Kate Beckinsale

• The original Underworld movie opened in theatres about 20 years ago.
• Despite a slew of critical criticism, it made just shy of $100 million.
• The first Underworld film, starring Kate Beckinsale as the vampire Selene, generated three additional sequels.

The original Underworld movie opened in theatres about 20 years ago, and despite a slew of critical criticism, it made just shy of $100 million (on a budget of only $22 million), inspiring a new genre of action-based fantasy horrors. The first Underworld film, starring Kate Beckinsale as the vampire Selene, generated three additional sequels, a prequel, an animated short film, comic books, and more. Even a television spin-off and other crossover movies between Underworld and other endeavors like Marvel’s Blade, the Resident Evil series, and the frequently forgotten I, Frankenstein were briefly discussed.

Undoubtedly, there is a lot more to the Underworld universe than first appears, and the franchise has endured for more than 20 years thanks to its fervent cult fanbase.

But despite the fact that Underworld has only ever represented a little portion of our cultural landscape, it is a remarkable franchise that has consistently innovated the monster genre. The Underworld movie franchise takes the time to ground itself in a not too foreign reality, one that ties myth and legend into both science and the events of history, which is part of what makes the movies both interesting and compelling, especially in an age where all kinds of dark fantasy stories are told.

The original Underworld, a co-production between film studios in Europe and the United States, did the inconceivable by fusing the intense action scenes of movies like The Matrix with a Shakespearian universe full of vampires and werewolves (referred to as lycans in this reality) (which is a much better name anyway).

The Underworld series, which was developed by director/producer Len Wiseman, writer Danny McBride, and Kevin Grevioux, who also portrayed the lycan Raze in the first movie and its prequel, only grew more intense with each new entry, drawing from the extensive and rich history of this world overrun with monsters to tell a fresh and different story on each occasion. The more sequels these movies produced, the more they veered into near-superhero territory, including Romeo and Juliet-style love stories, revenge pictures, historical epics, mystical fantasies, gangster dramas, and more. After all these years, if the Underworld series has shown anything, it’s that you can still be surprised, and it does it while delivering one of the most original monster stories around.

The Underworld plot revolves around the perpetual warfare between the rival vampire and lycan clans. The first movie centres on Selene’s conflict between her love for Michael Corvin, a descendant of the original Alexander Corvinus (Derek Jacobi), the first of the Immortals and the ancestor of the vampire and lycan clans, and her duty as a “Death Dealer,” a vampire assassin sent to kill lycan warriors. Selene is forced to make a difficult decision as Michael begins his lycan metamorphosis, and as she does so, she learns the sinister mysteries that lie behind her ancestry and their reign of terror.

As the monster-on-monster violence escalates into greater confrontations with more stakes, the first two movies, Underworld and its sequel Underworld Evolution, merely scratch the surface of what these well-organized criminal syndicates are capable of.

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans is likely the greatest of the lot since it goes above and above to clarify the events of the first movie, whereas prequels generally have the potential to be unimpressive or even contradict the events of the originals.

As the monster-on-monster violence escalates into greater confrontations with more stakes, the first two movies, Underworld and its sequel Underworld Evolution, merely scratch the surface of what these well-organized criminal syndicates are capable of.

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans is likely the greatest of the lot since it goes above and above to clarify the events of the first movie, whereas prequels generally have the potential to be unimpressive or even contradict the events of the originals.

As the monster-on-monster violence escalates into greater confrontations with more stakes, the first two movies, Underworld and its sequel Underworld Evolution, merely scratch the surface of what these well-organized criminal syndicates are capable of.

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans is likely the greatest of the lot since it goes above and above to clarify the events of the first movie, whereas prequels generally have the potential to be unimpressive or even contradict the events of the originals.

Underworld and its follow-up, Underworld Evolution, are merely the beginning of what these well-organized criminal organisations are capable of, as the monster-on-monster bloodshed escalates into greater confrontations with higher stakes.

Prequels generally have the potential to be disappointing or even contradict the storylines of the original movies, but Underworld: Rise of the Lycans is possibly the best of the group since it goes above and above to explain what happened in the first movie.

A truly original tale, it explores the class conflict between the ruthless Viktor (Bill Nighy)-led imperialistic vampires and their perpetually oppressed lycan slaves, who are eventually led out of slavery Exodus-style by Lucian (Michael Sheen), who also happens to be the main antagonist of the original 2003 movie. The first four films normally show lycans as evil, but Rise of the Lycans flips the script by establishing vampire domination and exposing their violent activities in the 15th century.

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