Movies - Van Helsing

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	Movies - Van Helsing

Van Helsing is a 2004 action / horror film directed by Stephen Sommers. The film stars Hugh Jackman and Kate Beckinsale.

Plot summary

During the late 19th century Dr. Frankenstein works with Count Dracula to bring the dead back to life. In doing so he creates Frankenstein's Monster. However, learning about Dracula's plans for the creature, and with an angry mob beating down his front door for his grave-robbing, Dr. Frankenstein tries to back out of the deal, only to be murdered and drained dry by the Count. The monster breaks free, however, smashing Dracula into the fireplace with a piece of lab equipment and escaping with the body of his creator to a nearby windmill, where he meets his supposed end as the villagers torch the absinthe-filled building to rubble.

One year later, after hunting down and dispatching a murderous Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde in Paris, Van Helsing is called back to the Vatican by his divine order (in reality, a secret society composed of all religions, working in the shadows to keep the world safe from supernatural evil) for his next assignment: to go to Transylvania and assist the last of the Valerious clan in destroying Dracula, once and for all (their ancestor made a pact with God, stating that his family and their decendants will never enter Heaven until Dracula is killed, so if the last of the clan dies, 9 generations of the clan will fall into Purgatory forever). As an added incentive, Van Helsing is given a piece of parchment with Latin writing on it and a seal that bears the same symbol as the ring on his right hand, left by the Valerious clan's ancestor to the order for an unknown purpose. Given Van Helsing's fragmented memories about his past, the similarity between the seal on the parchment and his ring has convinced the order that the answers he seeks about who he is lay in Transylvania. As this assignment is particularly dangerous, the order demands that their resident 'tech guy', Friar Carl, go with Van Helsing and assist him.

As Van Helsing and Carl head to Transylvania via the Adriadic, the remaining Valerious clansmen, Gypsy princess Anna and her brother, Velkan, lure a werewolf out into the open to kill it, knowing that Dracula has dispatched it to kill them. The plan doesn't go well, however, and Velkan is knocked to his apparent doom off a cliff by the lycanthrope while protecting Anna from the creature.

Back in Transylvania, Van Helsing and Carl arrive at Anna's village, only to be confronted by the suspicious villagers and Anna herself. However, the encounter is brief, as Dracula's three brides arrive and attack them, (odd, considering that, despite the cloud cover, it is daytime and such an attack at that time would be unexpected), specifically targetting Van Helsing and Anna. Anna is cornered by two of the brides, and is about to be drained, before Van Helsing slays the third, forcing the other two to retreat. The villagers are troubled by this, as normally, the vampires only drain one or two people per month to satisfy their hunger, but would now kill out of vengeance for their lost comrade. However, as Van Helsing is the first person to have killed a vampire in their area in over a century, Anna introduces him and offers him a drink.

At Dracula's castle, the Count awakens from his slumber, distraught over the felt loss of one of his brides, and goes to comfort his remaining consorts. In typical operatic display, he announces his desire to find a new bride, and to continue his enigmatic experiments (those which Dr. Frankenstein refused to help him with, once he realized what they were). At first the brides refuse, stating that the other tests were failures, and that they could not bear the pain of another such failure, but Dracula convinces them that they must try again. He then calls Igor (Dr. Frankenstein's assistant, who betrayed the good doctor and sided with Dracula on that fateful night) to his presence and, after jokingly chiding him for torturing a chained werewolf in back (whether this is the same one that attacked Anna and Velkan, or another one, is unknown at this point in the movie) with a cattle prod, implores him to gather his minions and head over to Frankenstein's castle to continue the experiments.

Back in the village, Anna and Van Helsing start arguing over how to proceed while Carl is sent to search the Valerious house for any info on Dracula. Anna wants to go hunting alone, while Van Helsing believes that, with Dracula now actively seeking to destroy her family, such an action would be a bad idea. The argument ends with Van Helsing gassing Anna with knockout powder to keep her from storming out on her own.

Later that night, when Anna awakens, she begins furiously searching for Van Helsing for knocking her out, only to come face-to-face with the werewolf Igor was torturing earlier, then Velkan, whom she is relieved to see alive. Velkan is in a state of panic, though, and rightfully so - as he tries to tell his sister vital information about Dracula, the full moon appears in the sky, stemming his unfortunate transformation into the titilar Wolf Man, to Anna's anquished disbelief. Van Helsing comes rushing in at this time to protect Anna, but Velkan escapes through the window and disappears. Rushing out into the streets to chase him, Van Helsing narrowly escapes being taken out by the town's undertaker (and apparently leader of the village, killed by Velkan seconds later) before being stopped from killing Velkan by Anna. Angry at her interference, and convinced that there is no hope for Velkan (who he knew was the Wolf Man prior to Anna's interference), Van Helsing berrates Anna for her actions, only to be cowed by her pleading, learning from her about the rumors of a cure for lycanthropy in Dracula's possession. He finally agrees to help Anna track down Dracula and find this supposed cure.

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Movies - Van Helsing

Plot summary

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