0698 – Van Helsing (2004)

timespace coordinates: 1888 Transylvania

Van Helsing is a 2004 American dark fantasy action comedy written and directed by Stephen Sommers. It stars Hugh Jackman as vigilante monster hunter Van Helsing, and Kate Beckinsale as Anna Valerious. The film is an homage and tribute to the Universal Horror Monster films from the 1930s and ’40s (also produced by Universal Studios which were in turn based on novels by Bram Stoker and Mary Shelley), of which Sommers is a fan.

The eponymous character was inspired by the Dutch vampire hunter Abraham Van Helsing from Irish author Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula.  The film includes a number of monsters such as Count Dracula, Frankenstein’s monster and werewolves in a way similar to the multi-monster movies that Universal produced in the 1940s, such as Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, House of Frankenstein and House of Dracula.

Spin-offs

Sommers expanded the story of Van Helsing in two direct spin-offs:

• The animated prequel titled Van Helsing: The London Assignment takes place before the main events of the film, focusing on Van Helsing’s mission to try to stop Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde from terrorizing London.
• There is also a one-shot comic book, published by Dark Horse Comics, titled Van Helsing: From Beneath the Rue Morgue, that follows Van Helsing on a self-contained adventure that occurs during the events of the film, just after the death of Jekyll/Hyde in Paris but before Van Helsing returned to Rome. In the adventure, Van Helsing deals with Doctor Moreau and his hybrid mutants.

Reboot and shared universe

See also: Dark Universe (franchise)

In May 2012, Universal Pictures announced that they would be rebooting the film with Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci as a two-year deal to produce a modern reimagining and Tom Cruise to star as the title character and also produce the film. Rupert Sanders is in talks to direct the film. Orci spoken to IGN that he has hinted that both The Mummy and Van Helsing reboots will have a shared universe. On November 11, 2015, Variety reports that Jon Spaihts and Eric Heisserer will write the reboot, but Cruise left the film. However, in 2016, Cruise signed back on to star in Kurtzman’s The Mummy, which was released in theaters on June 9, 2017. (wiki)

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309 – The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing (2013 video game)

696 – How It Ends (2018)

timespace coordinates: 2018 Chicago >> Seattle

How It Ends is a Canadian-American action disaster thriller film directed by David M. Rosenthal and written by Brooks McLaren. The film stars Theo James, Forest Whitaker, Kat Graham, and Mark O’Brien. The film was released on July 13, 2018 by Netflix.

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0689 – Furious aka Legend of Kolovrat (2017)

timespace coordinates: 13th century Russia

Furious, also known as Legend of Kolovrat (Russian: Легенда о Коловрате, translit. Legenda o Kolovrate), is a 2017 Russian historical fantasy film about the Ryazan knight Evpaty Kolovrat, It is directed by Dzhanik Fayziev & Ivan Shurkhovetskiy and stars newcomer Ilya Malakov, Polina Chernyshova, Aleksei Serebryakov, Aleksandr Ilyin Jr. and Yulia Khlynina in supporting roles.

Film is based on the period when Russia was under control of the Golden Horde. Ryazan knight Evpaty Kolovrat is the leader of the squad, which decides to fight back Batu Khan , who divided Russia.

The plot is based on The Tale of the Destruction of Riazan, a medieval military tale about the capture of the city of Ryazan by the Mongols in 1237 and is one of the best sources of the Mongol invasion of Russia. (wiki)

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683 – Hanna (2011)

timespace coordinates: 2011 Finland > Morocco > Spain > Germany

Hanna is a 2011 action adventure thriller film that contains some prominent fairy tale elements, directed by Joe Wright. The film stars Saoirse Ronan as the title character, a girl raised in the wilderness of northern Finland by her father, an ex-CIA operative (Eric Bana), who trains her as an assassin. Cate Blanchett is a senior CIA agent who tries to track down and eliminate the girl and her father. The soundtrack was written by The Chemical Brothers.

themes and motifs

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668 – Ready Player One (2018)

spacetime coordinates: 2045 Columbus, Ohio

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cultural references

The film was noted to have significant differences from the book, with some critics calling the film’s plot an improvement over the source material. 🙂

0660 – Rampage (2018)

spacetime coordinates: 2017 San Diego / Wyoming / Everglades > Chicago

Rampage is a 2018 American science fiction monster film directed by Brad Peyton, and loosely based on the video game series of the same name by Midway Games. The film stars Dwayne Johnson, Naomie Harris, Malin Akerman, Jake Lacy, Joe Manganiello, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. It follows a primatologist named Davis Okoye who must team up with George, an albino gorilla who turns into a raging creature of enormous size as a result of a rogue experiment, to stop two other mutated animals from destroying Chicago. It is the third collaboration between Peyton and Johnson, following Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012) and San Andreas (2015). (wiki)

It is the all-time best reviewed film based on a video game, according to Rotten Tomatoes.

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649 – Priest (2011)

Priest is a 2011 American post-apocalyptic dystopian science fiction action horror film starring Paul Bettany as the title character. The film, directed by Scott Stewart, is loosely based on the Korean comic (Manhwa) of the same name by Hyung Min-woo. In an alternate world, humanity and vampires have warred for centuries. After the last Vampire War, a veteran Warrior Priest (Bettany) lives in obscurity with other humans inside one of the Church’s walled cities. When the Priest’s niece (Lily Collins) is kidnapped by vampires, the Priest breaks his vows to hunt them down. He is accompanied by the niece’s boyfriend Hicks (Cam Gigandet), who is a wasteland sheriff, and a former Warrior Priestess (Maggie Q). (wiki)

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