Not Bram Stoker's Dracula, but hella cool in its own right

Rating: 10/10 (25 September 2003)

I think this movie will be hated on namely because it trounces this summer's big budget action movies in every department for only a tenth of what it cost to make the major releases. I paid $19.50 for me and my girl to see this film and it was not at all disappointing.
In fact, it rocked. And hard!
If you've seen a preview, then you already know the film looks good. It is very stylish and heavy on the atmospherics. There was a surprising and action packed story with characters one grows to like. The creators do a very good job of conveying the realm these creatures dwell in and the war between the covens of vampyres and the dens of werewolves.
You'll read a lot of reviews screaming "derivative! derivative!" and then mentioning names like the Matrix and Blade. Don't believe the hype. The Matrix by no means whatsoever originated leather clad badasses. By the same token, Blade did not originate sword wielding immortals nor the nonmagical, nonmystic take on vampyres. UNDERWORLD does a great job of respecting known vampyre/wolven lore and adds to it and paving the road to an intriguing future. There's no doubt a second installment is forthcoming. There must be, as it would be too great a waste of such a terrific setup.
Bottom line is that UNDERWORLD does deliver on the action and never falls prey to cheese. It follows its own rules and doesn't fall into the horrific trap of "letting the hero/ine just because s/he is the hero/ine." Everything makes sense and comes together and you'll have great time getting there.