Van Helsing (2004) - 86 mistakes

Continuity: Towards the end of the movie, in the scene where Anna is taking the werewolf cure to Van Helsing and the vampire bride stops her on the large fallen pillar, she falls so she is in a sitting position with the cure in her left hand. She then switches it to her right. Then in the close-up shot, the cure is still in her left hand and she switches it again.

Visible crew/equipment: As the camera moves in on the bull that is about to be grabbed by the vampire, if you look under the bull, you can see two men hiding behind it. You can see their legs. They are probably there to keep the bull standing still. When it cuts they are gone.

Revealing: When firing the cross-bow, Van Helsing runs out of arrows, but the bow's cannister is completely full of arrows. In the same shot he simply spins once and they all disappear.

Revealing: When Dracula pulls the silver stake from his heart, you can see it is a prop from the way the point wobbles slightly.

Continuity: When Carl explains everything about vampires and Van Helsing wonders how he knows so much about them, Carl says "I read". Then he notices the 'Glycerin 48' and says "Ah." The shot changes, and now Carl suddenly has his hand up.

Visible crew/equipment: When Anna picks up the sickle you can see a shadow moving. It has to be a crew member, because when it cuts, we can see that no one is standing anywhere near her.

Revealing: When Dracula is walking upside down, and he yells "Let us Begin.", you can see the wire and pulley device underneath his feet, in between the sides of a pre-cut line on the top side of the bridge.

Continuity: In the opening shot at the Ball when Carl and Van Helsing are to "trade" Frankenstein for Anna, everybody has a reflection in the mirrors at either side of the ballroom although they are later to be revealed as Vampires and have no reflection.

Continuity: When Velkan hangs on the rope and is being pulled up he looks down and the werewolf climbs up the wooden pole and you can see scratch marks on the top of the pole. Then the second time he looks down at the werewolf you can see the top of the pole is scratch free and the werewolf makes the scratch marks again. If you have a close look at these two scenes you can see it's the same scene played twice, but with a different roaring sound from the werewolf.

Continuity: When Dracula is talking to Victor and he says "It must now serve my purpose." you can see hair hanging over Victor's forehead. When it cuts to Victor getting up while saying "What purpose?" the hair is gone from his forehead.

Continuity: When Anna is hanging from the top of the roof, she places her feet against the wall before jumping. At that time you can see the wall is perfect without any cracks or marks. When it cuts to her leaping off you can see a huge crack going along the wall where she has her right foot.

Continuity: When Dracula and Van Helsing meet for the first time, Dracula's hand placement changes between shots. This happens twice, once when he is saying 'But like me, hunted by all others." During this, his hands move from his side to taking his gloves off. And again, when he says 'You are the great Van Helsing,' his hands move from his sides to being in the air.

Continuity: When Anna and Van Helsing embrace to kiss, the hands with which they caress each other change position and even totally swap in between cuts. In one shot Van Helsing will be touching her with his right hand, the next shot with his left hand, the next shot with no hand, etc.

Factual error: In the beginning of the scene after Van Helsing kills off one of the three female vampires, there is a map behind Friar Carl depicting the whole of the Carpathian basin, which, at the time, included the Austro-Hungarian empire as well as a part of Romania. However, the whole area is labeled "Transylvania", which is only a region of Romania.

Continuity: In the final fighting scene between Dracula and Van Helsing it can be seen that Dracula has all his fingers. However, later in the scene, when he asks Van Helsing for the return of his ring, one of his fingers is missing.

Continuity: When Anna tells the citizens to kill Van Helsing and Carl, the undertaker gasps and moves backwards behind Carl. When it cuts, the undertaker has slightly moved to the side of Carl instead.

Revealing: At the end of the movie, when Dracula's children explode, the goop from their bodies doesn't match up with the splashes on the ground. You can see some of it hit the ground and disappear, and other places, it would hit, then the splash would occur a second or two later. It was all computer-generated, so it was just slightly mismatched. Hard to catch normally, but easy to see in slow-motion.

Revealing: When Dracula walks up the wall (the first time we see him in color), in the overhead shot the torches wobble slightly from where the separate photography was composited in.

Continuity: When Anna is looking for her brother who fell off the cliff, there is a closeup of her where you can see some bushes in front of her. When it cuts to a wide shot you can see there are no bushes anywhere near where she is standing.

Continuity: When one of the brides push Anna and Van Helsing to the ground under the first attack, Van Helsing drops his spike weapon to the ground. The position of the weapon changes during the shots.

Continuity: Right after Anna's brother and the werewolf dive off the cliff you can see Anna getting up a few feet from the edge of the cliff. When it cuts she lies right next to the edge.

Continuity: When Velkan changes into a werewolf in front of his sister he still has tattered remains of pants on him. When he goes to Castle Frankenstein, and enters through the roof his pants are gone. When the Velkan werewolf lands on the ground and starts to change back, his pants are back on.

Continuity: In the beginning when Van Helsing kills the first bride with holy water he sits on the church steps. In the wide angle shot there is a lot more snow on the steps than in the close up shot.

Continuity: Before Van Helsing looks at Dracula's children in the "eggs" by biting it off and dropping it to the ground, he removes one of his gloves. However, when he starts shooting the offspring, then fighting Dracula, that glove is back on his hand.

Continuity: Near the end of the attack of the Brides, Marishka is about to make her final "charge". The wind blows the hair back from her face, showing that she is not wearing any earrings. Yet after Van Helsing kills her and she starts to disintegrate, she is wearing large triangular dangling earrings. (It's not because her jewelry disappears in her flying form - she is shown wearing bracelets and rings in *both* forms).

Continuity: When we first get to Carl there is a man behind him on a some sort of power generating machine. Then the man suddenly almost get electrocuted and smoke rises all around him. When it cuts to Carl walking to Van Helsing we can see the man in the background but now all the smoke is gone.

Continuity: When Anna tries to hit Verona, she grabs Anna's hand by the wrist. It cuts to Verona saying "I can feel fresh blood.", while holding Anna further up by Anna's fist. It cuts again and she is holding by the wrist again.

Continuity: When the werewolf is down the trap you see Anna placing her foot on the edge of the hole. As the cage is being dragged up you see Anna do a backflip. However in one of the scenes you see her backflip you can see her actually standing two feet away from the edge before she does the backflip.

Revealing: At the windmill when the fire reaches the cases with Absinthe bottles the cases explode. Howeverm when the explosion occurs we can see sparks. I'm pretty sure an explosion like this wouldn't produce sparks, so it's obvious the explosion was ignited by some explosives.

Continuity: After the vampire has thrown the bull through the building wall we see Van Helsing turning his head around noticing Anna running. If you look behind Anna you can see something orange resembling what could be haystack of some sort. When it cuts to a closer look of Anna running you can still see it behind her. When it cuts back to Van Helsing still looking her direction it is gone.

Continuity: As the first vampire charge and Van Helsing pulls up his weapon you see Anna bending down beside the well. It the cuts to a shot from above where the three vampires come flying against the camera. At that point you can see the well and Anna isn't standing anywhere near it. When it cuts to Anna shouting "Everybody inside." she is standing beside the well again.

Revealing: At the ball when Carl pushes the man spitting fire so that he spits fire on Dracula, you can see Dracula grabbing him and throwing him away. Then it cuts to Van Helsing gliding down on a rope grabbing Anna. When we get to the scene where the camera view comes flying against Anna we can see, on the left, Dracula's shadow when he is throwing the man. As the previous scene where Dracula threw away the man was most likely done with CGI, they forgot to add the man's shadow in this scene. Also in the following scene you can see Dracula throwing, but this time they forgot to add the man in.

Deliberate "mistake": In the first sequence, you see a man riding on the wooden battering-ram, and you can see where two different shots of the same man were spliced together, as the background suddenly shifts from being a forest, to being the exterior of the town, where the stone wall is. It was meant to be one single shot, but you can just see how the trick works.

Continuity: When Dracula says to Victor "Pity your moment of triumph is being spoiled," you can see Dracula standing with his back against Victor and slightly turning around. When it cuts Dracula is facing Victor even thought he still should be turning around.

Continuity: When Carl picks up the silver stake Van Helsing is holding the bag with clenched fists. When it cuts to Carl putting the stake into the bag, Van Helsing is holding both his thumbs up.

Revealing: When the undertaker is about to hit Van Helsing with the shovel, we can see the shovel stop in the air before Van Helsing grabs it.

Continuity: When Anna and Van Helsing are talking and Anna says "Who will kill him if not me? Who will show courage if not me?", she has her hands to her hips. When it cuts she holds her hands down.

Revealing: When Van Helsing enters the secret-society under Vatican City, in the distance you can see a giant mirror used to reflect the set to create the illusion that the room is much bigger than it really is. You can see Van Helsing and the priest's reflections at the top corner of the screen several times (Confirmed on DVD commentary).

Continuity: At the very end, when the werewolf leans over the dead girl before picking her up, her eyes are open, but when he turns around with her and faces the camera, her eyes are closed. The werewolf could not have closed her eyes with his paws and claws nor with his arms full with the girl.

Continuity: When the friar is about to stake Van Helsing at the end, it shows him taking an overhand swing with the stake up ready to plunge. Then it cuts and the friar is grasping the stake, which is down by his waist. Then it cuts to the first shot again.

Continuity: When they first meet the second wolfman in the castle, he transforms into a human and talks to his sister. When he made his transformation he wore a open yellow shirt. When he changed back into the Wolf, the shirt tore off. So if the man had been a wolf not five minutes before, wouldn't the shirt have already ripped off? Same with the legs of his pants.

Other: Van Helsing's ring fits his as a human, but in the climactic fight he turns to werewolf form and back and is still wearing it. He didn't have time to take it off and put it back on, so either one of his wolf fingers should be horribly, painfully cramped or the ring should have broken. No one insinuates that the ring has magical powers of any kind to prevent this.

Revealing: When Velkan and the werewolf has dived off the cliff, we get a shot behind Anna where she is looking down the cliff. It cuts to a front shot of her and back behind her again and you can see it's actually the same scene played over again. You can easily see it on how her hair moves in the wind.

Other: When Victor draws the sword pointing it at Dracula, after he says "Stay back," in the frontal shot of Victor holding the sword the tip of the sword is bent.

Factual error: On the map, Budapest is indicated to be just as large as Transylvania, or at least of the same size category. Apart from Budapest being only a city and Transylvania a pretty large county, Budapest (taking its 19th century size) is not more than 500 square kilometres while the Transylvanian region is circa 57000 square kilometres.

Factual error: In the scene where Anna is carried in the air with the city of Budapest appearing in the background, there are two columns in the top right corner which haven't been edited out even though they are chimneys of factories built in the 1950's.

Continuity: In the scene in the village, after the brides have attacked, Anna lands on top of Van Helsing. In one shot she is sitting with her legs under his arms, in the next shot she sits above his arms. When they roll, her legs are back under his arms.

Continuity: As revealed in the DVD commentary, the character Anna's hair changes somewhat in some scenes. Noticeable is the very slight changes that occur before she finds out her brother is a werewolf. An original mistake was already corrected, but I assure you it's there. It's just hard to see.

Revealing: In the beginning when the Frankenstein Monster throws the equipment on Dracula you can see the outline where the wire used to drag Dracula backwards is attached.

Continuity: As the cage is being dragged up along the trees, right before Velkan jumps off, you can see ropes and equipment attached to the tree on the right. It cuts to Velkan jumping off the cage and the cage continues being dragged up along the tree. When the cage stops you can see the same ropes and equipment to the right as previously seen.

Continuity: When Velkan shouts "Anna, hurry. Hurry.", while Anna is looking for Velkan's gun, you can see a man behind Anna aiming with his rifle. When it cuts suddenly two other men has appeared aiming with their rifles.

Continuity: When they enter Anna's living room Van Helsing asks "Where do I find Dracula", and you can see him taking off both his gloves. In the next shot you can see he has his left glove back on.

Revealing: When Verona grabs Van Helsing of off the chariot/coach, you can see the special effect of her claw holding Van Helsing is not quite matched up. The claw "wobbles" slightly over Van Helsing's arm. And this does NOT have to do with the fact he is struggling.

Continuity: When Anna falls on the roof she begins to slide down, leaving slide marks on the snow. When the bride come flying we can't see any trace of marks on the roof. The roof is perfectly covered with snow.

Continuity: When Anna offers Van Helsing a drink and says the bar is down the hall, she grabs a spiked club and starts walking while placing the club to her belt. When it cuts she places it again.

Continuity: When Anna is trying to free her brother from the gurney, the leather strap around his neck disappears and reappears from shot to shot.

Factual error: Part of the "Wanted" poster in France reads "2,000 francs de récompence." 1) numbers are not written with a comma in French, but with a space (i.e. 2 000); 2) "reward" in French is spelled "récompense," not "récompence."

Continuity: After Van Helsing arrives at the castle for the first time, when Anna is rearming herself, her hands shift from on her hips to at her sides between a front shot and a rear shot.

Factual error: When Van Helsing goes to Rome, the subtitle refers to the Vatican as "Vatican City". By the 1880's the Pope had lost all his temporal power, and his previous lands (The Papal States) were taken by the new Italy. The Vatican had no lands or authority over any of Italy or Rome. The Pope was a virtual prisoner inside the Vatican. Only with the Lateran treaty in 1929 (with Mussolini) did the Vatican gain independence as the "State of Vatican City".

Continuity: When Anna picks the sickle up from the ground she is standing in sunlight. When it cuts to a wide shot she is standing in the shade at least ten feet from the sunlight.

Revealing: When the windmill starts to burn, we see a closeup of the Bible, before fire flares up in front of it. But if you look close, the angle of the fire is not correct in relation to the angle of the camera. Obviously the foreground fire was imposed over the scene later on.

Continuity: In the scene at the beginning of the movie where Dracula is at Dr. Frankenstein's castle, he says "over God." He then turns around with his arms at his sides and speaks to Dr. Frankenstein, with his arms remaining at his sides. When the shot changes to show Dracula's back and Dr. Frankenstein's front, we can see Dracula's fingers near his chest as if he pressed his hands together. There couldn't have been time between shots to change them from his sides to his front.

Continuity: When Mr.Hyde strikes Van Helsing through the air, the hat falls off Mr. Hyde and you can see it fall behind him. When it cuts to Van Helsing flying through the air while shooting at Mr. Hyde, you can see the hat lies a few feet in front of Mr. Hyde.

Continuity: When Mr.Hyde is charging Van Helsing while saying "Here I come, ready or not", you see Van Helsing standing in front of him holding his blades down. When it cuts Van Helsing is suddenly holding them in front of him.

Continuity: When Dr. Frankenstein turns around and suddenly faces Dracula he is scared and bumps backwards on to a rack. At that time you see him standing a bit to the right of the rack's pole. When it cuts he is standing a bit to the left of the pole.

Visible crew/equipment: When Van Helsing and Anna swing up in the balcony with the rope and Van Helsing pushes Anna against the wall, you can see a shadow move away on Van Helsing's left side. They are supposed to be alone on the balcony and the shadow doesn't match their movements.

Continuity: As the cage with the werewolf in it is being dragged up you see Velkan landing on it on his side. However when it cuts to his loosing his gun he lands on his stomach.

Continuity: When we get to Anna, right before she stabs Aleera, we can see traces of the concrete under the snow above her. Two shots later the snow is totally covering the concrete.

Revealing: When Dr. Frankenstein is holding the sword against Dracula, you can see its shadow on the wall to his left. However, when Dracula impales himself with the sword you can see the sword's shadow going through Dracula's shadow at the same time. Whatever the film makers have done, they have forgotten to remove the sword's shadow.

Continuity: When Anna and Van Helsing is looking down the well for the bride who is hiding there, notice the width of the well. When we are looking up at Anna and Van Helsing from within the well we can see that the width of the well has increased a few feet. Also Anna's position when looking down the well changes during the shots.

Continuity: When Van Helsing is talking with the undertaker and the undertaker says "Never to late digging graves", he lifts his shovel. When it cuts from behind him the shovel is lowered.

Factual error: The Hungarian Parliament appears both in the film's Budapest and on the official posters. The film is set in the 1880's. The Parliament was built in the 1900's.

Revealing: When it shows one of Dracula's brides drinking a glass of blood, close-up shots reveal it's actually tomato juice, shown by traces on the glass itself.

Audio problem: In the scene where the monster saves Anna by knocking down the last Bride, there is one shot where he turns to look at Anna framed in the window. His right leg support makes the hissing sound without any steam coming out of it.

Continuity: When Anna and Van Helsing are talking in the castle after the first vampire attack, the weapon Van Helsing is holding shifts from pointing over her shoulder to pointing across his face.

Continuity: When the Frankenstein Monster manages to get himself loose from the table you can see him ripping off the strap by its attachment on the table. Later when Dracula gets to the table you can see the strap leather has been ripped in two on the middle instead.

Revealing: When Carl throws the new canister of arrows to Van Helsing during the vampire attack on the town, you can tell that when the camera cuts, Hugh Jackman just tossed the canister up in the air and grabbed it as it fell. The motion and angle at which is falls doesn't match up to the shot where Carl throws it.

Other: When Igor tortures the Werewolf behind the canvas, both of them can be seen as shadows, meaning a source of light is creating these images. When Igor hits the Werewolf with his staff, sparks can be seen through the canvas. First, as the image is a projection, the sparks would appear somewhere else on the canvas, and not exactly on the position of the staff's projected image. Even if the images are just silhouettes, the angle of the shot and the visible pillars indicate a much larger size then Igor really is. Second, such an intense source of light would alter the projection of the shadows a lot, not just a little bit in front of the Werewolf. In the case of silhouettes, they would completely disappear, as the source of light is between the 2 actors, and not at the side of them.

Continuity: In the beginning after Dr.Frankenstein has awakened his monster he turns around and runs against the window. As he runs you can see a rack of a kind standing in front of the window. When it cuts the rack is gone.

Continuity: After Aleera has grabbed Sara and Van Helsing runs after to the edge of the cliff looking for them, we see him holding his hand to his wound. When it cuts to Carl and the Frankenstein Monster getting to him we see him placing his hand on the wound again.

Continuity: Anna wears high-heeled boots during the movie, but during some action scenes, they are flat-bottomed boots

Continuity: When the Bride is down the well in the village, the sun is out. When it goes back behind a cloud, the shadow can be seen crossing the ground. When Carl points this out, the shadow is back where it was a few moments before.

Continuity: When The Velkan saves Anna from the wolf and is subsequently thrown off the cliff by the beast the splash sound as they hit water is heard a split second later. However as the camera pans back we see the cliff is meant to be several hundred feet high. It would be impossible for them to reach the water in that time and the splash sound at that distance would be imperceptible.

Continuity: As Anna investigates the noise at night, her grip on the lantern keeps moving from horizontal in the front shots to vertical in the chase shots.

Continuity: After Velkan and the Werewolf fall off the cliff, the shot changes to where we can see the area where they hit the water. The ripples are obviously farther to the left from where they should be.

Revealing: When the baby vampire lands on the bride's hand and then flies off her arm movements seem funny as if there was actually nothing there and she had to pretend something landed and then flew off.