Van Helsing (2004) - The best Castlevania movie ever made

During the 90s there was an attempt by Hollywood to capitalize on the popularity of videogames with various videogame adaptations: Super Mario, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Tomb Raider, just to name a few. These efforts are still ongoing to this day, with an ever expanding list that, unfortunately, rarely manage to give us actual quality products.

Movie adaptations of videogames have always fascinated me, it’s always a morbid curiosity of mine to see how a story could be adapted to the big screen, how much they can miss the target, or maybe, discover some hidden gems! With time I grew passionate about some of these, in spite of their warts and how lousy the final product might be. Basically the kind of movies you would describe as “So bad its good”

Without a doubt one of the big absences from these adaptations was Castlevania, and I really cannot fathom a reason why they never took a chance about turning it into a movie. Might be because of the many Dracula movies of the past? The fear of being eclipsed by the recent Francis Ford Coppola masterpiece, “Bram Stoker’s Dracula”? Or maybe just a complete lack of interest by Konami?

Can we call ourselves lucky to have dodged a bullet about a Castlevania movie? Considering the average quality of these adaptations, absolutely yes! Although a part of me still wonders about what could’ve been. When you really think about it though… We kinda did get a Castlevania movie! Just wearing a different visage. That movie is Van Helsing by Stephen Sommers and it’s still one of my absolute favourite movies!

 Van Helsing

About the plot

Transylvania, year 1887, doctor Victor Frankenstein has finally completed his resurrection experiment, and the Creature is finally born. However celebrations are cut short when the enraged village is at the doorstep of his castle, willing to punish him for his crimes.

It’s at that moment that his benefactor makes his appearance, Count Dracula. Victor’s research and the Creature’s birth were all a very important piece into a bigger plan that Dracula wants to put into motion. Victor, however, doesn’t want to cooperate, so he refuses to give up his creature. In the effort of running to safety, they both fell victim to an arsoning in a nearby windmill.

Meanwhile at the Vatican, Gabriel Van Helsing is being recruited for a mission of extreme urgency in Transylvania. The last line of defense against Dracula, the Valerious family, is on the brink of extinction, and it’s up to him to keep them away from danger and put an end to Dracula’s menace.

In the end Van Helsing agrees, mostly driven by a mystery that seems to connect him to that land: the heraldry of the Valerious family is identical to the one on his ring, and maybe in Transylvania he will find the answers to the past of which he has no memory.

The first time I saw this movie I was a teenager and it took me no time to make the connection between this movie and Castlevania. We have a monster hunter on a holy mission, Dracula as the main antagonist, a connection with Frankenstein’s Creature, Werewolves within Dracula’s army, a gothic atmosphere, music that immediately stuck to my mind… all the ingredients were in the right place.

Hugh Jackman himself is perfect in his costume, because he reminds me a lot of Julius Belmont from Castlevania Aria of Sorrow. Of course, they couldn’t give him a whip as a weapon, but he has a wide variety of gadgets in his arsenal, including one of the most badass weapons I’ve ever seen: a gatling crossbow! I hope whoever thought about that idea is now designing weapons for some videogames.

Between all the high octane action scenes, there’s a lot of moments to bask in the gothic atmosphere of the wonderful sets of this movie. The prologue with Frankenstein is one of the best parts for me, since it’s shot entirely in black and in the same castle used for the historical Frankenstein movie of the 30s, a wonderful homage to the history of cinema by Universal.

I feel Stephen Sommers, as the director, is trying to apply to his movie the same philosophy that worked so well with his adaptation of The Mummy in 1999, trying to balance action with a bit of comedy. The same dynamic between the three main characters, Van Helsing, Anna and Friar Carl seems to imitate Rick, Evelyn and Jonathan, without really managing to replicate the same chemistry. Friar Carl in particular, is a character that suffers from some comedic moments that can feel very embarrassing.

Van Helsing and Anna also feel like the kind of characters that get together because of sheer obligation, it feels like something that needs to happen every time with the main characters, man and woman, in spite of whatever chemistry they might have together.

In spite of the main characters not being able to shine the brightest, there’s two aspects that really make me appreciate this movie, especially nowadays, and those are…

Set Design and Costumes

If there’s something I can really appreciate now watching these old movies back is how the industry wasn’t so entirely reliant on CGI. Nowadays sets, clothes, creatures… everything gets thrown in the hands of the special effects, and the arts and crafts of creating impressive sets, rich clothing and creatures that give you the impressions of being really there, are slowly getting lost.

Van Helsing really stuck with me in terms of set designs: I love all of the giant intricate contraptions of Frankenstein castle constantly spewing this cascade of sparks. The dreary atmosphere of the village in Transylvania which almost never sees sunlight immediately sets the tone of desperation of those who have lived since forever under Dracula’s terror. And finally, the iconic ball scene in Budapest, completely shot in the St Nicholas church in Prague, a massive celebration of pomp and opulence of the Vampire community, with even an orchestra and circus acts, simply breathtaking show.

In terms of costumes I have to mention the job done with Frankenstein’s Creature, this movie gave us a wonderful interpretation. He towers over the whole cast with his massive body, and has the perfect merge of organic and mechanical parts to really show off his constructed nature. One of the best touches for me was having his body sometimes falling apart, emitting jets of steam, and having this electrical effect going constantly through his junctions, representing the constant force that’s keeping him alive. Nothing else to say if not iconic!

With all this praise, I don’t wanna give the false impression of this movie just being a practical marvel, because there is a lot of use of CGI especially with vampires and werewolves, the results of which may definitely vary. Personally I don’t really enjoy the vampires in their monster form, they look like big naked gargoyles with their hairless skin making them look like plastic dolls. Their effect is definitely the one that aged the worst.

The best job has been done with the werewolves, they’re massive and imposing, their fur is really well rendered and they put a lot of little touches to not only make them look different but also to make them instantly recognizable from their human form. I especially love their transformation scene, with the humans shredding away their skin and flesh to have the creature emerge from the inside. It’s not as awe inspiring as some other practical transformations like with “An American Werewolf in London” but it looks visceral enough to leave an impact and I feel that’s the most important part.

To accompany all of this we have Alan Silvestri who has created an extremely memorable soundtrack for this adventure, to this day I still remember the goosebumps I had the first time I heard the guitar arpeggio from Journey To Transylvania, a song that has become the main theme of the movie. To this day this is still one of the most memorable soundtracks I ever heard in a movie.

About the Characters

Unfortunately the cast of characters is extremely uneven, like I said before I feel Stephen Sommers was trying to replicate what worked with his adaptation of The Mummy, but couldn’t really strike the same level of chemistry between the characters.

Van Helsing is a character that’s tired of his life: he spends his time killing monsters just to constantly see their human nature emerge in their final moments, being treated as some sort of serial killer by the whole of Europe, and the Vatican who’s deaf to his torments pushing him to keep going instead and consider everything as a “Trial of Faith”.

This aspect quickly emerges when he meets Frankenstein’s Creature. From the beginning he’s hesitant about hurting him, because he can see his humanity beneath the monster’s visage, while he has no qualms about killing Anna’s brother the moment he gets bitten by a werewolf, because he feels there’s no hope for him anymore.

This dilemma in his nature as a monster hunter I feel is very interesting, and leaves has a potential for fun dynamics. Unfortunately it’s not explored all that well, a shame considering that the ending of the movie sees Van Helsing risking everything and turning himself into a monster in order to defeat Dracula.

Anna is a character that I really wanted to appreciate more. She’s the last of her family, a woman in charge of her village, driven by her hatred towards Dracula, and forced to survive her whole life fighting him and his creatures… It’s really a shame then that throughout the movie I was constantly wondering how the hell she managed to survive into adulthood! I can accept the fact that she’s very fiery and impulsive, but most of the time we see her either running away, getting kidnapped or overwhelmed by her enemies. She really doesn’t come off as a fighter, rather as a damsel in distress.

In her defense, these enemies are clearly physically superior to humans, and even Van Helsing has trouble on the occasion, but I shouldn’t feel like the only reason this woman is alive is because of the man at her side.

Frankenstein’s Creature is a character that I really wanted to see more of. I really enjoyed how they approached the character, since they really emphasize his more human and compassionate side, which goes in contrast with her monstrous exterior. Not only does this make this representation more peculiar, it’s also a lot closer to how he was actually portrayed in Mary Shelley’s novel.

I do feel that they could’ve exaggerated his culture a lot more, the Creature spends years hidden in the ruins of the windmill with nothing but a Bible to read and we can often hear him quote passages from the book. I would’ve preferred if that wasn’t the only book available to him but that instead, during all those years, had collected diverse types of literature: novels, philosophy, narrative, theatre… as much as possible to emphasize how this creature was more human and cultured than anyone in this movie.

Shuler Hensley has been exceptional in her interpretation, theatrical in any sentence. He’s capable of bringing out the contempt he has towards everyone that judges him solely for his nature, his strong desire to keep on living, his condemnation of Dracula’s cruelty and in spite of his desire to live he’s also ready to sacrifice himself for the good of everyone.

The purpose of his existence is to serve as a living battery to awaken Dracula’s undead progeny, and he knows very well that the entire world would be doomed if that would ever happen.

He’s aware that killing himself is the quickest solution, but his will to live is a lot stronger.

The Creature is definitely the best character that comes out of this story and it’s a shame he has a relatively short screen time, most likely due to that gigantic costume being really hard to both assemble and maneuver around. But as much as I feel he’s the best, there’s another character that has become my favourite in the whole movie.

Dracula

Dracula is my favourite character and favourite actor in this movie, every single scene with him is pure gold and I can’t help but love every second of it.

Richard Roxburgh gives us a performance so exaggerated and over the top that I can’t help but admire all of his style. This man has the presence and class that  you need to bring Dracula to life. When he’s limited to just menacingly chasing his victims, with the full confidence of his strength and immortality he can actually have an intimidating aura about him, but it’s the moments when his theatricality bursts over that make him so damn fun to watch.

Every single motion of his is exaggerated, his dialogues go from collected to shouty in the span of seconds, and the moment he realizes his immortality is not as foolproof as he thought, he gets completely taken over by fear.

I completely understand that this type of exaggerated acting can be a bit strenuous for some, some aspects like he’s very think accent mimicking Bela Lugosi, the historical first Dracula of Universal, can sound a bit too distracting and during the ending he can also look a bit too pathetic.

For me, I developed a love for this type of performance. I live for these moments when an actor comes on the screen and just owns the scene, and you are gonna be forced to pay attention to him whether you like it or not.

Do I love him just for his performance? Honestly yeah! His character is nothing we haven’t seen before, it’s a Dracula who wants to enjoy his immortality, desperately looking for a way to keep his progeny alive. Every single person around him is just a pawn to him, even his wives are more like trophies he surrounds himself with and could replace at any time. Like he says in the movie…

I have no heart! I feel no love, nor fear, nor joy, nor sorrow.

I am hollow. And I shall live forever!

There’s a connection between him and Van Helsing that was never developed and I feel was put there just as a hook for a sequel that never was. The two of them have met each other in a distant past, Dracula was killed, lost his finger, his ring and only later could resurrect as a vampire. Since then the two have never crossed paths, but Dracula has always been aware about Van Helsing’s existence.

There’s also this implication that Van Helsing is the Archangel Gabriel, the left hand of god, and he's been wandering the heart since the dawn of time. It’s not clear if the implication is that Dracula, being aware of this, is also a fallen angel, maybe Lucifer himself? We’ll never know… and you know what? Maybe it’s better this way.

In Conclusion

I cannot help it, I love this movie! I completely understand that most of my love is projecting my love for a videogame series over it, for the simple reason that they have a lot in common. All of this may cloud my judgment and objectivity, but I don’t care!

This movie is pure fun, it’s comfort food for moments when I feel down, but I don’t feel it’s entirely devoid of praise. Like I said before, I feel it’s aesthetically and musically wonderful, there are scenes that have become iconic like the ballroom and there’s the feeling that every actor involved with this was having fun while filming.

The movie was a flop at the time, barely bringing back half of its budget, thus putting an end to any possible future. I cannot say I feel bad for it, at the same time I’m also happy that I couldn’t witness the gradual decay of this saga.

I prefer to keep it as this little anomaly that came up, left its mark, and rode into the sunrise after vanquishing the horrible night.

To me this will always remain the best live action Castlevania ever made, and Gabriel Van Helsing for me, can easily call himself an honorary Belmont… Unfortunately we already have a Gabriel Belmont… in that case there could be some confusion around.

If you haven’t seen it yet, do yourself a favour and watch it, maybe during the Halloween season, when the weather is right for a nice adventure with monsters in the mountains of Transylvania. For everyone else who already saw it, tell me what you thought about it!

Did you like this movie? Did you hate it? What creatures would you have loved to see? What was your favourite scene? Let yourself be heard and spread the love for this movie!