A few years ago we saw how the war ends. The Lycans (or werewolves) are hunted to the brink of extinction by the vampires until the Lycans find a human descendent of the originating family. A human who is capable of being bitten by both werewolf and vampire and yet survive. A man who could end the war.

Eventually the hybrid and a sympathetic vampire (Kate Beckinsale - Van Helsing) win against both vampires and Lycans, only to be hunted by another hybrid... a vampiric elder that was accidentally resurrected from his slumber with the blood of a Lycan.

Half crazed and wanting to free his fully Lycan brother he hunts Beckinsale and the hybrid to find out where he is being held. His brother doesn't have the ability to take human form and is fully wolf and when released would be unstoppable.

But they stop him and all is well. What's more our heroine becomes unsusceptible to the light. The nice thing about these first two films is that despite all the characters being monsters, their driving force is not to simply kill and infect humans. In fact, they feel it is beneath them.

This film is a prequel, as suggested by the title. Originally the Lycans were unable to transform and were used to guard the vampires in the day. That is until, Lucius is born. The vampires use him to breed a new generation of lycan whom they use as slaves.

Lucius has a position of authority but is still a slave. His relationship with the elder's daughter is slightly closer than it should be and she realises she is pregnant. A mixing of the races is forbidden and as a punishment she is to be killed. Lucius decides that he has to escape and convinces both the unevolved form and his brethren to fight against the vampires.

This was a good film and a welcome addition to the Underworld trilogy. The nice thing about these films is despite the horror genre and the topic these are clever, well written and clever.

These aren't particularly scary when compared to other similar films. Those who don't like gore will hate these films and the second film is quite graphic sexually. Other than that I'd recommend this to anyone over 18.

see also:
Rambo, Lucky Number Slevin, Wanted, The Departed

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