Thursday, 9 December 2010

Victorian Films by Universal Pictures- Van Helsing and The Wolf Man.

Through Wikepedia I copied information I thought I could analyse with the two horror films.

Van Helson -

Van Helsing is a 2004 American action horror film about vigilante monster hunter Gabriel Van Helsing, written, produced, and directed by Stephe Sommers. The film stars Hugh Jackman and Kate Beckinsale. The film opened on May 7, 2004.
The film is a homage and tribute to the Universal Horror Monster films from the '30s and '40s (also produced by Universal Studios), of which director Stephen Sommers is a fan. The titular character was inspired by Abraham Van Helsing from Irish author Bram Stoker's novel Dracula. Distributed by Universal Pictures, the film includes a number of monsters such as Count Dracula and the Frankenstein's monster in a way similar to the multi-monster movies that Universal produced in the 1940s, such as Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man and House of Dracula.

(Why I highlighted the words)
The film itself is a horror film, based on the theme of monsters. 
I chose Van Helsing because it is quiet recent as it's in the 200s. But as we are timing our piece into the victorian times, I was thinking about the ideas behind how the writer, producer and director Stephe Sommers showed the time differences.
The idea of the film being distributed by Universal Pictures, the company itself founded in 1912 by Carl Laemmle is very well known through many films such as 

  • Back to the Future films
  • Bring It On films
  • About a Boy (film)
  • The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle
  • American Pie 1 and 2
  • Bad Boys (1983)
  • 8 Mile
  • The 40-Year-Old Virgin
  • Bedtime Story
  • Beethoven 1,2,3,4 and 5
  • And many many more favourites.....
The idea of how the movie is constructed with the different monsters/creatures draws the audience in to see the new updated version of the mythical creatures. As Dracula, Frankenstein and Wolf Man are all very iconic monster figures
FACTS:
Directed byStephen Sommers
Produced byStephen Sommers
Bob Ducsay
Written byStephen Sommers
StarringHugh Jackman
Kate Beckinsale
Richard Roxburgh
David Wenham
Will Kemp
Kevin J. O'Connor
Shuler Hensley
Music byAlan Silvestri    
CinematographyAllen Daviau
Editing byBob Ducsay
Kelly Matsumoto
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release date(s)May 5, 2004 (2004-05-05)
United States (United States)
May 7, 2004 (2004-05-07)
Running time131 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$160 million
Gross revenue$300,257,475
Preceded byVan Helsing: The London


The Wolf Man-


The Wolf Man is a 1941 American Monster/Werewolf/Horror filmwritten by Curt Siodmak and produced and directed by George Waggner. The film stars Lon Chaney, Jr. as The Wolf Man, and it also stars Claude Rains, Evelyn Ankers, Ralph Bellamy, Patric Knowles, Béla Lugosi, and Maria Ouspenskaya. The title character has had a great deal of influence on Hollywood's depictions of the legend of the werewolf.The film is the second Universal Pictures werewolf movie, preceded six years earlier by the less commercially successful Werewolf of London. A remake was released in early 2010 starring Benicio del Toro and Anthony Hopkins.


FACTS
Directed byGeorge Waggner
Produced byGeorge Waggner
Written byCurt Siodmak
StarringLon Chaney, Jr.
Claude Rains
Warren William
Ralph Bellamy
Patric Knowles
Bela Lugosi
Maria Ouspenskaya
Evelyn Ankers
CinematographyJoseph Valentine, ASC
Editing byTed J. Kent
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release date(s)December 12, 1941 (1941-12-12)
Running time71 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$180,000
Followed byFrankenstein Meets the Wolf Man



1 comment:

  1. Good stuff Camilla!

    Ensure that your blog is updated with an explanation of your filming process. You need all your plannig up as evidence of your learning including storyboards etc

    ReplyDelete