Van Helsing

Van Helsing – Famed monster killer, Van Helsing, is tasked with killing Dracula, an evil vampire who intends to kill Anna Valerios, the only surviving member of a Romanian bloodline who vowed that none of them would enter heaven until Dracula was destroyed. Despite his immense experience, Van Helsing may have met his match in Dracula and, with the vampire intending to use Frankenstein’s monster for his evil doing, the evil killer must put his all into killing Dracula before he can take over the world.

Van Helsing (2004) – Director: Stephen Sommers

By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1011410

Rating: 12

Running Length: 131 mins

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Kate Beckinsale, Richard Roxburgh

Genre: Horror, Action, Fantasy

REVIEW: ‘VAN HELSING’

With a spate of similar light-hearted and over the top action movies based on notorious hammer horror classics, ‘Van Helsing’ brings in a cornucopia of gothic characters – Dracula, Frankenstein and his monster, werewolves and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde – to an explosive degree. Sleek and super-stylised visuals help audiences immerse themselves in the hyper-realistic world of the supernatural (despite some CGI effects that haven’t stood the test of time!) and Hugh Jackman looks the part of a gothic hero. Kate Beckinsale’s ‘Anna’ is no damsel in distress as she fights for her family’s honour and place in heaven at first independently from Van Helsing and then as a worthy accomplice and while they have different approaches, they compliment each other perfectly. Special mention must be given to the delightfully over-the-top performance of Shuler Hensley as Frankenstein’s monster, easily making the character the best part of the movie.

Not one to shy away from the excitement, ‘Van Helsing’ ramps up the action from the start and barely takes a breath until the end credits roll. Unfortunately the action is so constant that by the beginning of the third act, it’s difficult to remain invested in the final part; frankly, it becomes dull. It would be helpful if there were a couple of extra scenes that slowed down the action to develop the characters more or give more detail to the overall story rather than frantically explained exposition that is easy missed.

While ‘Van Helsing’ ticks a lot of the right boxes as to what makes an action movie successful, it simply tries too hard. Whereas similar movies like ‘The Mummy’ knew when to hold back and then go all out on the excitement, ‘Van Helsing’ gives its all relentlessly and in doing so makes itself unappealing.

CONTENT: IS ‘VAN HELSING’ SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN?

The movie opens in black and white and shows an angry mob with torches and pitchforks at a castle. Inside, Victor Frankenstein prepares to put life into his creation and is encouraged by Dracula. While the vampire seems to look like a normal man, lightning strikes and in that split second, his monstrous, evil face is shown. Dracula is run through with a sword but he then impales himself further until he stands toe to toe with the person who stabbed him. Dracula’s mouth opens wide, showing his long, sharp teeth and the camera cuts to show the silhouette of the pair as Dracula bites the others’ neck.

Dracula is also thrown into a large fire, he walks out of it shortly afterwards and is severe burns are shown in close-up but he does not suffer any pain and his wounds heal immediately.

Van Helsing walks through a dark building, clearly hunting for something. A monster’s large face suddenly appears in close-up and threatens Van Helsing saying ‘you’ll be hard to digest’. The monster takes some severe injury but other than the odd pained groan, his suffering is short-lived and he continues to attack until he is stopped permanently.

A man is tied to a stake in the middle of a forest, he struggles against his bonds until a werewolf suddenly jumps out to attack. The man escapes easily and fights the werewolf along with others who try to kill it with various weapons.

Dracula has three female vampires who usually look like beautiful and sexual women however they attack a nearby town and appear as terrible demonic creatures. They are naked but they do not have nipples or private parts so nothing graphic is seen. Their aggression towards the town sees them pick people up – one is seen to bite the neck of a man she is carrying off. One accidentally picks up a cow and angrily throws it into a nearby building. Two of the creatures turn back into women and drink blood from a cup and when attempting to kill a woman, their jaws distend grotesquely as they go to bite her. The other creature is shot with arrows poisoned with holy water, she is pinned to a building and screams as her skin disintegrates down to the bone.

A werewolf attacks a woman but turns out to be a man she knows. The man doesn’t want to hurt her but has no control over the werewolf. When the man transforms into a werewolf it looks agonising, especially when the man rips his own flesh off as the fur appears underneath.

In a suspenseful scene, Van Helsing and Anna walk among some pods which are hanging from the ceiling. They pulsate and Van Helsing gets close to one to see what could be inside. A hand emerges from one of the pods behind the pair which grabs Anna and a face suddenly appears at the one Van Helsing is looking closely at. This is quite an intense scene with a jump-scare and could be quite frightening for some younger kids.

There is another attack on the local town this time, the female creatures are accompanied by smaller, child creatures that are equally vicious. A man is thrown to the creatures and the female tells them ‘feed my darlings!’

A woman is saved by Van Helsing’s aid, Carl. After the attack has finished, the woman says to him ‘How can I ever repay you?’, he whispers into her ear. She gasps in shock and says ‘But you can’t do that, you’re a monk!’ to which he replies ‘Well actually, I’m just a friar’. The pair are seen together the next morning in bed and it is clear that the friar’s reward for saving the woman is sex with her.

The above is not a definitive list of all the potentially unsuitable content for children, however what we have detailed is some of the strongest and therefore if a child is ok with this, the rest of the movie should be fine.

CAN I SEE A CLIP?

VERDICT: IS ‘VAN HELSING’ FOR KIDS?

Too keen to be action-packed but lovely to look at, ‘Van Helsing’ doesn’t leave you wanting for excitement. Due to numerous scary scenes involving well-known vicious monsters, we recommend this movie for kids aged 10 and over.

• Violence: 3/5
• Emotional Distress: 2/5
• Fear Factor: 4/5 (several suspenseful scenes and jump-scares. Dracula is a very scary villain)
• Sexual Content: 2/5 (several female characters were quite revealing clothing, showing plenty of cleavage)
• Bad Language: 2/5 (infrequent blasphemy and mild cursing)
• Dialogue: 3/5 (a few threats to kill)
• Other Notes: Deals with themes of the supernatural, helping others, exploitation, self-sacrifice and the importance of family and ancestry.

Words by Laura Record

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