Watching now the PPV edition of Van Helsing. Right now, Van Helsing and Anna are tearing through the Carpathian mountains on runaway carriages (or perhaps a series of them).
So far, I can tell that the movie-makers have consciously derived material of various sorts from:
- Wolf Man, with Lon Chaney, Jr. (uses the actual rhyme, and werewolf theory)
- Dracula, Coppola’s version of it. Richard Roxburgh bases his performance, and the makeup and hair people base his looks, on Gary Oldman’s performance. Imitation is not always flattery, folks.
- Various Frankensteins throughout the years, especially all the cheesy 1960’s cheap vampire and werewolf movies that I watched as a kid.
And it will stoke the fires, though not very hard, of all those movie watchers (like me) who have trouble believing in the reality of their own deaths… the reality of their own ability to be injured.
They should be able to make better cgi castles, too. But I’m just being overly picky, here.
Update: How could I have forgotten the James Bond-ish Q-substitute? He comes complete with arsenal of interesting weaponry.
white pebble 