Customer Reviews

Van Helsing [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Hunting and slaying monsters is boisterous work, and when you're on the job, you want a suitably bombastic soundtrack to reflect your every peril-fraught move.

Alan Silvestri's Van Helsing score fits the bill. Unlike the elegant fugues for organ, screeching violins and crashing discords of some classic horror films, Silvestri acknowledges that Van Helsing is less about fear and dramatic tension, more about action and grand effects. So don't listen for musical nuances here; prepare for smashing percussion, blaring brass, chanting choirs and volume, volume, volume.

Fans of the film "Van Helsing" or those who enjoy rousing, spectacular soundtracks will no doubt enjoy this amazing score from acclaimed composer Alan Silvestri.

Even from the opening scenes of "Van Helsing," I knew I had to buy this soundtrack. The terrific vocals and powerful score bring in mind Holst's "Mars" (also a strong influence in the film GLADIATOR'S opening battle sequence), Orff's "O Fortuna" from Carmina Burana, THE LORD OF THE RINGS' battle sequences music, Mussorsky's "Night of the Bald Mountain" from FANTASIA and the OMEN'S choruses. I am a huge fan of this type of powerful operatic classical music and this soundtrack has quickly become one of my favorite soundtracks.

Oh, if only Alan Silvestri had composed the score for the movie "Troy" then it would've become an even more powerful and stirring film!

I like all of the tracks but the highlights for me would be "Transylvania 1887," "Journey to Transylvania," "The Attacking Brides," "Transylvanian Horses" and "All Hallows Eve Ball."

If you enjoyed this soundtrack then I would also recommend "Simply the Best Classical Anthems" - a masterful compilation of amazing classical works to include Orff, Mussorgsky, Verdi, Holst and others. "Van Helsing" is an amazing score that is stirring and heart-pounding. Highly recommended!

I highly recommend this cd to all fans and nonfans of the movie 'Van Helsing', starring the mutlitalented Hugh Jackman and Kate Beckinsale. I saw the movie three times and absolutely loved it (My wife actually saw it more times than I did).

One of the things that I loved about the movie was the beautiful, but haunting music by Composer Alan Silvestri. Silvestri's musical score is excellent. I had trouble finding this cd in my local stores -- it was always sold out! Finally, after numerous unsuccessful attempts, I purchased it from Amazon and it arrived quickly. I love all of the music; but, these are my favorites:

1. Transylvania 1887
4. Journey to Transylvania
5. Attacking Brides
7. Useless Crucifix
11. Final Battle
12. Reunited

This cd is enhanced and it contains a nice photo gallery from the movie as well as video game information. I'm not usually a major fan of monster movies; but, I loved this movie and it's exquisite soundtrack and I hope you do also.

This is another score that is as much fun listening to cold, without having seen the movie, as it is an accompaniment to what I thought was a decent flick. Alan Silvestri is one of those composers that, even though he evolves his themes from one film to the next, is still reliably excellent.

It may not be complex, and it may not be a groundbreaking effort at film-scoring, but the music to what is simply a monster-fest is well made and well suited to the characters and action on-screen

One peculiar thing I noticed about the score was the fact that despite the two or three distinct themes for different aspects of the film, the score on a whole is a fluid romp of action sequences and suspense. Most scores -feel- broken apart, starting and stopping in places, like a moving vehicle that brakes too much. The Van Helsing score is non-stop and a thrill to listen to.

The last time Alan Silvestri worked with director Stephen Sommers he produced one of the best adventure scores in his career with "The Mummy Returns" (which is still one of the best features of that film). They have reunited with the new epic, thriller/adventure, tribute to Universal's classic monster films, "Van Helsing." From the first cut "Transylvania 1887," it is clear that this will be a thunderous, pounding ride. Oddly enough, with the exception of Franz Waxman's score for "The Bride of Frankenstein" (a classic film score), music for the Universal monster films was not particularly memorable. Silvestri's excellent score for "Van Helsing" may change that. His dramatic orchestrations and choral arrangements (this writer's favorite bit here) seem perfect for this entry into the horror genre. If there is a down side to the soundtrack recording, however, it is somewhat brief at just under forty-five minutes. Nicely produced and packaged by Decca (with some moderate enhanced features), this is a summer soundtrack to sink your fangs into and enjoy!

I bought this because I really liked what I heard while I was watching the movie, but listening to the soundtrack by itself fell a little short of my expectations. There are some really moving pieces, like Van Helsing's theme during the opening title credits and a few others, but the cd works better as background music in the film. Alan Silvestri is a very talented composer and I also enjoyed his scores to The Mummy and The Mummy Returns, which are good background mood-setters for an Egyptian theme. I like using music while playing RPG's, so I'll get my money's worth out of the cd. Recommended to those who share similar interests.

Yesterday I went out and bought this CD. I love it! It is absolutely superb!
Almost every song is an intense action piece. It is rich, detailed, and extremely loud and intense.
The choir chanting is an awesome touch, and the orchestra/synth is awesome!

I saw Van Helsing just yesterday and immediately after it ended, I hurried across the street to purchase it's incredible soundtrack. Like the movie, the score would not let you escape from what was happening. It was truly an amazing experience. Alan Silvestri's work is completely admirable and he should feel quite proud of this beautiful piece of work. Don't get me wrong, the movie was absolutely wonderful, but I wonder what it would have been without this brilliant score? I reccommend the soundtrack to Van Helsing fans as well as someone who's never seen it and just enjoys instrumental music. Don't expect a nice yoga workout from this album, though.

When I watched the movie, I never expected to get the kind of music that Silvestri has produced for the show. He did a great job with Van Helsing, capturing every emotion in the film and adds on to the thrill for the respective scenes. Even by listening to the soundtrack itself you can still feel the adrenaline pump through you. I liked how 'Journey to Transylvania' and 'Transylvanian Horses' sounded, making it feel like a real long-distance journey with an important task at hand, and at the same time journeying along exotic and dark roads. 'Reunited' was kind of a sad track, yet one can still get the spiritual feeling of Anna going to heaven with Velkan. And I also liked the way Silvestri ended this track. It is a pity they left out the score for the ending credits though.
But great as it is, I feel Silvestri has overdone the percussion on some of the tracks. They get too loud and dominant at times, and if the volume was a little too high you very well may start getting a headache that pounds along with the percussion beats.
Having said that though, I still say this soundtrack is a really good one. If you've watched the movie, you shouldn't miss the soundtrack either.

I like Alan Silvestri. I especially like the work he did on The Mummy Returns and when I heard about Van Helsing I was reseanably sure that he would be back to score the film. I bought this cd upon its release and while the score that Silvestri wrote was different in many ways from the Mummy Returns, it was very good. It was indeed the high point of the movie. Silvestri was able to bring all the diverse and sometimes amnnoying elements of Summer's films into a cohesive whole. My complaint and the reason for 4 stars is that the cd was much too short. The Mummy Returns was over 70 minutes long Van Helsing was just over 40. To me it was a bit disappointing to not get more great music.