Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

Van Helsing: Season One Blu-ray Movie Review

A little redundant, a lot of fun.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman June 8, 2017

Van Helsing enters the super-crowded TV field and accomplishes the most cherished centrist result: it's fun. Though not groundbreaking, not particularly creative, and more often than not feeling more like a knock-off than a serious, originalist sort of program (and it's based on a graphic novel; sound familiar?), it's nevertheless done well enough in every area of concern to hold its own, keep the audience watching, and entertain through a nice blend of visceral blood-and-guts storytelling and enough deep and dependable characterization and world elements to fill out the season. It's a meat-and-potatoes show, essentially. It doesn't stand out, it doesn't make or leave much of a mark, but darn it if it's not enjoyable both dramatically and in terms of its slate of human versus vampire post-apocalyptic action.

"It's true. All of it."

In the year 2016, A volcano at Wyoming's Yellowstone Park erupted. It was big news. Ash reached as far as Seattle. A little bit of panic, a whole lot of hype, but it seemed to just be another extraordinary event to fill the news cycle. But things changed. People began to behave differently. A mother, Vanessa Van Helsing (Kelly Overton), is attacked and bitten by...something. Her daughter goes missing. She falls into a coma. She's taken to the hospital that turns out to be end-of-days central. A doctor (Rukiya Bernard) discovers something odd about Vanessa's blood. Soon, the military arrives. People are shot, some are bitten. Chaos ensues. Several years later, in 2019, Vanessa has finally awoken in that some hospital room, surrounded by a small band of survivors who have holed up around her, an obviously very important patient. She finds herself desperately in search of her daughter in a decaying world filled with blood-sucking vampires and only a few riflemen, civilians, and her own special abilities standing between her, her daughter, and the final push to end times.

As mentioned earlier, Van Helsing is based on a graphic novel, and, whatayaknow, so is The Walking Dead. Van Helsing is a Walking Dead knock-off if anything ever was a Walking Dead knockoff. There's a band of survivors in a post-apocalyptic world holding out in some supposed stronghold with a dangerous enemy waiting at the gates. It's condensed Walking Dead to be sure, but the similarities are impossible to miss right off the bat and throughout the season as well. The differences are few, but key: there's a supernatural flavor to this show where TWD is more about grit and realism, or as much grit and realism as zombies allow. Vampires replace zombies here, too, but even as the foe is a little more organized and capable of more than a grunt and a bite, the principle largely remains the same. Characters come and go in some unexpected ways, large battles and small character moments define the series, and blood and guts are more certainly and frequently spilled (though Van Helsing lacks the visceral, more practical-feeling VFX in favor of a blend of practical and effective, but very clearly fake, CGI). Episode two, arguably the finest the season has to offer, is essentially Van Helsing's condensed take on Fear the Walking Dead, showing the where's and the how's and touching on some of the why's as they pertain to how the end of the world kicked into high gear. This episode does that better than the entire first season of Fear, and it's a shame that the creative team couldn't expand on it a bit more.

Nevertheless, despite its repetitive feel and failure to capitalize on its best part, the show just works, and for the most part works very well. What it lacks in creativity and where it's assembled from spare parts seems to matter little in the grand scheme of things. As quickly as comparisons arise, Van Helsing succeeds at quickly erasing preconveiced notions (even as it stays on a fairly linear track) and plays well enough to get the audience invested in its world, not taking mental notes while comparing it to others. Interwoven throughout the been there, done that qualities is a satisfying level of backstory and characterization to keep the drama moving and enough action to maintain a quickened pulse for the duration. The show is technically sound, offering high-yield production values (beyond some phony gore visuals) and smart, well defined characters and performances. The show really only lacks sheer creativity, forgiven, and largely forgotten, by its ability not so much to create its own identity, but rather to play with established ideas with just enough of a twist, and satisfying surrounding attributes, to keep the audience entertained. And for the vast majority of TV shows out there, that's the ceiling: entertain the audience. Van Helsing reaches it.

The following episode summaries are courtesy of the Blu-ray packaging. Some spoilers follow.

Disc One:

• Help Me: After the world is taken over by vampires, Vanessa Van Helsing discovers she's humanity's last hope.
• Seen You: The origins of the vampire uprising, and Vanessa's role as humankind's savior, are revealed.
• Stay Inside: Vanessa has three hours to stave off a vampire invasion while news of her abilities upend the vampire hierarchy.
• Coming Back: While Vanessa searches for her missing daughter, a murder mystery plays out in the humans' stronghold.
• Fear Her: Vanessa gets a blast from the past while captured in the vampire stronghold. Plus: The serial killer revealed?

Disc Two:

• Nothing Matters: Vanessa must escape a vampire horde and prevent outsiders from taking her home.
• For Me: It's all-out war as Vanessa and her allies must defend their home against a vampire army.
• Little Thing: As Vanessa and company attempt to find a new home, tensions explode and not everyone survives.
• Help Out: Secrets about Vanessa are revealed while one key moment changes everything.

Disc Three:

• Stay Away: The survivors visit a seemingly utopian enclave. Emphasis on the seemingly.
• Last Time: With the killer revealed, it's Vanessa vs. her former friend.
• He's Coming: To find her daughter, Vanessa must infiltrate a vampire compound where she gets a whopper of a surprise.
• It Begins: Get ready for some game-changing reveals as Vanessa fighters for her life amongst the vampires.

Van Helsing: Season One Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Van Helsing's Blu-ray presentation holds its own, and then some, in what is often a lower-light, end-of-the-world bleak sort of appearance. The 1080p transfer, digitally sourced, offers an ample amount of texturally robust details, evident even in lower lighting conditions. Faces are robust, featuring complex arrays of pores, wrinkles, scars, hair, and other qualities that are very well defined throughout the season. Even dark and dank environments hold steady, with only a little black crush in the most intensely dark corners holding things back. It's very film-like in texture, plays with enough depth to please, and refuses to push glossy or flat; it's a fairly high-end digital production. Colors don't struggle, they're just not prioritized. The show is often intensely dark and pushes shades of blue and gray with plenty of shadowy black thrown in for good measure. Viewers are given several reprieves, some of which come in episode two as the end-times events begin to unfold in an otherwise normal, everyday Seattle setting. Red blood, skin tones, and other more robust shades impress, while similar elements are much darker, but appropriately moody, in most other episodes. Compression and source issues are few and far between, none of them limiting or distracting. Even noise, which is of course present, rarely distracts or presents in a harmful way. Given the show's visual style, there's not much room for major complaint.

Van Helsing: Season One Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Van Helsing features a capable DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack that satisfies every checkmark. It might lack the polish of a high end feature film, but Universal's soundtrack delivers when it matters, which is often. Music finds plenty of wide, solid separation, great instrumental clarity, enough surround support, and a nicely defined and complimentary low end push. Action scenes deliver a pleasing level of intensity. Neither gunfire nor explosions -- even in cramped areas, such as during an intense battle in episode seven -- explode with the sort of dynamic, eardrum-bursting intensity many might like to hear, but there's enough punch and blast and heft to keep up sonic appearances. Most episodes spring to life with variable, but enjoyable and mood-setting, atmospherics. Surrounds are very complimentary, and there's a pure sense of width, depth, and space to the soundstage. Dialogue is clear and well defined and prioritized from its comfortable front-center location.

Van Helsing: Season One Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of Van Helsing contains no supplemental content. Sadly, no digital version is included, either.

Van Helsing: Season One Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Van Helsing is an imperfect show to be sure. It's more than a little redundant in its field, but on the flip side, and the one that matters most for a show that knows its place and isn't trying to change the world, it offers good entertainment value all-around. And that's much more than many others can say. Van Helsing makes for a quick, enjoyable binge watch that allows the brain to relax even as the show offers enough twists and turns and dramatic nuggets to keep the viewer interested beyond the action and violence. Universal's Blu-ray is sadly featureless, but video and audio are just fine. Recommended.