I Used The Fast Forward on My Remote A Lot

Rating: 2/10 (29 March 2005)

In the 1940s Universal Studios attempted to re-energize horror films at the box office by churning out movies that crammed as many famous monsters into the plot line as possible. The result was usually more notable for being silly than effective, and in spite of its highly touted CGI effects VAN HELSING is sillier still.
Suggested by the vampire hunter of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula, the film presents a young and sexy Van Helsing (Hugh Jackman) who is in the employ of a secret sect of the Roman Catholic Church run along James Bond lines. After a little run in with Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in Paris, Van Helsing is sent to Transylvannia along with a trusty Friar as sidekick. There they promptly meet a sexy vampire hunting gypsy princess, and the three promptly encounter the Wolf Man, the Frankestein Monster, Dracula, Dracula's Brides, and even Dracula's Babies. Who would have thunk it? The CGI effects are impressive and the occasional homages to the original Universal Studio horror films of the 1930s and 1940s are occasionally amusing--but the whole thing very quickly collapses into a lot of visual and audio noise, and there isn't much to hold it together. After about half an hour I began to use the fast forward button on my remote a lot. It's a case of the director, actors, and special effects people having more fun than the audience.
The film is presently available to the homemarket on DVD. The transfer is quite good, although to my eye CGI effects do not work as well on the home screen as they do on the big screen. There are also a handful of bonuses, none of which are greatly interesting or particularly well done. Final take: this a movie that seems to be made by and for a bunch of hyperactive fourteen year old boys without a whole lot of imagination.
Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer