Movies

All 5 Underworld Movies, Ranked from ‘Stinks Like Lycan’ To ‘Vampire Superiority’

All 5 Underworld Movies, Ranked from ‘Stinks Like Lycan’ To ‘Vampire Superiority’
Image credit: Screen Gems

You probably didn't even know that there are as many as five Underworld movies.

Countless horrors, comedies, melodramas and action movies are dedicated to the vampires. But the Underworld franchise stands out from the rest with its gothic atmosphere, Shakespearean passions, and Kate Beckinsale in black latex.

However, not all installments in the franchise have been equally good.

5. Underworld: Blood Wars

The fifth movie is just a confirmation of the rule that the last installment of a franchise is usually the worst one. While Kate Beckinsale does her best to be the lead, she's almost too bored of being Selene this time around, and the rest of the characters are as bland as possible.

Selene is hunted by both vampires and lycans. Together with the vampire David and his father Thomas, she has to end the eternal war between the two species, even if it might cost her her life.

4. Underworld: Evolution

There was probably too much blood, even for a movie about vampires and werewolves. Moreover, the main characters didn't add much to this chapter of the saga. But the positive thing about this film is that the writers did their job and created a decent story, and the special effects were great.

Selene and Michael, a lycan-vampire hybrid, have to stop the first vampire, Marcus Corvinus. He wants to free his twin brother Wilhelm – the first and fiercest werewolf.

3. Underworld: Awakening

Fans were undoubtedly pleased to see Kate Beckinsale return to the role after her absence in the previous installment, but it wasn't enough to bring this movie anywhere near the level of the first. The plot was too rushed, and the 3D effects looked rather cheap.

The main events of Awakening take place 12 years after Underworld: Evolution. Humanity has learned of the existence of lycans and vampires and is trying to destroy them. Selene, waking up from a long coma, learns that she has an eleven-year-old daughter, Eve.

2. Underworld: Rise of the Lycans

One of the ways this prequel really works is how much Rhona Mitra and Kate Beckinsale look alike. This detail makes it plausible that Victor protected Selene because she reminded him of his daughter Sonja.

Rise of the Lycans does what it sets out to do well. It's brutal, full of fight scenes and blood. It is pure entertainment that doesn't try to be anything more.

Rise of the Lycans is a prequel to the main plot of the franchise, telling the backstory of the bloody war between vampires and lycans.

1. Underworld

It is hard to argue with the fact that the original movie wasn’t surpassed by any sequel or prequel. It did not use the clichés, but instead offered the viewer something fresh and unique. The result is the movie with a pleasantly rich and original mythology.

For centuries, vampires and lycans have been waging a merciless war, unnoticed by humanity. Selene, a vampire, goes out every night to assassinate the lycans who allegedly killed her family. She must thwart the plan of the head of the werewolves and find out what role the elder of the vampire clan, Viktor, played in the destruction of her family.