Advantages: Good Graphics, Great costumes.
Disadvantages: Wouldn't call a horror!!!! Not very Scary

...Right I have put this in my disadvantages but need to state it again. This is not a horror movie. The characters that are portrayed in this movie may suggest a horror. But it is far from scary. We all know the story of Van Helsing and Dracula. Portrayed very well in the classics as an old man.. This is different, very different. We see Van Helsing as a younger man, much stronger and agile. Gone has the lurking in the corner trying to prise dracula out or preaching, replaced by fancy gadgets for killing and hands on approach for getting the job done. The movie starts in black and white, yes don't try and bang your T.V or think you brought a dud! with Frankenstien being brought to life and Dracula helping. There is a uproar by the locals and Frankenstien ends up falling through a windmill on fire! The movie then moves onto... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: It's better than the live action version...
Disadvantages: But that really isn't saying much.

...Ok, so we are now 6 years into the 21st century and Hollywood really isn't the same as it used to be is it? Remember when it was all about creative story telling and not just how many CGI monsters, or soliders, or tidal waves you could fit into a films run time?. Not that I don't love films made in this day and age as much as any other, I will always be the first to say I think yoda kicked ass in ATTACK OF THE CLONES and will probabaly be at the front of the cue when the latest half decent effects filled "epic" is out on DVD, but I will also never copmpare them to films like EMPIRE STRIKES BACK and SPARTACUS, they nither have the heart or the spectacle in truth, and we are really so spoiled for over the top computer usage these days, things hardly impress at all anymore. VAN HELSING was a prime example of this, throwing CGI versions... Read review

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Advantages: beckinsale / jackman
Disadvantages: script / roxburgh / wenham

...Plot Hugh Jackman is the notorious monster-hunter Gabriel Van Helsing, employed by a shadowy Vatican based evil-fighting organisation. Anna Valerious and her brother Velkan are the last survivors of nine generations of their family, who have vowed to destroy Dracula, and will never find rest in Heaven until their task is complete. Consequences of failure Knowing the terrible consequences if Anna and Velkan fail Van Helsing’s employers send Gabriel to help. Wolverine/ Monster-hunter After two outings as Wolverine, Jackman has clearly perfected the hero with tortured soul unsure of his past. An ambiguous character; Van Helsing constantly walks the fine line between monster-hunter and murderer. None stop action Beckinsale is excellent and gives everything to the role, as does Jackman. But whilst the characters... Read review

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Advantages: fantastic action and effects
Disadvantages: needs more padding to the story

...Directed by: Stephen Sommers (The Mummy + The Mummy Returns) Stars: Hugh Jackman (Dr Abraham Van Helsing) Kate Beckinsale (Anna) Richard Roxburgh (Dracula) Will Kemp (The Wolf man) David Wenham (Carl) The story The film starts off in Transylvania in the late 19th century and castle Frankenstein as Dr Frankenstein finishes his lifelong experiment and revives a monster made from the parts of corpses. While at the same time an angry mob is approaching to break into the castle after the Doctor. We are also at this time introduced to Dracula, who has been backing the Doctor with his experiments and reveals that he has his own agenda for the monster and kills the Doctor. The monster in anger attacks Dracula and runs off with the body of the Doctor to a nearby mill where the mob set fire to it and the monster falls... Read review

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Advantages: a new twist to the vampire stories
Disadvantages: too short

...‘Professor Abraham Van Helsing was the fictional creation of Bram Stoker for Dracula, his dark work of fantasy. Or was he?’ This is an unusual idea for a book it is written a journal edited and with critical commentary by Professor Allen Conrad Kupfer. The story goes that he has recently found the journal in his grandfathers’ attic. His grandfather, Daniel, met Van Helsing at one of his lectures on vampires, he was interested so found out more and they became great friends. There are many tales of encounters with vampires in several countries. They use several methods to dispatch them, some I had not heard of before. Dracula is mentioned but the whole story is not included. They try to find out as much as they can about Vampires as the ‘plague’ is becoming a problem in London. The journal is mailed to Daniel who reads... Read review

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Advantages: An exciting action score of great power and stature
Disadvantages: The constant action will tire you easily

...To respond with the gothic style of the film, composer Alan Silvestri follows suit by creating a heavy-duty action score, utilizing a very large orchestra and chorus with a complex thematic base and a larger than usual percussion section. This is a very noisy score to say the least. From the very start the score opens with a full assault of choral and orchestral might that starts the thematic movement immediately. As mentioned this is a very thematic score. There is barely a moment when there isn't some kind of a theme or motif playing in one form or another under or above the layers of orchestral frenzy. The theme for Van Helsing himself can first be heard in the latter part of the opening track "Transylvania 1887." The same track opens with the theme for Dracula that is a heavily pulsating march, featuring a chorus chanting in latin, I... Read review

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Advantages: Acceptable combat system, true to the movie.
Disadvantages: Linear Storyline, no free roam, can't play as werewolf, only one playable character.

...An average game by all accounts. The game is based on the movie and the major storyline remains to the movie's storyline but with the addons that are neccessary to make a game last long enough to be playable so I cant fault it for that. The combat syatem is also average, the weapons are fairly good but there is little mele and alot of run around and shoot. Also, camera angles can be akward at times. I belive that the game designers missed a major oppertunity near the end of the game by not making the werewolf that Van Helsing eventually becomes playable, which makes the end fight very boring to play and you just have to run around alot the so if you were going to buy the game for some dracula vs werewolf action, don't. Also, with only one playable character and few sub missions, the game has a very linear, one level after another... Read review

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Advantages: Tremendous fun that doesn't take itself seriously
Disadvantages: Shoddy CGI in places, more plot holes than a colander

...Gabriel Van Helsing is a Vatican-sponsored monster hunter sent to Transylvania to aid the Valerios family’s quest to destroy the evil Count Dracula. Once there, Van Helsing discovers Dracula’s nefarious plot to take over the world. The question is, can he save the world and get the girl when he has vampires, werewolves and Frankenstein’s monster to deal with too? Director Stephen Sommers brought us the hugely enjoyable “Mummy” movies and here he plunders Universal Pictures’ back-catalogue for a tale that incorporates all of the studio’s best-loved monsters. Sommers isn’t known for his subtlety and this film is no different. It is chock-full of big action set-pieces, dashing heroes and occasionally dodgy special effects. But it is a rollicking good Saturday matinee movie with enough thrills and spills to keep you cheering the heroes... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: fantastic special effects
Disadvantages: almost everything else

...BACKGROUND ******************* I really like vampire movies. Van Helsing looked great according to the trailer, and some ops on ciao were really positive about it... So I decided to go. This movie is inspired by: Dracula Frankenstein The Wolfman. The Van Helsing character first appeared onscreen in the seminal 1931 Universal classic Dracula and has since appeared in hundreds of motion picture and theatrical adaptations of Stoker's dracula. THE PLOT *************** During the late 19th century, famed monster hunter Dr. Gabriel Van Helsing is asked by the Vatican to head to Eastern Europe to battle with Count Dracula. By his side is the ravishing Anna, a member of a family committed to ridding the world of evil. During a fight, her brother, Velkan, is attacked and then bitten by a werewolf, turning him into one. Dracula... Read review

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Advantages: great CGI, easy "no brainer" film
Disadvantages: Dracula is camp, a bit predictable.

...I like fantasy. I enjoy inhuman beasts and battles and tales of daring-do. So there is no need to ask why I decided one evening to settle down with a bag of popcorn to watch Van Helsing. I am not however someone who has read the original books about Frankenstein's monster or Dracula, and my knowledge is limited to that which I've picked up from various references in movies and from other people. Van Helsing apparently links the two and the initial black and white scene shows you the Frankenstein monster being created as a lead up to the "real" meat (or should I say stake?) of this movie. Van Helsing kills monsters for the church. He's tough, macho and of course has a hidden past, hidden even from himself, he has a somewhat worrying memory problem. Hugh Jackman is not the worlds best actor but he pulls Van Helsing off well as honestly... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful