Underworld (2003 movie)
|
|
- There were also films called Underworld in 1927, 1936, 1985, 1986 and 1996. For other meanings see Underworld (disambiguation)
UW_beckinsale01.jpg
Underworld is a 2003 horror/action movie about vampires and werewolves, where the latter are referred to as "Lycans" as an abbreviated form of lycanthrope.
| Contents |
Plot outline
The story takes place against a backdrop of a centuries-old war between vampires and werewolves (Lycans), a war not noticed by regular humans. Selene (Beckinsale) is a vampire "Death Dealer", one who hunts Lycans. She finds herself attracted to the human Michael (Speedman), after saving him from Lycans who bit him. It later turns out that Michael is wanted by the Lycans and their leader Lucian (Sheen), because Lucian believes that Michael may be the key to reuniting the vampire and werewolf races, a goal Lucian has been pursuing for several centuries. Meanwhile, Selene suspects that the current vampire leader Kraven (Brolly) has been conspiring with his enemy Lucian to usurp Viktor (Nighy), the vampire elder who holds overall power. Selene awakens the (hibernating) Viktor in order to stop Kraven, Lucian kidnaps Michael, and everything spirals towards a final showdown between vampires and werewolves. Several dark secrets about the history of vampires and werewolves, as well as Lucian and Viktor's past are revealed in the film's climax.
Cast
- Selene
- Kate Beckinsale
- Michael
- Scott Speedman
- Lucian
- Michael Sheen
- Viktor
- Bill Nighy
- Kraven
- Shane Brolly
- Additional Cast
- Erwin Leder, Sophia Myles, Robbie Gee, Wentworth Miller, Kevin Grevioux, Zita Görög, Dennis J. Kozeluh, Scott McElroy, Todd Schneider, Sándor Bolla
Crew
- Written by
- Kevin Grevioux, Len Wiseman, Danny McBride
- Directed by
- Len Wiseman
Details
- Runtime
- 121 Min (2:01)
- On May 26th, 2004 the "Unrated Extended Version" was released on DVD. It has a total run time of 144 Min (2:24)
- Genres
- Action, Fantasy, Horror, Thriller, Science fiction
- Ratings
- MPAA: R for strong violence/gore and some language.
- Australia:MA,Canada:18A, France:U, Netherlands:12, Norway:15, Philippines:R-18, Singapore:NC-16, South Korea:18, Spain:18, Sweden:15, Switzerland:16, UK:15, USA:R, Japan:PG-12, Singapore:PG (edited version), Finland:K-15, Germany:16
Trivia
- The movie was entirely filmed in Budapest, Hungary. It also seems to be set there, visible on car licence plates and signs.
- The movie was subject of a copyright infringement lawsuit filed by White Wolf, Inc. and Nancy A. Collins claiming the setting was too similar to the Vampire: The Masquerade and Werewolf: The Apocalypse games both setted in their World of Darkness setting. White Wolf, Inc. also claimed the script was very similar to a story called Love of Monsters which they published and was written by Nancy A. Collins. [1] (http://www.white-wolf.com/News/underworldrelease.html)
Sequels
An Underworld sequel is currently in production; the working title is Underworld: Evolution. According to IMDb (see below) the movie was in post-production as of May 2005. The film is scheduled to be released early 2006; a prequel film is also planned.