| | | Adventure Lives Forever.
Features: DVD, Widescreen, Aspect Ratio 1.85:1, Dolby Digital Stereo, Spanish, French Subtitled
Legendary monster hunter Van Helsing (Hugh Jackman) is summoned to mysterious Transylvania on a mission that will thrust him into a sweeping battle against the forces of darkness! With non-stop action and electrifying special effects, Van Helsing is an adrenaline-powered motion picture event Roger Ebert calls "Spectacular!" What is UMDTM?
UMD, Universal Media Disc, is a brand-new and groundbreaking optical storage medium, designed for the high speed and efficient delivery of digital entertainment content that can store up to 1.8 GB of digital data on a 60mm disc -- or an entire feature film on a single UMD video. All UMD DVDs are produced in Widescreen and encoded using advanced AVC compression. UMD for PSP will play on the new PlayStation Portable handheld entertainment system.
Specifications
Diameter: 60 mmMaximum Capacity: 1.8GB (Single-sided, dual layer)Laser wavelength: 660nm (Red laser)
"...succeeds magnificently as compulsively watchable spectacle." Gregory Weinkauf, Dallas Observer
"...exhilarating fun, a richly designed and often quite funny re-exploration of the movie past." Kirk Honeycut, The Hollywood Reporter
Editor's Note
All varieties of otherworldly creatures come out to play in Stephen Sommers' gothic carnival. Frankenstein's monster, ferocious werewolves, vampire bat babies, a maniacal scientist named Igor, and a CGI Dr. Jekyll are just a few. When they come together, a thrilling fantasy adventure results, making VAN HELSING a visual feast. Destined to fight the world's evil, Van Helsing (Hugh Jackman) is a warrior in a cowboy hat and a trench coat, heavily armed with a rapid-fire multi-arrow crossbow, among other gadgetry. A legion of monks in Rome send Van Helsing to Transylvania to hunt the immortal Count Dracula (Richard Roxburgh), who terrorizes the local people with the help of his three vampire brides. Especially threatened is the vixen Anna Valerious (Kate Beckinsale), whose family also strives to kill the Count. Van Helsing and Anna Valerious work together, searching for the secret door to Dracula's lair. But it is only after massive battles involving impossible stunts, races on horse-pulled carriages, and the desecration of enchanting medieval castles (all done with dizzying computer graphics) that they succeed. Not only does the eye candy keep on coming, the tongue-in-cheek writing and deep Transylvanian accents perfect the film with a dose of dark humor.
| Features | DVD Picture Quality | | Subtitles: Spanish, French | | Widescreen Presentation | | Full Length Movie | | Audio: English Dolby Digital Stereo |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Universal |
| Release Date: 7/26/2005 |
| Running Time: 132 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 2004 | | Catalog ID: 28571 | | UPC: 00025192857126 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English [CC], English | | Available Subtitles: French, Spanish | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Widescreen 1.85:1 |
| Cast & Crew
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| | Professional Reviews | New York Times
"[With a] gleeful, chaotic sense of visual excess." 05/07/2004 p.E1USA Today
"The best part is the moodily handsome look of the sets..." 05/07/2004 p.2E Chicago Sun-Times
"The movie is like a Greatest Hits compilation; it's assembled like Frankenstein's Monster, from spare parts stitched together and brought to life with electricity, plus lots of computer-generated images." 05/07/2004 p.39 Widescreen Review
"The dark, desaturated imagery perfectly complements this vampires and werewolves tale, with lots of cold bluish-gray exteriors and warm firelit interiors." 06/01/2006 p.67 Chicago Sun-Times 8 of 10
Strange that a movie so eager to entertain would forget to play "Monster Mash" over the end credits. There have been countless movies uniting two monsters ("Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man," "King Kong vs. Godzilla," etc.), but "Van Helsing" convenes Frankenstein, his Monster, Count Dracula, the Wolf Man, Igor, Van Helsing the vampire hunter, assorted other werewolves, werebats and vampires, and even Mr. Hyde, who as a bonus seems to think he is the Hunchback of Notre Dame...The movie is like a Greatest Hits compilation; it's assembled like Frankenstein's Monster, from spare parts stitched together and brought to life with electricity, plus lots of computer-generated images...At the outset, we may fear Sommers is simply going for f/x overkill, but by the end, he has somehow succeeded in assembling all his monsters and plot threads into a high-voltage climax. "Van Helsing" is silly and spectacular, and fun. - Roger Ebert
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