#and also vh just kinda swoops in and is like 'Listen to me. I Know What I Am Talking About Definitely. Do as i say mwah :^) or else bitches

[therevengeoffrankenstein]

another thing we don't talk about enough: just how fucking weird van helsing number one (1)/lawrence/abraham/j van helsing/the one from horror and brides is. he's meant to be the Straight-Laced, Level-Headed Voice of Reason but he's also kind of a weirdo???

i've always been struck by the scene in Horror of Dracula (1958) when a servant or whatever comes into van helsing's office after vh is studying audio recordings of himself while reading jonathan's diary. vh is all 'send this letter out tomorrow :^)' and the guy is like 'Ok. Bro. But were you just talking to someone?? i could've sworn i heard you talking to someone 👀' and then. Instead of giving him the simple answer that he was listening to a recording of himself. no biggie that's not that weird lol. van helsing instead says 'Of Course I Was :^) I was talking to Myself :^)' totally straight faced like that's a normal thing to say. and the guy is like 'O_O ok. kinda weird but ok.' bc that isn't a normal thing that people do I Guess. and they never touch on it again. i assume it's in reference to seward's voice recordings in the book? but it's a weird thing none the less.

much less weird but still notable as Something We Don't Talk About Enough: later when arthur asks 'oh but what happened to jonathan's body???' vh is all 'it's ok he was cremated :^) he told me like a week ago that that's what he would've wanted 🙏 rip lol' which makes sense enough bc he doesn't want arthur and mina to find out yet about the whole Jonathan Became A Vampire So I Had To Stake Him To Death thing. but idk i think it's funny to imagine van helsing running a bunch of scenarios through his head trying to figure out how to make jonathan's sudden death without a corpse sound plausible.

Van Helsing is meant to seem like the Normal Guy™ but he's also fucked up basically and like *twirls my hair* he could be read as a subversive masculine hero type, couldn't he? whether accidentally or not, he kinda fits the bill, doesn't he??

#he also stole that guy's jacket right. he stole a dude's jacket in brides didn't he. #like he is literally wearing arthur's jacket in brides right? p sure it was arthur's which means a) he stole it b) was given it or c) they #just reused it from the first movie without noticing and/or thinking about the implications. #hammer #dracula #myevilposts #Also!! this post is just scraping the surface really bc i didn't touch at all on his relationships to marianne or drac bc he's weird with #them as well ofc. #and also vh just kinda swoops in and is like 'Listen to me. I Know What I Am Talking About Definitely. Do as i say mwah :^) or else bitches #might die Ok :^) even if my methods seem. Unorthodox you just gotta hear me out Ok :^)' #and like i know it's bc they can't find out until later that Vampires are afoot and vh is Going To tell them all eventually #but it's funny that he's just like 'Trust Me' bc he thinks their dispositions are too fragile or whatever and that they won't believe him. #he's a kooky sad old man in the book but in at least the first two hammer movies he's a vaguely fucked up middle-aged guy. #based on peter's actual personality apparently. that says sooo much about them both damn babygirl i wanna study him like a frog.