Hi, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab...

Okay. So now we’ve finally seen a trailer for VAN HELSING. Personally, I thought it looked okay. I detested the shots that seemed to feature Mr. Hyde from LXG in a guest appearance, but I like the vampire designs and the werewolf shots we see in the trailer. Overall, it looks like fun.

As soon as I talked to Harry, wondering aloud if that was indeed Mr. Hyde in the trailer, we got this first report:

Hi Harry!

I just saw the first reel of Van Helsing and thought that you might be interested ... SPOILER ALARM ... Well, seeing only about 15 minutes of the movie it is hard to say something without giving too much away, so here ya go:

opening sequence is in black&white - dr. frankenstein, his creature and count dracula are introduced in a very james whale like scene, the creature comes to life, dr. frankenstein and dracula have a fight over the creature and it all ends at the burning mill, where the creature and dr. frankenstein seem to burn in the flames - cut to van helsing, now in color - he has a fight in paris with mr. hyde and certainly wins it with his pretty cool boomerang like weapons. The effect work wasn't finished, the sound only a rough overlay, blablabla, but all in all it was a very, very cool opener for the movie, first the b/w intro and then a cool fight with a very, very, very cool hugh jackman

greetings from J. Lebowski

So… okay… that’s a verification that we’re seeing Mr. Hyde, right? When did everyone agree that Hyde was a giant ape-like creature? Isn’t that pretty much an invention of Kevin O’Neill and Alan Moore? Every classic version of Hyde I’ve ever seen, he was a man. Some versions were more animal than others, but he was always a man, someone who could pass you on the street without you realizing that he was evil. If I were 20th Century Fox, I’d be more than a little irate with Universal’s misappropriation of this particular version of Hyde.

Anyway, between this report and the one Harry posted earlier, it sounds like they pack a lot into that opening, and one of the ways Universal can shortcut things a bit would be with an animated prequel that comes out a few days after the film hits theaters. At least, that’s what this scooper said. It was news to me...

Hi, Harry/Moriarty,

Hopefully, you've received this from other alert readers, but I was so excited when I saw this news on The Home Theater Forum today, I had to send it to you.

According to AnimatedBliss.com:

Van Helsing: The London Assignment

STREET: 5/11/2004

S.R.P.: $14.98

RUN TIME: 30 Minutes

AUDIO: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, French Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround

CAPTIONS: English

SUBTITLES: French, Spanish

VIDEO STUDIO: Universal

Unveiling The Extraordinary Beginning of The Van Helsing Adventure With the All-New Original Animated Film Prequel.

From The Director And Producers Of The Motion Picture Van Helsing Stephen Sommers and Bob Ducsay. Features the voice of Van Helsing star Hugh Jackman.

Loaded with bonus features, including cast and crew interviews and an in-depth look at Van Helsing's groundbreaking special effects.

HARRY NOTE... See Any Similarities?

Holy shit! This one really came out of nowhere. Hope it's legit, but someone went to a lot of trouble if it isn't. Can't wait!!

Enjoy,

- Bob

"Moriarty" out.