DVD Review HTF Review: Van Helsing (1 Viewer)

[Kevin. W]

I've had my copy since last week and just watched it tonight. Its a great popcorn flick with excellent PQ/SQ as stated in the review. Worth the purchase.

Kevin

 

[Brett C]

Whats the bitrate of the 5.1 DD track on the R1 release?

 

[Dan Hitchman]

more than likely 448 kilobits/sec.

Only Warner Brothers still uses 384 kilobits/sec from time to time. The morons.

Dan

 

[Brett C]

Yeah I was just curious since most of the foreign releases are at 384kbps for this film.

 

[John KB]

The single disk version has ALL the extras mentioned above. I know because I have it.

The limited version is hardly a no brainer since most fans probably already own those movies. But for those double and triple dippers, I guess it's ok.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Yes.

 

[Randy A Salas]

Maybe it's a UK thing. I got the three-disc version directly from Universal's internal PR department yesterday. I can't imagine they would have sent it if it had been pulled. This is the same company that asked reviewers to send back Twin Towers after it had been sent out, just because the street date had changed.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

It's not just a UK thing. I had been promised the 3-DVD version from Uni's EXternal PR but they sent notice it wasn't coming. I asked if this was simply a lack of review copies or if it was cancelled, and she said she thought it was cancelled altogether. Dunno what's right, but that's what I was told...

 

[Mark Oates]

Definitely not a UK thing. The 3-disc was never even suggested for R2 - we only got the single and two-disc editions. This PR email was from Universal's PR company about the 10/19 R1 3-discer apologising for the disc being pulled and asking us to delete any mention of it (like the Twin Towers disc).

Left Hand: Hey, right hand, what the hell are you doing?

 

[Lewis Besze]

Some of the story and the look of the main charachter heavily reminds me of a Japanese anime called Vampire killer "D". I just rented this,but it won't make it to my permanent collection.

 

[David Williams]

Yeah, they totally ripped Van Helsing's hat from Vampire Hunter D! (I think the costume designer may have mentioned this previously as an homage.) I think the film really is in the style of the old Universal Monster films (Son of Dracula, Ghost of Frankenstein come to mind)... cheesy fun at its cheesiest. This may have turned off the mainstream audience but I think the true Universal Monster movie lovers enjoyed this film immensely. I know I did.

 

[Matt Stieg]

To anyone that does happen to have the three-disc version, has the audio on Dracula been fixed?

 

[Joel C]

This is one of those movies I hated so much it made me want to sell all my DVDs because I can't imagine wasting my life watching movies at the risk one of them will be as bad as Van Helsing.

Then I came home and watched Hot Dog: The Movie, and all was well.

I love you, DVD, let's never fight again!

 

[Kain_C]

I am definately skipping this one. Yet another tepid product from the Hollywood assembly line. Yawn.

 

[BrandonJF]

Argh - to make it more confusing, Best Buy's exclusive bonus disc has 43 minutes of additional extras, one of which is included on the second disc of the Ultimate Collector's Edition.

The BB ad lists the following extras on their bonus disc:

Anatomy of a Movie Moment
Masquerade Ball
The Art of Van Helsing
Interactive 360 degree tour of Frankenstein's Layer (I'm guessing this is the same as the feature on Disc 2 of the UCE)

I was definitely going to get the UCE for the 2nd disc, but there is no mention in the BB ad that this disc would be packaged with the UCE. I imagine this is going to be slapped in or on the regular 1 disc edition only.

So, now the question is whether or not the extras on the bonus disc are just pieces taken out of the "Van Helsing: The Story, The Life, The Legend" piece on disc 2 of the UCE or if these are more really more extras exclusive to this bonus disc.

If only BB could've just got disc 2 of the UCE for their exclusive... or Universal just included it in the normal release in the first place.

 

[Greg S]

Well I will be picking this up tomorrow as my wife and I liked the film. No its not the best but it was entertaining to us.

Thanks for the review and I am not surprised at how good it looks and sounds (but yeah a DTS track would be so nice). Rest assured there will be a VH Ultimate Edition in about 6 months with that 2nd disc in it and maybe a DTS track. Its just Universal's way of getting more $$ and clogging up shelf space.

Greg

 

[Elijah Sullivan]

Wow. I was totally taken aback when you guys started raving about the picture quality. I watched this disc Friday night and was appalled by the image. The sound was great, but there was copious amounts of compression artifacts (on my modest, not-so-revealing 27" tv).

Could somebody check a particular shot in the film for me and tell me if I'm just crazy? I don't have the disc in front of me anymore, so I can't give you a chapter or anything. It's the sequence where Kate Beckinsale is walking around her castle at night, alone, investigating a sound she heard. There's a moment where she walks through a doorway into almost pitch-black and then comes back. When I saw that shot I grimaced, because the blacks were so crushed they almost turned negative -- way too contrasty -- and there were compression artifacts surrounding her in the doorway.

This was the most visible occurance of the problems with this disc, but there were still light artifacting during the entire film, and some places where the color timing created blatantly-visible halos around faces (revealed by horrible delineation -- probably because of the high contrast).

This was the single-disc edition, so maybe there's different compression issues from whatever version was reviewed above. Or maybe it's my tv?

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Uni seems to have ceased their "Ultimate Edition" program. Everyone figured we'd get a UE of Mummy Returns but that never happened. Uni used to be one of the worst offenders in regard to double-dipping - anyone else remember the unrated Klumps that came out only a few months after the first DVD? - but they've cleaned up their act considerably in that regard.

As such, I don't think we should "rest assured" that another version is due in six months. Maybe, but it doesn't seem likely based on their recent track record. I can't think of the last double-dip they did for a recent movie - the 2002 version of Grinch? Maybe there've been some since, but I can't think of them off the top of my head...

 

[Grant H]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! Very well said. I usually like popcorn flicks for what they're worth, but I found this painful. I had already lowered my expectations when it finally registered Sommers was doing the movie, but alas that did not help my enjoyment of the movie. I enjoyed The Mummy pictures(but I can't watch them too often). What a waste of a great concept.

 

[John Medeiros]

I loved this film...had a ball and it tickled my Universal Monster fancy.

I picked up the three disc Ultimate Collectors Edition at FYE for $29.99 with a rebate coupon for $7...so total cost for the set is $22.99...not bad for 4 films and the juicy extras...tonight is going to be fun

John