Van Helsing (film) Van Helsing (film) Van Helsing is a 2004 American horror film written and directed by Stephen Sommers. It stars Hugh Jackman as vigilante monster hunter Van Helsing, and Kate Beckinsale as Anna Valerious. The film is an homage and tribute to the Universal Horror Monster films from the 1930s and '40s (also produced by Universal Studios which were in turn based on novels by Bram Stoker and Mary Shelley), of which Sommers is a fan. The eponymous character was inspired by the Dutch vampire hunter Abraham Van Helsing from Irish author Bram Stoker's novel "Dracula". Distributed by Universal Pictures, the
Leslie Shepard on which he was considered an authority. In addition, Leslie Shepard was cited as an expert on the writings of Bram Stoker, Irish author of the 1897 Gothic horror novel "Dracula". In collaboration with Albert Power, Shepard publicized and organized the Bram Stoker Society collecting, cataloging, and archiving numerous writings about both Stoker and the mythical Vampire, which the novelist used as the basis for the title character and antagonist 'Count Dracula' in his novel. Leslie Shepard Leslie Shepard (21 June 1917 – 20 August 2004) was a British author, archivist, and curator who wrote books on a range of