After proving his action-man mettle in the X-Men franchise, Hugh Jackman sank his teeth into Stephen Sommers' fantasy monster flick Van Helsing. "Loud, proud and very Hollywood", this tale of the legendary vampire slayer got a stake through the heart from critics and failed to set the box office alight (considering its budget and franchise aspirations). Perhaps this jam-packed two-disc Special Edition DVD release will pique the punters' interest...

Monster Mash

There's a generous selection of featurettes that delve into the sophisticated visual effects and ostentatious production design. Most of these are to be found on Disc Two (only available as part of the Special Edition package), although Disc One includes a comprehensive overview of the various beasties and the CG wizardry used to create them. The growing popularity of previsualisation, or animatics (CG storyboarding), is also evidenced in Bringing The Monsters To Life, with a team of visual effects bods keen to share the secrets of their trade.

The complicated design process is unravelled with reference to key sets including the Village, Dracula's Castle, and Frankenstein's Lab (in separate featurettes). In Dracula's Lair Transformed!, you'll also get a time lapse view of a set being built over the course of 30 days. Interactive featurettes that allow you to explore Dracula's Castle and Frankenstein's Lab are rather more humdrum, as is the emphatically titled You Are In The Movie! featurette. Essentially this is a montage of behind-the-scenes footage shot by a video camera mounted atop the film camera. The point of this exercise remains unclear.

Shaken And Stirred

The literary roots of Van Helsing, Frankenstein's Monster, Dracula et al are raked over by bespectacled scholars, actors, and filmmakers alike in a hefty bundle of featurettes. The hip makeover afforded the formerly fusty vampire slayer is also up for discussion in The Legend Of Van Helsing, with Hugh Jackman observing that Stephen Sommers' vision serves as "an ode to James Bond".

Sommers is all over this disc like a rash, blathering excitably about old black and white horror movies ("Cool!"), Gothic architecture ("So cool!") and German expressionism ("Too cool!"). Producer-editor Bob Ducsay is the calming influence in their shared audio commentary, which is chiefly concerned with the visuals. Meanwhile the actors' commentary is like a rambling sightseeing trip as Richard Roxburgh, Shuler Hensley, and Will Kemp watch the film for the first time. Frankly, with stars Hugh Jackman and Kate Beckinsale absent, this commentary just feels redundant.

On a higher note, catch composer Alan Silvestri at work in The Music Of Van Helsing, and find out how much vodka it took actor Sam West to climb atop a flaming pyre in The Burning Windmill featurette. A five-minute blooper reel caps the package but is notable only for Jackman's uncanny ability to catch flies in his mouth. While it doesn't always hit the mark, Van Helsing remains a monster package on Special Edition DVD.

EXTRA FEATURES
DISC ONE

DISC TWO (ONLY AVAILABLE AS PART OF THE SPECIAL EDITION PACKAGE)