Comprehensive information and links about Van Helsing

Van Helsing horror film directed by Stephen Sommers. The film stars Hugh Jackman and Kate Beckinsale.

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During the late 19th century Dr. Frankenstein works with Count Dracula to bring the dead back to life. In doing so he creates Frankenstein's Monster. However, learning about Dracula's plans for the creature, and with an angry mob beating down his front door for his grave-robbing, Dr. Frankenstein tries to back out of the deal, only to be murdered and drained dry by the Count. The monster breaks free, however, smashing Dracula into the fireplace with a piece of lab equipment and escapes with the of his creator to a nearby windmill, where he meets his supposed end as the villagers torch the absinthe-filled building to rubble.

One year later, after hunting down and dispatching a murderous Dr. JeckylMr. Hyde in Paris, Van Helsing is called back to the Vatican by his divine order (in reality, a secret society composed of all religions, working in the shadows to keep the world safe from supernatural evil) for his next assignment: to go to Transylvania and assist the last of the Valerious clan in destroying Dracula, once and for all (their ancestor made a pact with God, stating that his family and their decendants will never enter Heaven until Dracula is killed, so if the last of the clan dies, 9 generations of the clan will fall into Purgatory forever). As an added incentive, Van Helsing is given a piece of parchment with Latin writing on it and a seal that bears the same symbol as the ring on his right hand, left by the Valerious clan's ancestor to the order for an unknown purpose. Given Van Helsing's fragmented memories about his past, the similarity between the seal on the parchment and his ring has convinced the order that the answers he seeks about who he is lay in Transylvania. As this assignment is particularly dangerous, the order demands that their resident 'tech guy', Friar Carl, go with Van Helsing and assist him.

As Van Helsing and Carl head to Transylvania via the Adriadic, the remaining Valerious clansmen, Gypsy princess Anna and her brother, Velkan, lure a werewolf out into the open to kill it, knowing that Dracula has dispatched it to kill them. The plan doesn't go well, however, and Velkan is knocked to his apparent doom off a cliff by the lycanthrope while protecting Anna from the creature.

Back in Transylvania, Van Helsing and Carl arrive at Anna's village, only to be confronted by the suspicious villagers and Anna herself. However, the encounter is brief, as Dracula's three brides arrive and attack them, (odd, considering that, despite the cloud cover, it is daytime and such an attack at that time would be unexpected), specifically targetting Van Helsing and Anna. Anna is cornered by two of the brides, and is about to be drained, before Van Helsing slays the third, forcing the other two to retreat. The villagers are troubled by this, as normally, the vampires only drain one or two people per month to satisfy their hunger, but would now kill out of vengeance for their lost comrade. However, as Van Helsing is the first person to have killed a vampire in their area in over a century, Anna introduces him and offers him a drink.

At Dracula's castle, the Count awakens from his slumber, distraught over the felt loss of one of his brides, and goes to comfort his remaining consorts. In typical operatic display, he announces his desire to find a new bride, and to continue his enigmatic experiments (those which Dr. Frankenstein refused to help him with, once he realized what they were). At first the brides refuse, stating that the other tests were failures, and that they could not bear the pain of another such failure, but Dracula convinces them that they must try again. He then calls Igor (Dr. Frankenstein's assistant, who betrayed the good doctor and sided with Dracula on that fateful night) to his presence and, after jokingly chiding him for torturing a chained werewolf in back (whether this is the same one that attacked Anna and Velkan, or another one, is unknown at this point in the movie) with a cattle prod, implores him to gather his minions and head over to Frankenstein's castle to continue the experiments.

Back in the village, Anna and Van Helsing start arguing over how to proceed while Carl is sent to search the Valerious house for any info on Dracula. Anna wants to go hunting alone, while Van Helsing believes that, with Dracula now actively seeking to destroy her family, such an action would be a bad idea. The argument ends with Van Helsing gassing Anna with knockout powder to keep her from storming out on her own.

Later that night, when Anna awakens, she begins furiously searching for Van Helsing for knocking her out, only to come face-to-face with the werewolf Igor was torturing earlier, then Velkan, whom she is relieved to see alive. Velkan is in a state of panic, though, and rightfully so - as he tries to tell his sister vital information about Dracula, the full moon appears in the sky, stemming his unfortunate transformation into the titilar Wolf Man, to Anna's anquished disbelief. Van Helsing comes rushing in at this time to protect Anna, but Velkan escapes through the window and disappears. Rushing out into the streets to chase him, Van Helsing narrowly escapes being taken out by the town's undertaker (and apparently leader of the village, killed by Velkan seconds later) before being stopped from killing Velkan by Anna. Angry at her interference, and convinced that there is no hope for Velkan (who he knew was the Wolf Man prior to Anna's interference), Van Helsing berrates Anna for her actions, only to be cowed by her pleading, learning from her about the rumors of a cure for lycanthropy in Dracula's possession. He finally agrees to help Anna track down Dracula and find this supposed cure.

Trailing Velkan to Frankenstein's castle, Anna and Van Helsing learn from Dracula's Dwerger minions of Velkan's part in Dracula's new experiment as its catalyst, and as they further explore the castle, the basis for the experiments becomes clear: putrid egg sacs, containing Dracula's stillborn brood, hang within the corridors of the castle. As, being undead themselves, the children of Dracula and his brides would be born dead, the Count needed Frankentein's help to find a way to bring the dead to life. Unfortunately, without the 'key' to Frankenstein's discovery (the Monster he created), every test subject they used to find a suitable replacement for has proven insufficent and the experiment disasterous. The last test subject - Anna's and Velkan's father - proved equally as useless, but Dracula is taking stake on Velkan's now-lycanthropic blood to be enough to sustain his children. It is also here that we learn that Dracula cannot gain full control over werewolves until the final stoke of midnight on their first full moon, which is why Velkan was able to withstand Dracula's hold on him long enough to try and relay whatever info he learned about the Count to Anna.

Unfortunately for Van Helsing and Anna, they are too late to stop the experiment from starting, and it seems to have worked, as Dracula's brood come alive and flock with their mothers to the village for their first feeding. Anna uses this distraction to look for her brother, while Van Helsing blasts a few of the babies with a shotgun to get Dracula's attention. After a brief game of cat and mouse, Van Helsing catches the Count by surprise and plunges a silver stake through his heart, only to get a warm "Hello Gabriel" from the vampire lord. Van Helsing tries again, this time with a crucifix, but that doesn't stop Dracula, either. He is then unnerved as Dracula reveals that he knows much more about him than just by reputation, even mentioning the horrific nightmares of ancient battles that he keeps having. Dracula offers to restore Van Helsing's memories, but circumstances beyond either of their control precipitates the need to wait for another time.

Meanwhile, Anna conquers the Dwerger on her tail and manages to find Velkan, but is unfortunately unable to free him before the final stroke of midnight, forcing his transformation into the Wolf Man to become permanent. It is this that breaks up the meeting between Van Helsing and Dracula, as the monster hunter scurries away to rescue Anna from her brother and escape the castle. Furthermore, Velkan proves to be just as unsufficient a catalyst as the others, as Dracula's children self-destruct part-way into their feeding. It seems that Frankenstein has taken the secret to life beyond death to his grave, and as such, he orders the now fully-Wolfied Velkan to hunt down and kill the two hunters.

Meanwhile, as they aimlessly walk towards the ruins of the windmill, Anna chides Van Helsing for trying to dispatch Dracula in the ususal manner, stating that her clan has already tried every conventional method to slay him, and are completely dumbfounded by his immunity to all of them. Van Helsing angrily counters that she should've let him know about that earlier, but in light of their recent adventure, they decide to settle their differences with a drink of absinthe. Just then, however, the ground beneath them gives out, and they fall into an underground cavern, knocked out until morning.

Back in the manor, Carl (who, after saving the life of a bar maiden from one of Dracula's children, had a galivanting romp through the sheets with her as a reward), stumbles upon a painting that comes to life after he reads an inion written beside it. The painting, depicting two knights engaged in combat under the full moon, quickly degenerates into a clash of the titans as the knights throw down their armor and arms and transform into a werewolf and a demonic winged creature, respectively, before engaging in combat again. The sight of the painting come to life in this manner so startles the friar, that he unconsciously backs into the couch he and the bar maiden were sleeping on and knocks both it and the maiden over.

Meanwhile, in the cavern underneath the windmill ruins, Anna awakens from the fall only to be silenced by an already-awake Van Helsing, warning her of someone - or someTHING - in the cavern with them. As they inspect the cavern, Van Helsing estimates the mystery occupant's , weight, and shoe size, even going so far as to make note of the gimp in its right leg and the three brass teeth in its mouth. When Anna questions him about how he knew about the teeth, he tells her that the creature is standing right behind her and pushes her out of the way, leveling his pistol at the figure before the creature throws him into the water. Turning to Anna, who recognizes the thing as being created by Frankenstein, the monster tries to put a stop to their assault, only to be halted by Anna's terrified query about what it wants. It replies that it simply wants to exist, but the distraction is long enough for Van Helsing to pump a half dozen sleeping darts into its back, dropping it but not fully bringing it under. Anna attempts to finish the job with her own pistol, but Van Helsing stops her, telling her of his unique knack to sense evil in creatures. While he recognizes that evil may have created it, it itself is not wicked, and therefore he cannot kill it. The monster, however, agrees with Anna's decision to terminate it, as it is the key to restoring Dracula's brood to life. Unbeknownst to either Anna or Van Helsing, they only saw the result of one birthing from one bride, and there are countless more waiting to be restored, though their nubers have greatly reduced with each failed attempt. Unfortuantely for them all, Wolf Man Velkan has dutifully tracked them down, and now knows where the creature is. Anna is still wanting to kill the monster, as it requested, but Van Helsing convinces her that they can transport it to Rome and keep it safe, there.

As anticipated, on their way to Italy, they are hunted down by Dracula's remaining brides, stopping at nothing to regain the monster. However, in their attempt to steal the monster away from Van Helsing's horse-drawn carraige, they realize too late that it's a trap; jumping over a broken bridge, the horses and Van Helsing make it across, but the carriage barely misses, plunging down into the ravine below. When the brides rip open the carriage to save the monster from plunging to its death, they are met with explosives and stakes - a decoy that, as it blows up upon impact with the crevasse floor, takes the life of yet another bride. The real monster is in another horse-drawn carraige driven by Anna. As the two monster hunters reunite, they are immedately thrown off to the side by Wolf Man Velkan, who had trailed Anna's carriage and lit it on fire with a molotov cocktail to drive the monster out (the creature has a terrible aversion to fire, due to his initial experience in the burning windmill). Both Carl and the monster (who Carl frees from the shackles placed on him for transport)rescue the two monster hunters from falling beneath the wheels of the carriage, but are forced to abandon it as it burns to the ground, but not before Van Helsing engages in one last battle with Wolf Man Velkan.

The next morning, as she tries to find her companions, Anna discovers a now-human Velkan laying against a rock, dying from a fatal gunshot wound. Realizing what happened, she accepts Velkan's apologies and promises him that they'll see each other again, before turning on the newly-rearrived Van Helsing for her brother's murderer. However, her accosting of him reveals something more troublesome: before he died, Velkan bit Van Helsing, giving the hunter the werewolf curse. Shocked by this revelation, Anna is then blindsided by the last of Dracula's brides and carted away, with Van Helsing and his companions unable to follow.

Arriving later that day in Barcelona, Van Helsing and his group are confronted by the bride again, who relays a trade offer from Dracula himself: the Monster for Anna. Van Helsing agrees, but only if the trade takes place in a public area, so the Count could not 'vamp out' on them, for fear of discovery. The bride accepts the terms, setting the place of the exchange at a manor in town in which the local All Hallow's Eve masquerade ball is being held. The Monster, naturally, is furious at Van Helsing over this, but relents after he realizes that the hunter has been bitten, offering a snarky wish for those who will hunt him as a monster to do so as passionately as he does other monsters before being knocked out again and placed in safe keeping in a mausoleum at the local cemetery.

That night, at the ball, the Count dances with an enchanted Anna, who continuously voices her disgust over the Count, but is compelled to move at the vampire's whim, like a puppet on a string. Dracula gleefully leads Anna in the dance, revealing his desire to make her his newest bride, and that he never intended to go through with the trade, nor did he expect Van Helsing to. As predicted, Van Helsing uses Carl to whip up a distraction as he, quite literally, swings into action and rescues Anna from the Count's clutches. However, the Count is one step ahead of him, and reveals that not only did he have his fellow undead reaquire the Monster for him, but that the palace holding the ball is his summer home, with all the other guests part of his coven. Faced with an entire building full of bloodsuckers, Anna, Van Helsing, and Carl are forced to flee the building, but not before Carl leaves a present: an impromputu flash bang grenade more intense than the sun, which literally cooks all the vampires inside the palace when it goes off.

As Dracula and Igor escape with the Monster by boat, Van Helsing and his companions try to chase after him but are blocked. Van Helsing swears to the Monster that he'll set it free, but Carl reveals that the order won't allow it: after relaying their situation back to them, the order told Carl that, while they recognize that the Monster isn't evil, they don't recognize it as human, and in order to prevent it from being used for evil, they are to destroy it as well as Dracula. Infuriated, Van Helsing assaults Carl, questioning him if he had told the order how to kill him, as well, now that he's infected with the werewolf curse, but Carl replies that he left that part out. At this, Van Helsing lets Carl go and roars in frustration, feeling the change begin. They try to pick up the trail back at Frankenstein's castle, but discover that Dracula and his minions have already transferred the doctors' machinery to his castle; where that is, no one knows.

Back at the manor, Carl goes over everything that he had learned about Dracula with Van Helsing and Anna, including his past (he was originally the son of Anna's ancestor killed by the 'left hand of God'), and how Anna's ancestor sealed Dracula away in a realm accessed only by a one-way door to keep him locked away, until the Devil that Dracula made his deal with to grant him undead status gave him and his kind wings. Unfortunately, no one knows where the door that lead to the realm Dracula was locked away in is, and Anna's father had been looking at a wall mural of a map in the manor in a futile attempt to find it. Van Helsing gets an idea, though: maybe the mural doesn't say where the door was, but is instead the door itself. As proof to his claim, Carl finds latin inions along the leftmost edge of the mural, but it's cut off at the bottom corner, where someone tore it off. Remembering the parchment that was left to the order by Anna's ancestor, he gives it to Carl and tells him to finish the inion. The piece fits perfectly, and with the writing now complete, the mural crystalizes into a mirror. Anna mentions that Dracula and his brood have no reflections in mirrors, and Carl theorizes that this explains that; to Dracula, they aren't mirrors at all, but portals back to his prison realm. To test the theory, Van Helsing places his hand on, and then THROUGH the mirror, finding a cold and snowy enviroment beyond, matching the deion of Dracula's prison realm perfectly. Grabbing torches and bracing themselves, the trio step through the mirror, and arrive at Dracula's castle.

Once inside (thanks to an unforseen benefit to the growing werewolf curse in Van Helsing), the trio corner Igor as he goes off on another errand for Dracula, and confront him for information. At that time, however, they notice the Monster, frozen from the neck down in a block of ice, being hauled up to the rebuilt lab. The Monster, seeing the trio, reveals that Dracula does indeed have a cure for the werewolf curse, and implores them to forget about him and find it, instead. Curious as to why Dracula would even have such a cure, even though he has used werewolves as his minions for centuries, Van Helsing threatens Igor with bodily harm for the answers. Carl, however, comes up with the reason: as indicted by the painting he saw the morning after Dracula's last experiment, only the bite of a werewolf can kill Dracula, and since the Count can't assert full control over the creatures until they fully succumb to the curse, he needs some way of protecting himself should one of his 'lapdogs' turn on him. Figuring this to be their last chance to kill Dracula and prevent him form bringing his babies to life, Van Helsing, Anna and Carl form a plan: Helsing will go after Dracula and try to free the Monster before the experiment is complete, while Carl and Anna take Igor to find the cure. If Anna and Carl are too late to administer the antidote to him before the final stroke of midnight, Anna is to run like hell, while Carl is to stake him in the heart.

Van Helsing does locate the Monster, but is unable to completely free it from his shackles before the experiment goes through, successfully revitalizing Dracula's brood to life before the creature is flung off the pedastal he was shackled to by a lightning bolt. Carl and Anna are also able to locate the syringe filled with the cure, but are double-crossed by Igor, who locks them in the room with the antidote. They are then confronted by Dracula's last bride, who is briefly warded off after Anna smashes the container holding the syringe, spilling the acidic solution suspending the syringe inside onto the vampire's face. Anna then takes some of the liquid and melts the gate trapping them in the room with it, allowing Carl to escape with the syringe, but is blocked herself by the bride. As they fight, Carl's progress to bring the cure to Van Helsing is impeded by both the vicious weather buffetting the bridge between the castle's two main towers, and Igor, who decides to take revenge on the poor friar by harassing him with his cattle prod.

Meanwhile, Van Helsing confronts Dracula, realizing that with the Count's vampire children now alive, the only way to kill them is to kill the Count. As the first stroke of midnight hits, Van Helsing finally gives into the beast within and lets the curse consume him, shocking then delighting Dracula as he 'wolf's out'. Dracula tries to talk Van Helsing down, attempting to convince him that they should work together instead of being enemies, but Van Helsing is out for blood, and he is determined not to stop until he gets it.

Back on the bridge, Carl is saved from Igor by the Monster, who, after being thrown clear of the tower housing the lab, accidentally clotheslines the traitorous assistant off the bridge with a cable the Monster grabbed to break his fall. The cable is caught on the bridge, however, and the Monster is in danger of slipping to his doom. Carl is torn between helping the creature or leaving him to his fate, but the creature's pleas for mercy win out, and the friar wrenches the cable loose, causing the Monster to swing into the room that once held the cure. This proves fortuitous, as Anna had once again succumbed to the bride and was just about to be drained when the Monster arrived. The Monster, once recovered from his fall, keeps the bride away from Anna as he urges her to help Van Helsing. She thanks the monster for its help before swinging across to the other tower, having Carl throw her the syringe as she does so, after his progress over the bridge is once again impeded, this time by a large section of the bridge collapsing under the force of a lightning bolt. Anna is, however, re-engaged in battle in mid-swing with the bride, who breaks free from the Monster's grip and goes to finish the job she had started. Unfortunately for the bride, though, her theatrics prevent her from noticing Carl toss Anna up the silver stake Van Helsing gave him to slay him and impale her with it, killing her in a most gruesome manner.

Back in the lab, Dracula realizes that his diplomatic attempts to calm Van Helsing aren't working, the hunter-turned-lycanthrope breaking one of his wings in full vamp mode in the process, but is briefly spared death as the full moon disappears behind the clouds, causing Van Helsing to shift to human form once gain. Dracula uses this time to try once again to negotiate with the hunter, revealing that it was Van Helsing that murdered him when he was human, and the ring on his finger was originally the Count's (as indicated by the missing ring finger on Dracula's right hand). In a last-ditch effort to save himself and his children, Dracula once again appeals to Van Helsing's desire to know himself, offering to restore his memories, but Van Helsing once again refuses, stating that some things are best left forgotten before shifting back into werewolf mode and tearing out the Count's throat, killing him and his children once and for all.

It is at this point that Anna walks into the lab, seeing Wolf Man Helsing finishing off Dracula and, knowing she has precious little time, runs at him with the syringe held high. He notices her, however, and in a brief flash of feral behaviour, pounces at her, knocking them into a conveniently-placed couch at the far side of the lab. In walks Carl, stake in hand, who sees the aftermath of the pounce and, bracing himself and praying to God for forgivenes, runs at the pair, only to be caught one-handed by Van Helsing before the stake impaled his heart. Fortunately, Anna was successful in her attempt, as the cure was injected into Van Helsing's stomach. Unfortunately, the pounce killed her, leaving the now un-cursed Van Helsing to morn over her dead .

At the end of the movie, with the threat now gone, Van Helsing and Carl pay their last respects to Anna, respecting her fondest wish by placing her funeral pyre on a cliff overlooking the sea (she had never been to the see, and had desired to go there someday). As the pyre did its job, Van Helsing looks out over the waters below, to catch a glimpse of Anna and her entire family finally finding the peace they had long sought for in Paradise. Comforted in the fact that he had saved her entire family from Purgatory, Van Helsing and Carl ride off into the sunset and back to Rome. And the Monster? It also sets off to the unknown, paddling off to sea in a makeshift raft, free to live its life however it pleases.

The film contains numerous homages to the Universal Studios horror films of the 1930s and 1940s, particularly those featuring Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, and the Wolf Man. A poemAlthough this film is an homage to the Universal monster series, it breaks a cardinal rule by referring to Frankenstein's Monster directly by the name "Frankenstein", although in the context of this film, The Monster clearly considers himself to be Frankenstein's son. This difference is further borne out in an additional scene in the film's tie-in novel, in which the Monster specifically tells Van Helsing to call him Frankenstein.Shuler Hensley, who plays Frankenstein's Monster in the film, also provided motion capture reference for the CGI-animated Mr. Hyde in the opening sequence.The film is promoted to be the first that features all three monsters simultaneously. However the 1987 teen move This film's Mr. Hyde looks very similar, but smaller than, to that shown in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. (In the original novel, Hyde was 'smaller' than Jekyll, though as he slowly took over, Hyde grew in size.), which has two minor supporting characters, a deceased music professor and his wife, with a family name of Valerius (spelled without the "o"). The novel was adapted by Universal Studios into a silent film released in 1925.Many fans have noted that Dracula refers to Van Helsing as "Gabriel" several times during the film, strongly implying that Van Helsing's real first name is Gabriel, and in both the "London Assignment" animated prequel and in the film's tie-in novel, Van Helsing introduces himself as "Gabriel Van Helsing". In addition, there are a couple of hints during the movie (even Dracula implies it during the final battle) that Van Helsing may be the angel Gabriel. In the film, the one who murdered Dracula four hundred years ago is not named, but merely referred to as the "Left Hand of God", a title that is ascribed to the archangel Gabriel in some Christian traditions. Notice that this change of name would allow filmmakers to keep the rights of this new, different character for any possible sequel.Kate Beckinsale is becoming an old hand at fighting vampires, as she played a very similar character (albeit a vampire) in 2003's was produced, contains numerous similarities to the movie. Both feature the character of Dracula, as well as Van HelsingHellsing (although the Anime Dracula serves Hellsing), which works for the church despite different denominations (Anime Hellsing fought for the Protestant Church of England, whereas Van Helsing fights for an ecumenical church group). It appears, however, that the similarities are coincidental and result purely from the use of common sources.Despite a production budget of over $160 million, plus an estimated $50 million spent on marketing, and a U.S. box office of $120 million (presumed somewhat poor by industry standards), the film might be considered a bomb. However, the film did well overseas, with an international box office of $180 million, for a total of just over $300 million worldwide. It was also a surprising success in its DVD release, making over $65 million in unit sales the first week alone, and over $140 million in total DVD and video sales thus far. As a result, the film has actually made a respectably large profit. A sequel is reportedly in talks for 2007 or 2008. However, Hugh Jackman is currently occupied with the production of The actors who played the Dwerger, Dracula's servants in the movie, reportedly fared rather poorly physically during production. Their costumes, which was coated with a thick black waterproof substance to stand the many rainy scenes, proved to be extremely flamable, and many Dwergers were caught on fire by accident by the sparks in both laboratory sequences (though three were lit on fire on purpose near the end). Because of this, crewmen were constantly at the ready with fire extinquishers to put out the actors when they caught fire and got off screen. Also, during the first laboratory sequence, when Anna pulls off a Dwerger on the rope that she's climbing, you can see that the Dwerger lands on the very rim of the tub down below. This was a goof; the Dwerger was supposed to land in the tub along with the other two that Anna cuts from the rope below her, but the actor fell wrong, and was seriously injured, because of it.According to director Stephen Sommers, Van Helsing's hat was one of a kind, and was for some reason unable to be reproduced, even during production. So, understandably, the crew took great pains to keep it from being damaged or destroyed, even going so far as to be at the ready with hair dryers to dry off the hat after each take of any rainy or otherwise water-involved scene.Both Jackman and Beckinsale did most of their own stunts in the movie, including those that, in retrospect, would be considered too dangerous to perform (for instance, that was really Hugh Jackman being dragged beside the carriage straddling the back wheel during the chase through the forest to Rome. He was subsequently applauded for his dedication by the stuntmen, apparently not ever hearing of any actor performing such a dangerous stunt by themselves).

Other media

Sommers expanded the story of Van Helsing in two direct spin-offs. The animated prequel titled , takes place before the main events of the film, focusing on Van Helsing's first mission to try to end a Jack-the-Ripper- murderer, who turns out to be Mr. Hyde, from terrorizing London. There was also a one-issue comic book titled , that follows Van Helsing on a self-contained adventure that occurs during the events of the film, just after the death of JekyllHyde in Paris but before Van Helsing returns to Rome. This is probably based on Edgar Allan Poe's short story , was also going to be produced, using the film's village sets, but due to poor US box-office, critical panning and a considerable budget for each episode, the series' status is currently unknown. The series was to be set in the late 1880s, the same period as the film, and was reportedly to focus on the story of a Texas cowboy who becomes sheriff in a Transylvanian village, where he must keep the peace between two warring familes with some "monsterous genes". Sommers wrote the pilot and supervised six episode video game for PlayStation 2, Xbox and Game Boy Advance. The game follows a similar plot to the movie and the PS2 and Xbox versions feature the voice talent of many of the actors including Hugh Jackman and Richard Roxburgh.

Fans of the Castlevania game-series have attempted to draw parallels between the movie and the games in a similar fashion Monkey Island fans have attempted to draw connections with Pirates of the Caribbean. The game-adaption of the movie includes a reference to a Transylvanian family called