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	Van Helsing
	Stephen Sommers Hugh Jackman, Kate Beckinsale, Richard Roxburgh, David Wenham, Shuler Hensley, Elena Anaya, Will Kemp, Kevin J. O'Connor, Silvia Colloca, Josie Maran, Samuel West, Robbie Coltrane 2004		Bram Stoker's book "Dracula" and most films about the Transylvanian bloodsucker feature a vampire hunter named Van Helsing who vows to rid the world of Drac and his ilk. But Universal Pictures — movie home to Dracula, Frankenstein's monster, the Mummy and the Wolfman — decided to transform Van Helsing into a full-on monster-fighting superhero. To that end, dashing Hugh Jackman is the title character in writer/director Stephen Sommers' "Van Helsing," a long, campy bastardization for undemanding horror fans. Sommers wrote and directed 1999's hit "The Mummy" and its successful but less appealing sequel. Big box-office receipts must've moved Universal to give Sommers free rein over their creature franchises for "Van Helsing," because he crams Dracula, the Wolfman, Frankenstein's spawn, and a bonus Mr. Hyde into an inane, tortuous plot: Van Helsing works for a secret order that's a 19th-century church version of a James Bond-ian spy agency. Assisted by the order's gadget expert (Friar Q?), Van Helsing goes to kill Dracula, who's gathering other beasties at his castle for an evil monster jamboree. A brave beauty (Kate Beckinsale) joins the pursuit of Dracula to end a curse on her family. With striking computer effects and three sexy vamp brides who turn into fanged, leather-winged harpies, it's matinee all the way.


	Wednesday, December 18, 2024





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