After helming the beloved 1999 flick The Mummy, director Stephen Sommers set his sights on bringing his unique brand of action comedy to another classic horror genre via the big-budget adventure flick Van Helsing (2004). In the movie, Hugh Jackman portrays the legendary monster hunting professor who originally appeared in the Bram Stoker novel Dracula. The film kicks off with The Count (Richard Roxburgh) trying to steal the freshly made monster (Shuler Hensley) from Dr. Frankenstein (Samuel West). Meanwhile, Van Helsing is the go-to monster hunter for the "Knights of the Holy Order" and has just proven his worth by taking out Dr. Jekyll (Stephen Fisher). You can run, but you can't Hyde! His next gig is taking out the legendary bloodsucker while protecting the absolute babe from an ancient bloodline, Anna (Kate Beckinsale). But from run-ins with Dracula's brides and a few killer werewolves, to Frankenstein's monster reappearing with vengeance on his mind, Van Helsing's quest to send Dracula straight to Hell is a bit harder than his other monster killing quests have been. This one was supposed to kick off all sorts of Van Helsing adventures involving all sorts of other monsters, but like The Dark Universe would decades later, those plans got kiboshed by less than stellar ticket sales for the flick that was supposed to start it all. Maybe if they'd had a few more scenes where the van was a rocking! Van Helsing’s quest gets hampered when a beast bites the hunky hunter, transforming him into a werewolf. As Jackman joins the monster world, we get a quick glimpse of his tail through his shredded loincloth. If only we'd gotten a full moon, mooning! Another dude who'll have you singing his praises is Will Kemp, who goes shirtless during the same lupine transformation. Come on, not even a quick peek of wolfman-hood? If only those Van Helsing dudes would hunt down our one-eyed monster!
