote: There are quite a few unintentionally funny moments, although the overall experience was too intensely painful for me to be able to advocate it as being so bad, it s good . ... Some, however, will doubtless view it as such. More power to them, since sitting through this movie requires something more than a strong constitution and a capacity for self-torture .

Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle greatly disliked the film: Writer-director Stephen Sommers (...) throws together plot strains from various horror movies and stories and tries to muscle things along with flash and dazzle. But his film just lies there, weighted down by a complete lack of wit, artfulness and internal logic. ... What Sommers tries to do here is use action as the only means of involving an audience. So story is sacrificed. Character development is nonexistent, and there are no attempts to incite emotion. Instead, Sommers tries to hold an audience for two hours with nothing up his sleeve but colored ribbons, bright sparklers and a kazoo. What he proves is that this is no way to make movies . Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times gave the film 3 stars out of 4 stating that at the outset, we may fear Sommers is simply going for f/x overkill, but by the end, he has somehow succeeded in assembling all his monsters and plot threads into a high-voltage climax. Van Helsing is silly, spectacular and fun . The film has earned some warmer reevaluation due to the failure of 2017 s The Mummy.

Accolades

Award	Subject	Nominee	Result
Saturn Awards	Best Horror Film		Nominated
	Best Costume Design	Gabriella Pescucci, Carlo Poggioli
	Best Make-Up	Greg Cannom, Steve LaPorte
	Best Special Effects	Scott Squires, Ben Snow, Daniel Jeannette, Syd Dutton
	Best Music	Alan Silvestri	Won
Visual Effects Society	Outstanding Special Effects in Service to Visual Effects in a Motion Picture	Geoff Heron, Chad Taylor	Nominated
Stinkers Bad Movie Awards	Worst Film		Nominated
	Worst Actress	Kate Beckinsale
	Worst Female Fake Accent
	Worst Male Fake Accent	Richard Roxburgh	Won

Spin-offs

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 stop Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde from terrorizing London.
• There is also a one-shot comic book, published by Dark Horse Comics, titled Van Helsing: From Beneath the Rue Morgue, 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 returns to Rome. In the adventure, Van Helsing deals with Doctor Moreau and his hybrid mutants.

Reboot

In May 2012, Universal Pictures announced that they would be rebooting the film with Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci as a two-year deal to produce a modern reimagining and Tom Cruise to star as the title character and also produce the film. In October, Rupert Sanders entered early negotiations to direct the film. By November 2015, Jon Spaihts and Eric Heisserer signed onto the project as co-screenwriters, though Cruise left his role with the film. However, in the following year, Cruise was cast to appear in Kurtzman s The Mummy, which was released in theaters on June 9, 2017. Following the poor critical and financial reception to the film, Universal restructured their plan for rebooted adaptations of their Classic Monsters to be stand-alone in nature.

By December 2020, the reboot was back in development. Julius Avery will serve as director, in addition to doing a rewrite of an original script by Eric Pearson. James Wan will serve as producer. The project will be a joint production venture between Universal Pictures and Atomic Monster Productions.

Condition

New

Format

DVD

Brand

Universal Home Video

Age Group

Adult

Amazon ASIN

B00G4DPRWS

UPC / EAN

025192326622

Year

2004

ReleaseDate

2004-05-07

RuntimeMins

131

RuntimeStr

2h 11min

Awards

Awards, 3 wins & 21 nominations

Directors

Stephen Sommers

Writers

Stephen Sommers

Stars

Hugh Jackman, Kate Beckinsale, Richard Roxburgh

Produced by

Bob Ducsay, Sam Mercer, David Minkowski, Artist W. Robinson, Stephen Sommers, Matthew Stillman

Music by

Alan Silvestri

Cinematography by

Allen Daviau

Film Editing by

Bob Ducsay, Kelly Matsumoto, Jim May

Casting By

Joanna Colbert, Priscilla John, Ellen Lewis

Production Design by

Allan Cameron

Art Direction by

Steve Arnold, Keith P. Cunningham, Giles Masters, Tony Reading, Jaromír Svarc

Set Decoration by

Cindy Carr, Anna Pinnock

Costume Design by

Gabriella Pescucci, Carlo Poggioli

Makeup Department

Ozzy Alvarez, Martin Astles, Jeri Baker, Anthony Allen Barlow, Colleen Callaghan, Greg Cannom, Ken Culver, Justin Ditter, Alexei Dmitriew, Elle Elliott, Jirí Farkas, Nathan Franson, Glen Hanz, Voni Hinkle, Will Huff, Tim Jarvis, Susan V. Kalinowski, Stephen Kelley, John Kim, Mary Kim, Zdenek Klika, Natasha Ladek, Steve LaPorte, Angela Levin, Susan Jennifer Lipson, Ivana Nemcova, Mark Nieman, Douglas Noe, Ruzena Novotna, Michael O'Brien, Mimi Palazon, James Parr, Michael Peterson, Jana Radilová, Lee Romaire, Brian Sipe, Nena Smarz, Vasilios Tanis, Todd Tucker, Eva Ungrová-Malíková, Keith VanderLaan, Milan Vlcek, Brian Wade, Karl Wesson, Gabriel De Cunto, Jackie Dobbie, Sean Kenney, Sava Markovic, Nancie Marsalis

Production Management

Lynn Andrews, Jana Hrbková, Karolina Morrison, Peter Oillataguerre, JoAnn Perritano, Miguel Ángel Poveda, Gerald Scaife, Sean T. Stratton, Pavel Typolt

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director

Maria Battle-Campbell, Christian P. Della Penna, Kevin Duncan, Jakub Dvorak, Martina Götthansova, Jeffrey Hunt, Lukas Libal, Mirek Lux, Jan Mensík, Greg Michael, Artist W. Robinson, Martin Sebik, Deanna Stadler, Michael Owens

Art Department

Ruben Abarca, Craig Abele, Gregory P. Alcus, Hideki Arichi, David Balfour, Bara Barova, Ray Barrett, Mark Bialuski, Jerry Bingham, Doug Brode, Gabi Brown, Ron Brown, Jason Brubaker, Lloyd A. Buswell, Alex Cameron, Tony Chavez, Stuart Clarke, Fergus Clegg, Matt Codd, Christian Colquhoun, Frantisek Copf, Travis Craven, Jon Danniells, Ethan Denne, Robert E. Denne, Yann Denoual, Andrea Dopaso, Marketa Dowling, Perry E. Ellis, Jann K. Engel, Tim Fassino, Chris Fix, Luke Freeborn, Jeff Frost, John Giuliano, Wylie Griffin, Linda Griffis, Pavel Hartmann, Eric Hill, Robert Hill, Chris Hopkins, Hyptosis, Ryan Jacoby, Lukas Katakalidis, John Kelso, Frank Kilmartin, Jan Kodera, Justin J. LaPresle, Tim Larsen, Creighton Larson, Lance Larson, Lukas Lehoucka, Radek Lehoucka, Jiri Macke, Jason Mahakian, Brook Mansbridge, Jeff Markwith, Petr Marousek, Duncan McDevitt, David Meeking, Steven B. Melton, David M. Milstien, Miroslav Mraz, Simon Murton, Marny Nahrwold, David Nakabayashi, John O'Shaughnessy, Harry E. Otto, Steve Park, Rick Polikowski, Michael Powels, Tom Proost, Edmond Scott Ratliff, Shane Reed, Leo Rijn, Billy Salsberg, Kenneth Sayers, Mared Scutti, Easton Smith, Dawn Snyder, Eric Sundahl, Michal Svoboda, Dawn Swiderski, Anthony Syracuse, Sophie Tarver, Pavel Tatar, Gregor Telfer, Miles Teves, Petra Trachtmanova, Gary Tuers, Martin Vackár, John Wells, Butch West, Frank White, Brannon Wright, Chad Fehmie, Thomas Jones, Ellen Lampl, Kurt Miller, Carl Robarge, Constantine Sekeris, Zbynek Vit

Sound Department

James Ashwill, Christopher Assells, Karen Baker Landers, Alexander Beddow, Bryan Bowen, Bob Bowman, Derek Casari, Harry Cohen, John T. Cucci, Zack Davis, Dino Dimuro, Ezra Dweck, Petr Forejt, Peter Gleaves, Per Hallberg, Dan Hegeman, Bobby Johanson, Michael Keller, Lou Kleinman, Kimaree Long, David Lucarelli, Anna MacKenzie, Craig Mann, Philip D. Morrill, Chris Munro, Tony Negrete, Todd Niesen, Dan O'Connell, Anthony Ortiz, David Parker, Michelle Pazer, Rocky Quiroz, Charleen Richards, Roman Rigo, Victoria Rose Sampson, Scott Sanders, Dennis S. Sands, Leslie Shatz, Gary L.G. Simpson, Jan Skala, Frederick H. Stahly, Peter Staubli, Greg Steele, Bruce Tanis, Drew Webster, Thomas Whiting, Jordan Wilby

Special Effects by

Peter Abrahamson, Matt Appleton, Ryan Arndt, Steve Austin, Dian Bachar, Anthony Allen Barlow, Linda Benavente-Notaro, David Blitstein, Chris Cera, Peter A. Chevako, Robbie Clot, Jerry Constantine, Garry Cooper, Barry Crane, Steve Cremin, Michael Del Rossa, John J. Downey, Matt Downey, Ante Dugandzic, Brandon Ellison, Garry Elmendorf, Manuel S. Epstein, Ron Epstein, Christian Eubank, Alex Falkner, Jack Firman, Damian Fisher, Scott R. Fisher, Thomas L. Fisher, John Fleming, Ronald D. Goldstein, Mark Gullesserian, Chris Hampton, Sven Harens, Roland Hathaway, David Heron, Ray Hoffman, Thomas R. Homsher, Mike Hyrman, Garth Inns, Kamil Jaffar, Dominik Janda, Joe Judd, Nick Karas, Jay King, Bruce Y. Kuroyama, Kristen Lobstein, Roland Loew, James Lorimer, Joe Love, Harvey Lowry, Miroslav Miclik, Bruce Minkus, Michael O'Brien, Gary Pawlowski, Carlo Perez, Katrissa 'Kat' Peterson, Bryan Phillips, Pavel Policar, Edward T. Reiff Jr., Michael Rifkin, Jim Rollins, Terry Sandin, John Shea, Robert L. Slater, Leo Leoncio Solis, Christopher A. Suarez, Paul Sutt, Alan Tuskes, Brian Van Dorn, Keith VanderLaan, Mario Vanillo, DungVan Vu, Andy Weder, Chris Zega, Douglas D. Ziegler, Arthur G. Schlosser

Visual Effects by

Charles Alleneck, Jon Allitt, Alp Altiner, Christian Alzmann, Andrew Anderson, Chris Anderson, Florent Andorra, Stephen Aplin, Sean Apple, Lori Arnold, Joel Aron, Kenneth Bailey, Michael Bain, Cheryl Bainum, Justin Ball, Ken Banks, Travis Baumann, Joel Behrens, Jennifer C. Bell, Tory Belleci, Jeffrey Benedict, Hugh Bengs, Colin Benoit, Wayne Billheimer, Duncan Blackman, Ari Rapkin Blenkhorn, Katherine Farrar Bluff, Richard Bluff, Jayni Borgaro, Timothy Brakensiek, Kristen Branan, Sam Breach, Brom, Simon Brown, Tripp Brown, Matt Brumit, Ken Bryan, David C. Bryant, Andrew Buecker, David Bullock, Carey Burens, Jeremy Burns, Timothy Michael Cairns, Mario Capellari, Derrick Carlin, Ozzie Carmona, Christine Castellano, Kai Chang, Max Chen, Lydia Choy, Pamela J. Choy, Eric D. Christensen, Ian Christie, Marc Chu, Patrick Clancey, Grady Cofer, Dylan Cole, Zachary Cole, Brian Connor, Caitlin Content, Shane Cooper, Catherine Craig, Christopher Cram, Don Crawford, Jim Croasdale, Lee Croft, Julie D'Antoni, Scott David, Heather Davis Baker, Jarrod Davis, Bradford deCaussin, Valerie Delahaye, Lindy DeQuattro, Karin Derlich, Natasha Devaud, Amit Dhawal, Richard Ducker, Nika Dunne, Syd Dutton, Mark Duvall, Eric Ebling, Sam Edwards, Raul Essig, Simon Eves, Bill Eyler, Steven Fagerquist, Brad Falk, Nina Fallon, Dan Feinstein, Deak Ferrand, Chris Flynn, Chris Foreman, Tim Fortenberry, Christian Foucher, Collin Fowler, Aidan Fraser, Fortunato Frattasio, Carl N. Frederick, Mark Freund, Ron Friedman, Leslie Fulton, Bradley Gabe, David Gainey, Ryan Galloway, Patti Gannon, Dawn Gates, Grantland Gears, Willi Geiger, Richard Gentner, Robert Gianino, Angela Giannoni, Ray Gilberti, Rocco Gioffre, Nathalie Girard, Mitch Goldstrom, Bridget Maria Goodman, Kelly Granite, Frank Gravatt, Colin Green, Bryant Terrell Griffin, Cam Griffin, Joseph Grossberg, Branko Grujcic, Jon Guidinger, Ben Hall, Nelson Hall, Celia Hallquist, Stephanie Hamilton, Craig Hammack, Brian Hanable, Tim Harrington, Matt Hartle, Trevor Hazel, Kimberly Headstrom, Quentin Hema, Hal T. Hickel, David Hirschfield, David Hisanaga, Sherry Hitch, Rob Hodgson, Robert Hoffmeister, Bruce Holcomb, Adam Howard, Heather Hoyland, Winnie Hsieh, Robert Hubbard, Jill E. Hughes, Nick Ilyin, Grant Imahara, Gary Jackemuk, Jiri Jacknowitz, Mike Jamieson, Sarahjane Javelo, Daniel Jeannette, Paul Jenness, Chris John Jones, Darren Jones, Zoran Kacic-Alesic, Brad Kalinoski, Samson Kao, Ryan Kautzman, Maia Kayser, Patrick Keenan, Pete Kelly, Mark Kenaston, Connie Kennedy, Michael Kennedy, Stephen Kennedy, Woonam Kim, Perry M. Kimura, Deke Kincaid, Jeanie King, Raymond King, Drew Klausner, Peter Koczera, Michael Kory, Ed Kramer, Marshall Richard Krasser, Tom Lamb, François Lambert, Lana Lan, Christopher Lance, Hayden Landis, Leonid Larionov, David Latour, Laurent Lavigne, Jennifer Law-Stump, Alison Leaf, Joshua LeBeau, Derek Ledbetter, Jake Lee, John Lee, Sunny Lee, Phillip Lefesi, Dan Lemmon, Joe Letteri, John M. Levin, Gretchen Libby, Gregory D. Liegey, Brice Liesveld, Kevin Lin, Victoria Livingstone, Wayne Lo, Lance Lones, Jade Lorier, Jonathan Lyons, Alex MacDonald, Sean MacKenzie, Douglas R. MacMillan, James Madigan, Andrea Maiolo, Mike Makara, Greg Maloney, Richard Malzahn, Wesley Mandell, Mary E. Manning, Paul Maples, Mark Marcin, Tia L. Marshall, Kevin Martel, Fumi Mashimo, Craig Mathieson, Kevin May, Jake Maymudes, Mark 'Crash' McCreery, W. Regan McGee, Kelvin McIlwain, Jennifer McKnew, Tim McLaughlin, Phil 'Captain 3D' McNally, Scott Meadows, Scott Mease, David Meny, Joseph Metten, Steven Meyer, Michael Meyers, Richard Miller, Kristen Millette, Chris Mitchell, Saki Mitchell, Todd Mitchell, Curt I. Miyashiro, Chris Monks, Oliver Moore, Sébastien Moreau, Lauren Morimoto, David Manos Morris, Jim Morris, Katie Morris, Kevin Moseley, Michael Muir, Patrick Paul Mullane, Patrick T. Myers, Vijay Myneni, David Nakabayashi, Giovanni Nakpil, Robert Nall, Marc Nanjo, Marla Newall, Steve Nichols, Wolfgang Niedermeier, Shannon Noble, Brett Northcutt, Ben O'Brien, Rick O'Connor, James Ogle, Michael Olague, Hiromi Ono, Andrew Orloff, Julie Orosz, Marc Ostroff, Randy Ottenberg, Michael Owens, Philippe Palmieri, Bryan Park, James Pastorius, Chris Paxson, Tony Pelle, Philip Peterson, Cary Phillips, Patrick Phillips, Brian Pohl, Nicolas Popravka, Mark Powers, Brennan Prevatt, Martin Pryca, Janet Quen, Jesse Rademacher, Ricardo Ramos, Troy Ramsey, Michael Rich, Magali Rigaudias, Dylan Robinson, Robin Roepstorff, Dennis Rogers, Drew Rosen, Martin Rosenberg, Alan Rosenfeld, Frank Rueter, Penny Runge, Chris Ryan, Barry Safley, Helga Salmena, Gregory Salter, Jeff Saltzman, Juan-Luis Sanchez, Mike Sanders, Hamish Schumacher, Steven J. Scott, Nelson Sepulveda, Amy Shepard, M. Zachary Sherman, Mark Siegel, Laura Siewert, Ken Sjogren, Brian Smallwood, Jason Smith, Douglas Smythe, Ben Snow, Sharmishtha Sohoni, Jim Soukup, Scott Squires, Tom St. Amand, Christopher Stack, Adam Stark, Albrecht Steinmetz, Oliver Streuli, Mary Stuart, Russ Sueyoshi, Hong Suh, Nigel Sumner, Roxanne Sutherland-Valentine, Rpin Suwannath, Charles Tait, Patrick Tatopoulos, Chad Taylor, Renita Taylor, Eric Texier, Meghan Thornton, Kyle Toucher, Barbara Townsend, Delio Tramontozzi, Alan Travis, Marjolaine Tremblay, Emerito Trevino, Alex Tropiec Jr., Guerdon Trueblood, Chi Chung Tse, Pat Turner, Lee Uren, Michael Vaglienty, Todd Vaziri, Alexander Vegh, Omz Velasco, Jamie Venable, Carlos A. Vidal, Danny Wagner, John Walker, Talmage Watson, Robert Weaver, Patrice Wechsler, Gregory Weiner, David Weinstein, Matt Welford, Chris Wells, Jeff White, Bob Wiatr, Johnny Wilson, Gordon T. Wittmann, Eric Wong, Kevin Wooley, Annette Wullems, Keiji Yamaguchi, David Yee, Roland Yepez, Marvyn Young, Scott Younkin, Garson Yu, PeiPei Alena Yuan, Heidi Zabit, Wei Zheng, Tom Zils, Daniel Zizmor, Chris Allen, Svend Andersen, Matt Ashton, John Cassella, Vanessa Cheung, Andrew Cochrane, Andrew Doucette, John R. Ellis, Michael Fellows, Jesse Fernley, Donald Fly, Alexandre Frazao, Mathias Frodin, Amy Garback, Corey Garnett, Steve Gawley, Larry Gaynor, Camille Geier, John Goodson, Antony Graf, Aram Granger, Phil Greig, Lloyd Hess, Patrick Jarvis, Patrick Kavanaugh, Erin King, Luis Labrador, Mark Larranaga, Toan-Vinh Le, Noll Linsangan, Randy Little, Stuart Lowder, Thomas Mathai, Vicky McCann, Angela Menz, Tory Mercer, Diana Miao, Kenneth Nakada, Julia Neighly, Mayur Patel, Evan Pontoriero, Tony Preciado, Heather MacPhee Ryan, George Sakellariou, Adam Shand, Tom Stanton, Sam Stewart, Lee Stringer, Stephanie Taubert, Paul Theren, Johan Thorngren, Olivier Van Zeveren, Kyle Yamamoto

Stunts

Sandy Berumen, Pavel Bezdek, Rudolf Bok, Petr Bozdech, Richard Bradshaw, Michael T. Brady, Troy Brown, Debbie Lee Carrington, Viktor Cervenka, Laura Dash, Frantisek Deak, Zuzana Drdacka, Petr Drozda, Zdenek Dvoracek, Michaela Dvorska, Hana Dvorská, Christian J. Fletcher, Grant Fletcher, Richie Gaona, Tad Griffith, Joseph S. Griffo, Michal Grün, Mike Gunther, Rene Hajek, Romana Hajkova, Antonin Hausknecht, Freddie Hice, Petr Hnetkovský, Jan Holicek, Petr Horacek, Jiri Horky, Martin Hub, Eda Hubata, Blanka Jarosova, Kris A. Jeffrey, Laszlo Juhász, Mike Justus, Filip Kadlec, Jindrich Klaus, Martin Klebba, Hiro Koda, Ales Kosnar, Heather Kraft, Jiri Kraus, Robert Krejcik, Milos Kulhavy, Ladislav Lahoda, Robert Lahoda, Oakley Lehman, David Leitch, Miroslav Lhotka, Dimo Lipitkovsky, David Listvan, Billy D. Lucas, Bob MacDougall, Ivan Mares, Rob Mars, Mike Massa, Matt McColm, Darren McGuire, Samuel R. McMullen, Heidi Moneymaker, Klara Moravkova, David Mottl, Mark Munoz, Michael Munoz, Mario Muñoz, Pavel Myslik, Mirek Navratil, Douglas Neithercut, Larry Nicholas, Jessica Anne Nourse, Doug O'Dell II, Vaclav Pacal, Tomas Peterac, Jaroslav Peterka, Jan Petrina, Bobby Porter, Mark Povinelli, Joey Preston, Jaroslav Psenicka, Ales Putik, Rex Reddick, Justin Riemer, Tim Rigby, Gary Robert, R.A. Rondell, Misty Rosas, Debby Lynn Ross, Deep Roy, David Schultz, Petr Sekanina, Karin Silvestri, Jiri Simberský, Klara Slavikova, Milan Slepicka, Doug Snively, Zdenek Stadtherr, Chad Stahelski, Monty Stuart, Vladimir Tevlovski, Carly Thomas, Tomás Tobola, Tim Trella, Miroslav Valka, Petr Vlasak, Pavel Vokoun, Jan Vosmik, Karel Vávrovec, Aaron Walters, Danny Weselis, Troy Wood, Dana Michael Woods, Danny Wynands, Kamila Zenkerová, Jared S. Eddo, Kiralee Hayashi, Karine Mauffrey, Pat Romano

Camera and Electrical Department

Andy Arnautov, Dana Arnold, Carmen Avila, Paul C. Babin, Cory Beaird, Gary A. Beaird, Nick Beaird, Salim Bensrhir, Josh Bleibtreu, John Bonnin, Kevin Britton, James Brownlee, Joe Buxton, Kyle Carden, Richard L. Carden, Petr Cejka, Milan Chadima, Karel Charvat, Alan Cohen, Tom Connole, Ivo Cresak, Janos Csoma, Matthew A. Del Ruth, Carlos DePalma, Damon Doherty, Don Domino, Shawn Duchscherer, Marq Edwards, J. Christopher Elizondo, Craig Fikse, Matt Floyd, Dave Freeth, Yuriy Fuks, Chris Funk, Klaus Fuxjäger, Steve Galvin, Jiri Gazda, Galen Green, Ivo Gresak, Samuel R. Harrison III, Des Hills, Mitchell K. Hiniker, Michael J. Hogan, Larry D. Horricks, Robert Hottarek, Michal Houzvicka, Ladislav Hruby, Matt Jackson, Lukas Jaromersky, Troye Jenkins, Jimmy E. Jensen, Joe Kelly, Borivoj Klecka, Hilary Klym, Petr Konrád, Michal Krbecek, Jeff Kunkel, Tom Lembcke, Lonnie Leslie, Viktor Lonek, Greg Lopez, George Lozano Jr., David Luckenbach, Brett Mabry, Petr Machacek, Victor Major, Frank Masi, T.G. Matthews, Greg Mayer, Dwayne McClintock, Brian McPherson, Scott Medcalf, Zdenek Mrkvicka, Gannon Murphy, Leo J. Napolitano, Reggie Newkirk, Frantisek Novák, Greg Patterson, Miroslav Pavlik, Chris Pavlu, Morten Petersen, Ron Peterson, Steve Peterson, Joe A. Ponticelle, Zdenek Pozar, Rick Pratt, Marek Radolf, Jan Rehanzl, Rex Anson Rhorer, Aaron Richards, Steve Robertson, Jan Sankot, Mark Sannes, Pablo Santiago-Brandwein, Mark Santoni, Bret Scott, David A. Seekins, Rick Senteno, Jim Shelton, Nick Shuster, Jan Simecek, Mike Simko, Jeffrey P. Soderberg, Scott Sprague, Robert Stillman, Tim Stratton, Petr Svoboda, Roman Svoboda, Don Telles, Martin Tichy, Stanislav Vales, Zoran Veselic, Zdenek Vávra, Roger Wall, Larry Wallace, Christopher Warren, Joseph F. Warren, Terry Wolcott, Mike Wächter, Peter J. Yauri, R. Michael Yope, Andy Young, Andrej Arnautov Jr., Michael Cassidy, William DiCenso, Kelly Diehl, Ian Speed

Animation Department

Scott Carroll, Brian Castleforte, Jonathen Collins, Miguel A. Fuertes, Gary Hebert, Greg Kyle, Phil Morris, Dani Morrow, P. Jeep Naarkom, Rick O'Connor, Jay Rennie, Marjolaine Tremblay, Andy Wong

Casting Department

Faith Allbeson, Nancy Bishop, Judy Cook, Jennifer Euston, Jirí Hrstka

Costume and Wardrobe Department

Laura Baker, Luca Canfora, Massimo Cantini Parrini, Jay Cheng, Jirina Eisenhamerova, Serena Fiumi, Silvia Guidoni, Maria Hubackova, Adriana Mattiozzi, Rizia Ortolani, Enzo Serafino Pellegrino, Catherine Peña, Gregory B. Peña, Rob Phillips, Damien Quinn, Silvia Raiano, Leticia Sandoval, Nick Scarano, Richard Schoen, Nancy Smytka, Jitka Svecova, Dita Valentinova, Barbora Wildova, Sarka Zvolenska, Viera Zvonarova

Editorial Department

Terra Bliss, Ray Bushey III, Josh Campbell, Brano Danis, Tzarina V. Edillon, Hunter S. Ellis, Nathan R. Fitzgerald, Michael Gay, Tamaron Greene, Michael Healey, Martin Hubacek, Ntana Bantu Key, Mark Sachen, Jeff Schweikart, Danita Slaughter, Vaclav Sramek, Bill Ceresia, Ondrej Mayer

Location Management

David Halver, Pavel Mrkous, Jill Naumann, Rick Poyner, Chris Rudolph, Petr Skvor, Jan Svoboda, Jay Traynor

Music Department

Nico Abondolo, Eun-Mee Ahn, Steve Amerson, Philip Ayling, Rick Baptist, Joan Beal, Mark Beasom, Samela A. Beasom, Leanne Becknell, Steve Becknell, Emily Bernstein, Cindy Bourquin, Susan Boyd, Jacqueline Brand, Leanna Brand, Aleta Braxton, Tom Brown, Reid Bruton, Darius Campo, Roberto Cani, Elin Carlson, Alvin Chea, Judy Chilnick, Bryan Clements, Ron Colvard, Tony Cooke, Rose Corrigan, Wade Culbreath, Douglas Davis, Brad Dechter, Sandy DeCrescent, Brian Dembow, Marcia Dickstein, George Doering, David Duke, Bruce Dukov, Bill Edwards, Mark Eshelman, John Finklea, Jody Golightly, Galina Golovin, Gregory Goodall, Agnes Gottschewski, Jenny Graham, Mark Graham, Fred Greene, Stephen Grimm, Debbie Hall, Trevor Handy, Clayton Haslop, Todd Hemmenway, Dan Higgins, Jim Hoffman, Steve Holtman, Alex Iles, Bob Joyce, Kenneth Karman, Dan Kelley, Randy Kerber, Brian Kilgore, Katie Kirkpatrick, Teri Koide, Chris Kollgaard, Marty Krystall, Armen Ksajikian, Timothy Landauer, Songa Lee, Edie Lehmann Boddicker, Jon Lewis, Dane Little, Charlie Loper, Warren Luening, Jonathan Mack, Guy Maeda, Andy Malloy, Rene Mandel, Darrin McCann, Mark McKenzie, Malcolm McNab, Adam Michalak, Todd Miller, Michael Mishaw, Tim Morrison, Kenneth Munday, Barbara Northcutt, Brian O'Connor, Michael O'Donovan, Bryan Pezzone, Tom Ranier, Leslie Reed, Bill Reichenbach, Diane Freiman Reynolds, John Reynolds, Michele Richards, Cassandra Richburg, David Riddles, Rafael Rishik, William Ross, Geri Rotella, Dennis S. Sands, Allen Savedoff, Ben Schor, Jim Self, Alan Silvestri, David Slonaker, Steven L. Smith, Kurt Snyder, George F. Sterne, Sally Stevens, Phillip A. Teele, George Thatcher, James Thatcher, Richard Todd, Doug Tornquist, Joann Turovsky, Irina Voloshina, Randy Waldman, James Walker, Brad Warnaar, Dave Washburn, Pat Weber, David Weiss, Gerald White, Phillip Yao, Kenneth Yerke, Ed Zajac

Script and Continuity Department

Sylvie Chesneau, Haley McLane

Transportation Department

Jiri Husak, Jiri Kotlas, Chuck Martinez, Ondrej Modry, Ted Moser, Terry R. Owens, John Pellegrino, Jack Jay Reece, Shaun Ryan, Jorge Vasquez, Pavel Voracek, Chad Wadsworth, Jeff Woodward, Devon F. Wright, David W. Dale, Mickey Davie

Additional Crew

Guy Adan, Sheri Apap, Scott Barnes, Brian Bero, Bianca Bezdek-Goodloe, Debra Brown, Ray Buffer, Lucie Burianová, Richard Castro, Claire Chandou, Missy Coggiola, Jennifer Conroy, Chris Daher, Steve Dent, Kelly DeTample, Boban Dvorak, Eva Dvorakova, Jimmy Edwards, Michal Engrth, Josh Ernstrom, Janette Evans, Lisa Jean Felski, Julio Ferrario, Nicole Furia, Jennifer Gillespie, Pamela B. Green, Michal Gregus, Doug Griffin, Gary J. Gross, Jason Hariton, Michael A. Heath, Matthew Hirsch, Maia Horniak, Carole Humphreys, Dinah Hutson, Mark Jacyszyn, Silvie Janculová, Tegan Jones, Lenka Kadlecova, John Kearney, Paul Kenney, Vladimir Kesl, Perry M. Kimura, Jana Králíková, Ryan Landels, Eric Layne, Matthew F. Leonetti Jr., Harvey Lowry, Iva Lukesová, Mahnaz Mary Mahdavi, Ella Marcus, Y.J. Meira, Ryan Miningham, Michal Motycka, Hugh Mun, Kelly E. Norris, Dominic Pace, John Palermo, Paul Pav, Lenka Pavlakova, Jennifer Payson, Jesse Peckham, Jon Philion, Michael M. Piehler, Jess Platt, Fabrizio Pucci, Stephanie Purdy-Azan, Keith Rauch, Ryan Robertson, David Romano, Kevin Roy, Luciano Saber, Justin Hamilton Salem, Lee J. Santillan, Chad Saxton, Karel Schneiberg, Katerina Silna, Tomas Smrcka, Guin Solomon, Adam Stark, Bram Stoker, Matt Stuecken, Tony Swatton, John T. Sweeney, Antonina Thompson, Laura Tiz, Katerina Valjentová, Jarik Van Sluijs, Craig Vegas, Jana Vesela, Pavel Vokoun, Richard John Walters, Will White, Scott C. Williman, Oorala Yamada, Andrew Lawrence Fisher, Christopher Xavier Lozano, Petra Novotná, Roy Samuelson, Angelique Silberman, Steven E. Simon, Steve Solomon

Genres

Action, Adventure, Fantasy

Companies

Universal Pictures, The Sommers Company, Stillking Films

Countries

USA, Czech Republic

Languages

English, Latin

ContentRating

PG-13

ImDbRating

6

ImDb Rating Votes

265566

Metacritic Rating

35

Short Description

Van Helsing is a 2004 action gothic horror film written and directed by Stephen Sommers. It stars Hugh Jackman as Dutch monster hunter Van Helsing, and Kate Beckinsale as Anna Valerious. The film is a homage and tribute to the Universal Horror Monster films from the 1930s and 1940s (also produced by Universal Pictures which were in turn partially based on novels by Bram Stoker and Mary Shelley), of which Sommers is a fan.

The eponymous character was inspired by the Dutch vampire hunter Abraham Van Helsing from Irish author Bram Stoker s novel Dracula. Distributed by Universal Pictures, the film includes a number of monsters such as Count Dracula (and other vampires), Frankenstein s monster, Duergar, Mr. Hyde and werewolves in a way similar to the multi-monster movies that Universal produced in the 1940s, such as Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, House of Frankenstein and House of Dracula. The film received mostly negative reviews but grossed $300 million worldwide against a budget of $160–170 million.

Box Office Budget

$160,000,000 (estimated)

Box Office Opening Weekend USA

$51,748,040

Box Office Gross USA

$120,177,084

Box Office Cumulative Worldwide Gross

$300,157,638

Keywords

Werewolf,snow adventure,van helsing,dracula,vampire