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zcbz| Van Helsing |
ID:
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Director: Stephen Sommers |
Screenplay: |
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Stephen Sommers |
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Producer: |
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Stephen Sommers, Artist W. Robinson, Bob Ducsay, David Minkowski, Matthew Stillman, Sam Mercer |
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Cast: |
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Hugh Jackman, Kate Beckinsale, Richard Roxburgh, Shuler Hensley, Will Kemp |
Genre: |
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Action & Adventure |
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Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 |
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(NTSC Widescreen) |
Subtitles: |
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Spanish, French |
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Studio: Universal Studios |
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DVD Region: 1 |
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PG-13 |
DVD Release: Oct 2004 |
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Discs: 1 (Cloud) [] |
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Reviews: Like a roller coaster ready to fly off its rails, "Van Helsing" rockets to maximum velocity and never slows down. Having earned blockbuster clout with "The Mummy" and "The Mummy Returns", writer-director Stephen Sommers once again plunders Universal's monster vault and pulls out all the stops for this mammoth $148-million action-adventure-horror-comedy, which opens ("sans" credits) with a terrific black-and-white prologue that pays homage to the Universal horror classics that inspired it. The plot pits legendary vampire hunter Van Helsing (Hugh Jackman) against Dracula (the deliciously campy Richard Roxburgh), his deadly blood-sucking brides, and the Wolfman (Will Kemp) in a two-hour parade of outstanding special effects (980 in all) that turn Sommers' juvenile plot into a triple-overtime bonus for CGI animators. In alliance with a Transylvanian princess (Kate Beckinsale) and the Frankenstein monster (Shuler Hensley), Van Helsing must prevent Dracula from hatching his bat-winged progeny, and there's so much good-humored action that you're guaranteed to be thrilled "and" exhausted by the time the 10-minute end-credits roll. It's loud, obnoxious, filled with revisionist horror folklore, and aimed at addicted gamers and eight-year-olds, but this colossal monster mash (including Mr. Hyde, just for kicks) will never, "ever" bore you. A sequel is virtually guaranteed. "--Jeff Shannon" |
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