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The film begins in
black and white, set in Transylvania,
1887. Doctor Victor Frankenstein brings to life the
Frankenstein's Monster but his triumph is
cut short when an angry mob infiltrates the castle. Dr. Frankenstein
has been
aided in his experiments by his deformed assistant Igor, and Count
Dracula. Dracula reveals that he helped
Frankenstein so he could use the
Monster for his own purposes, later revealed to be
using the Monster to bring
his undead children to life. Frankenstein refuses to help Dracula and
tries to
kill him, only to discover the Count is already dead. Dracula kills
Frankenstein, but the Monster breaks free, knocks Dracula into a
fireplace and
escapes to a windmill
with his "father's" body. The mob pursues him and burns down the
windmill. The Monster and Frankenstein fall into the ruins of the windmill
and
disappear. Dracula (who survived the fireplace) and his three brides,
Verona,
Marishka and Aleera, arrive at the remains, their plans seemingly lost.
The film then leaps
forward one year and changes
to color, introducing Van Helsing a monster hunter who works for the
Knights
of the Holy Order at Vatican City.
After
unintentionally killing Mr. Hyde in Paris, Van Helsing
returns to the Vatican where he is assigned his next mission by a
cardinal. He
is sent to Transylvania to help the last of the Valerious family, Anna,
to
destroy Dracula; otherwise many generations of the family will never go
to Heaven. This is
because one of Anna's ancestors vowed that his family would never rest
in peace
until Dracula is dead. Anna's brother, Velkan Valerious, actively
searches for
various monsters. He is bitten and turns into a werewolf in an attempt
to
rescue his sister.
Van Helsing takes
Carl with him, an intelligent
but bumbling friar
who doesn't really mind blaspheming (as he swears several times and
later
sleeps with a Transylvanian woman). The two arrive in a town, where
they meet
Anna, who is the last Velarius after her brother Velkan fell into a
river
whilst fighting a werewolf.Three of Dracula's brides attack the town,
but Van
Helsing kills Marishka by firing arrows covered in holy water at her.
Anna
reluctantly accepts Van Helsing's help and takes him to her castle
home. That
night, a werewolf shows up. He is revealed to be Velkan, bitten by the
previous
wolf. Velkan retreats to Frankenstein Castle with Van Helsing and Anna
in
pursuit, the werewolf killing a creepy gravedigger in the process.
Velkan is
strapped into a special device by Dracula, in order for Velkan to act
as a
conductor for electricity to bring Dracula's children to life. The
process
works briefly, but the children begin to die shortly after birth. Anna
releases
Velkan but he becomes a werewolf again. Van Helsing meets Dracula, who
addresses him as "Gabriel". Van Helsing tries to stab him with a stake
and
burn him with a holy cross,
but neither weapon can harm him.
Van Helsing and
Anna escape but fall into an
underground cavern, discovering the Frankenstien Monster hiding from
Dracula.
Anna suggests killing the Monster, but Van Helsing decides to take him
to Rome to protect him
from Dracula. Picking up Carl, the group (Van Helsing, Anna, Carl and
the
Monster) head off in horse-drawn carriages. However, the remaining
brides and
the Velkan werewolf chase after them. The carriage falls down a ravine,
the
brides pursuing it but discovering it is a decoy with a box of
stakes inside. The carriage hits the ground and explodes, sending out
stakes
that impale and kill Verona. The real carriage containing the group
nearly gets
away, but the werewolf appears and set the carriage on fire. Van
Helsing fires
his shotguns on the werewolf and kills him. Anna finds Velkan shortly
before he
dies; she also discovers Van Helsing was bitten in the process and will
become
a werewolf. Anna is then kidnapped by Aleera, who bargains with Anna
for the
Monster. Instead, Van Helsing knocks the Monster out and places him in
a tomb
to keep him from being stolen. Van Helsing and Carl sneak into
Dracula's summer
palace where a ball is occurring. Van Helsing rescues Anna from being
bitten,
but discovers the Monster has been captured by the undead, who are then
sent
after Van Helsing and the others. The undead are destroyed by a weapon
created
by Carl that releases a bright exploding lightsource.
The trio returns to
Anna's castle and piece
together that Dracula was killed in the 1400s, made a deal with the
Devil and
became a vampire; Dracula is actually the son of Anna's ancestor; and
the a moving
painting showing a werewolf fighting a vampire. The group then discover
the
door to Dracula's lair: a large map owned by Anna's deceased father. A
missing
piece is in the possession of Van Helsing, who received it from the
Vatican
priest. The missing piece is added and the map is turned into a door.
The three
travel through the door and find an icy fortress: Dracula's lair.
Inside, Van Helsing
sees the Monster, who explains
that Dracula has a werewolf cure. The group tries to figure out why
Dracula has
a cure for werewolves, until Carl figures out the painting of a
werewolf
fighting a vampire in Anna's castle was a message, telling that only a
werewolf
can kill Dracula. Anna and Carl force a captured Igor to take them to
the cure,
but are attacked by Aleera. Carl heads off with the cure to find Van
Helsing,
who must kill Dracula and receive the cure before the final stroke of
midnight,
or he will permanently become a werewolf. Carl is pursued by Igor, who
attacks
him with a tazer-like weapon. Van Helsing manages to free the Monster
but not
before Dracula's children are brought to life. Dracula attacks Van
Helsing,
transforming into a demonic winged vampire. The Monster falls off a
tower and
is propelled through the air on a wire, which collides with Igor,
sending him
plummeting down a ravine to his demise. The Monster distracts Aleera,
allowing
Anna to escape. However, this distraction lasts for only so long when
Aleera
confronts Anna. Anna stabs Aleera with a stake that Carl throws (after
crossing
the gap in the bridge), killing her. Van Helsing, transformed into a
werewolf,
fights Dracula until the full moon is blocked out by clouds. Dracula
takes this
opportunity to reveal that Van Helsing is the Left Hand of God, another
name
for Gabriel, and it was he who killed him in the 1400s. Dracula
attempts to get
Van Helsing to be his partner. Van Helsing refuses, returns to werewolf
form
when the moon comes out again, and kills Dracula by biting his neck.
Dracula
and his children all die. Anna rushes in with the cure, after receiving
it from
Carl, and races to save Van Helsing, but he attacks and kills her in
werewolf
form. However, she has managed to inject him with the cure. Restored to
humanity, he holds her body in his arms.
  Van Helsing and
Carl cremate Anna's body by the
ocean shore, honoring Anna's unfulfilled desire to see the ocean. Van
Helsing
briefly sees a vision of Anna and her family in Heaven, before he and
Carl head
off back to Rome. The Monster, having survived, rows off on a raft to
an
unknown future.
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