After Deadpool & Wolverine busted blocks like nobody’s business this summer, Hugh Jackman surely has a colossal (or Colossus) amount of clout to throw around in Tinseltown and get whatever passion project he wants made. And, OK, fine, he could just hop back into bed with Ryan Reynolds to make Deadpool 4, but I think I speak for myself and the countless fans of a 20-year-old cult classic when I say he should use his sway to get another legacy sequel made first.
20 years ago, Hugh Jackman switched his pointy coiffured X-Men hair for long L’Oreal for Men locks, donned a silly hat and trenchcoat, and decided that one gruff action hero with memory loss wasn’t enough for him. And the results were glorious… Or possibly ghoulish, depending on who you ask.
That’s right. I am requesting — nay, demanding, with a stake pressed to the heartless chest of whichever Hollywood exec has the power to make it happen — that a Van Helsing sequel finally escape from the coffin of development hell and see the light of day. And I am not alone.
The masterpiece of a throwback monster movie that is 2004’s Van Helsing just received a surge of support, like a bolt of Frankensteinian lightning, this spooky season thanks to a viral tweet that reminded everyone of its existence. “There’s just something about this movie man,” wrote X user @kamkenobi, along with a clip from the film showcasing its monochrome magnificence.
With over 40K likes, it’s clear there are many a Van Helsing devotee out there, no matter what its grossly unfair 24% Rotten Tomatoes score might indicate. From The Mummy director Stephen Sommers, it’s a perfectly pulpy love letter to a forgotten form of horror filmmaking. In what universe did they try and turn Tom Cruise’s awful Mummy remake into a shared universe and not this?
Van Helsing’s visual imagination and special effects remain undefeated. Who can forget when Kate Beckinsale’s hot brother turns into a werewolf?
Or the gorgeous masquerade scene which cleverly plays with the absence of Dracula’s reflection as he dances in front of a mirror?
“I have no heart, I feel no love. Nor fear, nor joy, nor sorrow. I am hollow… and I will live forever.” Why do they insist on making new Dracula films when Richard Roxborough already summed up the character perfectly two decades ago?
There have been countless Van Helsings. Anthony Hopkins in Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The female-fronted Syfy Van Helsing series. CBS is even working on a police procedural reboot of the IP. But Jackman’s variant remains the best.
With its high comic book energy and almost prescient instincts to crossover recognizable IPS — Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, the Wolfman, and Mr. Hyde all feature — there’s a case to be made that Van Helsing predicted the rise of the MCU just a few years later. It would be only apt, then, for Jackman to use the renewed wave of success he’s enjoying thanks to his MCU comeback to resurrect the Van Helsing franchise. Hear me out: Van Helsing Vs. The Creature from the Black Lagoon. Fine, Hugh, you can get Ryan Reynolds to play the guy with the gills.
Published: Oct 18, 2024 01:29 pm