Van Helsing Was Putting Universal Monsters Into Boring Blockbusters Long Before Tom Cruise's The Mummy Showed Up

Don't you hate it when a movie has an excellent opening scene and then everything that comes after it is just crummy? It's like chowing down on a delectable appetizer prior to being served rotten meat as your proper meal, the already substandard main course gets its awfulness hammered home by coming hot off the heels of the delicious appetizer you just scarfed down. That's what happens with Van Helsing, which opens with a black-and-white sequence that feels like Universal Monsters Fan-Fiction come to life as Dracula (Richard Roxburgh) plots to use a new monstrous creation of Victor Frankenstein for his own wicked devices, a plan that Frankenstein's Monster (Shuler Hensley) does not particularly care for. This results in the monster grabbing the corpse of his now deceased "father" and running to a windmill that is promptly set on fire, resulting in the apparent death of the creature much to Dracula's anger.

The Mummy Returns Is An Overstuffed But Mostly Diverting Follow-Up

Once The Mummy premiered in May 1999 to solid reviews and strong box office, well, we all know what was bound to come next....a sequel! Just as The Mummy had returned for four further adventures in the 1940's after the initial 1932 Mummy movie, Brendan Fraser and pals would also be coming back to the silver screen to fight more undead baddies in another motion picture. Per usual for typical summer blockbuster sequels, the scope and budget was enlarged, though, also like many summer blockbuster sequels, the results weren't exactly better than its predecessor despite a grander size in the production.