Without knowing or hearing anything about Van Helsing (because I live in an indie bubble), I decided to live on the edge and see the movie... I'm just crazy like that.

What a fun movie! The opening scene sounded as though it was a conversation between a filmmaker and a studio...

the scientist (aka filmmaker): "It's my project, I made it and I deserve to keep creative control.

Dracula (aka studio): Well, I own it now. Ha ha. I am going to take your project and make millions. Ha ha

Okay, that wasn't exactly the dialogue, it's an exaggeration because my memory has failed me. But throughout the scene, I kept picturing Michael Moore (the scientist), Harvey Weinstein (Igor) and Disney (Dracula).

FYI: I became bored with the whole Michael Moore/ Disney story and stopped paying attention to the industry's version of Page Six. So, if you do see Van Helsing, I am actually referring to the part when Moore's story first broke.

Back to Van Helsing, the movie creatively combines all the scariest aspects of the the most classic horror films and turns them into a witty, smart and over the top film. Off the top of my head, there were either characters from or references to Dracula, Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, The Wolf Man, The Haunting, The Birds, Night of the Living Dead, Jason, Alien, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Psycho, The Exorcist, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Blob and Dracula's Daughter.

Pretty incredible, eh?

Then there were the non-horror stories and non-horror films which also played a role in Van Helsing; Romeo and Juliet, Tarzan, Superman, Spiderman, Pulp Fiction, Star Wars, King Kong, Apocalypse Now, Mummy, Wizard Of Oz and James Bond...to name a few.

The animation was great, the images and scenery were quite impressive and it is filled with non-stop action.

I felt as though the movie was tribute to all of our favorite classic horror films. How often do we get to see Dracula and Frankenstein hanging out on the silver screen? It was fun to see a new movie with these old familiar faces.

The cast was great... including, "the" Hugh Jackman... in the beginning of the film he is completely covered...head to toe, as the movie unravels so does his clothing, piece by piece. First he takes the cloth off his face, then he puts his cowboy hat on Kate Beckinsale's head and by the end of the film, he was wearing Tarzan's little outfit, just a piece of cloth. If he were on a stage, it would have been a two hour Chippendale show. So, that was an additional bonus.

As for Kate Beckinsale, I think she and Janet Jackson have the same costume designer. The only difference between the two outfits was that Beckinsale's top stayed on.

Van Helsing was written and directed by Stephen Sommers, if I had any suggestions for Sommers I would recommend cutting 20 minutes out and lowering the sound a bit. The music was great, but because it was so loud, it seemed to drown itself out... if that makes any sense.