Ven Helsing at the top of shit mountain...

[Kuato]

i'm sure you've all seen the trailers. this looks like another league of exstraodinary gentlemen crap hole... it makes me cringe.
do you think Hugh Jackman will ever be in a good movie again? or is he doomed forever?

[GiGi]

The trailor looks Gay. SInce when was van helsing all high tech and macgyver?WHATEVA!

Hugh Jackman though, gotta love those Aussie men (shout out!)
I think he'll be a'ight.

[El Duderino Diablo]

It does kinda look to be not much more than a tragically rampaging case of celluloid CGiitis run amok.

[Peter_Lowry]

This movie looks horrible, and I'm talking 'Wild Wild West' horrible too! This could be the 2004's first summer flop...

Peter

[judex]

Oh, I don't know. It might be okay if you drink enough everclear and eat enough zoloft. Although I have to admit that Hollywood must learn that putting "the hero" in a long coat does not set the standard for cool. Doesn't anybody wear down vests anymore?

[Kuato]

i think it will take a bottle of wine and a hand full of xanex to make that movie tolerable.
it seems hard to mess a movie up that bad when its about crazy monsters... but then again - they did it with the league of exstaordinary awfulness

[judex]

Originally posted by Kuato
.
it seems hard to mess a movie up that bad when its about crazy monsters.

Usually, I would agree. However, I use to think you couldn't go wrong with a giant lizard, then Hollywood gave us Godzilla with Matthew Broderick. Maybe it will take two bottles of nyquil and a handful of vicodin.

[Kuato]

i wanted to shoot myself when i saw that- it was shamefull

[El Duderino Diablo]

This movie is just an excuse to go bugshit with the CGI creating lame monsters and lamer action sequences. And since when did Van Helsing have fuck all to do with Frankenstein's monster and the wolfman. The Keep It Simple Stupid approach should have been adhered to. Keep it to Van Helsing doing what he does, exterminate vampires. But I guess there just wasn't enough potential there.
Seriously, a Salem's Lot-like storyline set in some creepy eastern European mountain village with atmosphere to burn would be significantly better than the borderline cartoon we're being offered here.
Rant, rant, rant, rant...

[judex]

I'm sure Peter Cushing is spinning in his grave.

[Furious D]

Peter Cushing will always be The Van Helsing for me.

As for the new movies imminent suckiness, come on, these are the same people that butchered THE MUMMY into a weak Indy Jones ripoff.

They seem obsessed with taking the horror out of Universal's classic horror characters and making them bland action villains.

I think the studio knew this whole idea was going to suck moose pies and sink faster than a lead balloon. That's why they stuck all the monsters in it together so they won't have to worry about coming up with something for a sequel.

I'm wondering how they're going to work in the product placements in a period film.

Put a stake in it, it's done.:mad:

[Kuato]

i'm sure they will have some crazy new inventions that look just like cars - just like popular sunglasses...

that or they will just have a huge mountain dew mural done in subdued colors so is blends in... or hey - they can just blatantly put them up in EVERY scene like in Torque... that was painful but, amazing - amazing that they could so obviously push products like that -

i recal in xmen when wolverin went to the fridge that was full of what rolling rocks? all placed label out... and the ice kid was eating baskin robins from a baskin robins labeled cup....

they could get away with it though.. becuase xmen is great.

[Pete Vonder Haar]

What the hell happened to violent toy tie-ins for movies? Fondly do I recall the TJ Hooker Riot Gun and Chestburster Alien of my youth, and "Van Helsing" might redeem itself if you could get the Triple-Shot Vampire Smiting Crossbow(TM) and the Frankenstein's Monster Action Playset with Removable Brain(TM).

Then again, all the tie-ins in the world couldn't help "Episode I."

[filmgurl]

the monsters are the product placement. the release of the movie is being tied to universal's release of the "monster legacy" DVD box sets which group together a great movie i.e. "frankenstein" [1931] with a bunch of it's inferior sequels, i.e. "house of frankenstein" [1944]. the supplementals alone probably make these worth it, although if you were lucky enough to pick-up the original DVD releases of "dracula" or "frankenstein" you'd already have most of that stuff. actually compared to "van helsing" (i don't even want to call it that because there is only one van helsing and he is peter cushing), the box sets are a great deal and probably worth having around. damn stuff i have to spend money on...

oh, and there's also an animated dtv movie coming out called "van helsing: the london assignment" a la animatrix.

[Kuato]

oh man....

well is it better that there are monsters everywhere now? or is it worse that there are poorly made bad cg monsters everywhere tarnishing the good name of all monster kind?

i can't decide.

[mondoshane]

"We see a lot of crossmarketing possibilities here." - Marc Shmuger, vice chairman of Universal Studios on Van Helsing.

[The Baron]

I'm still gonna get really stoned and go see this.

And for me, Edward Van Sloan will always be Van Helsing. Peter Cushing was quite simply one of the finest actors to ever grace the screen, and he created so many memorable characters, that I just don't think of Van Helsing when I think of him.

Baron Victor von Frankenstein, on the other hand...

How many of you remember Cushing as Dr. Who in two features?

[El Duderino Diablo]

Originally posted by The Baron

How many of you remember Cushing as Dr. Who in two features?

I do! I do! Well, okay, just one really. Dr. Who and the Daleks. Never saw the second one.

[The Baron]

I don't remember the title of the second Dr. Who feature, but it had the Daleks, again. I seem to recall that the Doctor's name wasn't mentioned in the American title, in the same way that Quatermass' name was missing from the U.S. titles in that series.

[filmgurl]

Originally posted by The Baron
I'm still gonna get really stoned and go see this.

And for me, Edward Van Sloan will always be Van Helsing. Peter Cushing was quite simply one of the finest actors to ever grace the screen, and he created so many memorable characters, that I just don't think of Van Helsing when I think of him. Baron Victor von Frankenstein, on the other hand...

How many of you remember Cushing as Dr. Who in two features?

baron, i don't think they make a drug strong enough to make that movie tolerable.

and come on, what about when cushing jumped up onto the table with the candle sticks in "horror of dracula"? that was kickass. but i will give you victor frankenstein, that bastard was cold.

hey, am i the only one who thinks that christopher eccelston is perfect for the new Dr.?

[The Baron]

No, I think he'll make a good Doctor. That's one of the great things about that character: each of his incarnations is entirely different.

I'm very interested in seeing what Eccelston does with his interpretation of the Time Lord. A lot of eyes are on him. I can only imagine the pressure of having to fill those shoes.

[Mr B Natural]

Man, there's a lot of negative crap on this post. Sure, the movie has suck potential, and its probably not going to be in the same realm with classic Universal stuff. But it might be fun, and I personally can't tell until I see it. If someone out there has figured out the magic formula to automatically tell how bad a movie is going to be from a two minute trailer, then please copyright it, get rich, and stop bitching.