The man who unwrapped "The Mummy" for a whole new generation of audiences is about to unleash more monsters from the Universal Studios vault -- and the guy he's placed in charge of getting them -- Hugh Jackman -- is in store for one serious workout.

That's because like Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo) in "The Mummy" and "The Mummy Returns," writer-director Stephen Sommers' re-envisioned monsters for "Van Helsing" aren't exactly pushovers.

Sommers, who converted the Mummy from a lumbering creature with unspooling bandages into a formidable force of sand-spewing power, is taking the likes of Dracula (Richard Roxburgh), Frankenstein's monster (Shuler Hensley) and the Wolf Man (Will Kemp) to a whole new level in "Van Helsing," which opens Friday.

That's not to say Sommers is belittling the legacies of Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff or Lon Chaney Jr., who originated the roles of Dracula, Frankenstein's monster and the Wolf Man, respectively. In a nutshell, he's respecting the cinematic roots of the creatures, but raising the stakes -- for the lack of better words -- for Dracula and company.

"When I went into this movie, I kept all of the rules," Sommers told me in a recent @ The Movies interview. "I love all of mythology and rules pertaining to all of the monsters, but I like to go the extra step."

Among those steps are addressing questions that have long stared us in the face, but the answers of which we've never seen.

"Everybody knows that you can't see Dracula's reflection in a mirror, but nobody has ever asked, 'Why?' That's a good question and I answer it," Sommers explained. "I also thought, 'You know, Dracula is like the father of all vampires and you can kill vampires with a stake in the heart. But Dracula has to be more complicated than that. No one knows how to kill Dracula."

In the first part of my interview with Sommers, the filmmaker revealed that the Wolf Man emerges from within the tortured soul that carries the curse, a decidedly different departure from Chaney's transformation of old. And while the Frankenstein's monster has some identifiable features associated with the classic Universal Studios design, the creature, like the Wolf Man, has been upgraded, too.

"I wanted him to be iconographic -- I wanted with the silhouette photo (the first promotional still released of the character from the film) for everybody to look and say, 'Oh, that's Frankenstein.'" Sommers explained. "But in my movies, I don't want to make them fantasies. There are already so many other werewolves, mummies, Frankensteins and vampires out there, so we thought, let's come up with a different design. "

In the original "Frankenstein," the only glimpse we get of the monster's brain is in the jar before it's transplanted into his head. In "Van Helsing," we get to see more of the brain and then some.

"First of all, when you're building him, you know there are two places you know you have to get to quickly in case of an emergency -- his brain and his heart -- so we put glass portholes over those," Sommers said. "We hired the best guy in the business, Greg Cannom, who did amazing work on Coppola's 'Dracula.' He looks and feels like there's never been another Frankenstein's monster like him since Karloff's original -- in look, design and performance."

Of course, no monster movie would be complete without the treacherous lab assistant Igor, and Sommers found him in Kevin J. O'Connor, the backstabbing carpetbagger Beni from the first "Mummy." Of course, Beni was the butt of many of Rick O'Connell's (Brendan Fraser) jokes in "The Mummy," but he's not to be had here, said Sommers.

"He's a very, very nasty little s---," Sommers said, laughing. "He's fantastic."

That's not to say the actor doesn't have a chance to bemuse audiences again. But he doesn't go the route of "Young Frankenstein," either. That much was decided from the get-go.

VAN HELSING Interviews, Movie Clips, Contest, More Richard Roxburgh Part 1Part 2 Part 1Part 2) Monster 'Van Helsing' Quiz

"(Universal Pictures Chairman) Stacey Snider doesn't really know monsters and the only Igor she really knew was Marty Feldman," Sommers recalled, musingly. "She asked, 'He's not going to be Igor with the rolling eyes, acting goofy?' And I said, 'No, that's Mel Brooks' Igor! We're not going to do the Mel Brooks' version -- so don't worry.' Sure, Kevin has a couple of really funny moments, but the whole time he's an absolute little s---."

While "Van Helsing" has its fine share of classic characters, there are new faces added to the fold, too. Among them is Anna Valerious (Kate Beckinsale), who teams with Van Helsing in order to rid her family of a curse.

And like Rachel Weisz had the opportunity to do in "The Mummy Returns," Beckinsale gets to flex some of her might in "Van Helsing." What's always great about Sommers is that his female leads are afforded the same butt-kicking opportunities as the males in the cast.

"Anna's as tough and smart as Van Helsing is," Sommers said. "She probably gets a lot more beat up during the action than he does."

More Info:
Official 'Van Helsing' Movie Web Site