Genre: Dark Fantasy Action Thriller

Stars: Kate Beckinsale, Scott Speedman, Michael Sheen, Shane Brolly, Bill Nighy, Erwin Leder, Sophia Myles, Robbie Gee, Wentworth Miller, and Kevin Grevioux

Writer: Danny McBride

Based On A Story By: Kevin Grevioux, Len Wiseman, and Danny McBride

Director: Len Wiseman

Feature length: 121 minutes

Languages: English DTS Digital 5.1 Theatrical Surround Sound and Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound

Subtitles: English Captions and Closed Captions and French and Spanish Language Subtitles

Packaging: Keep Case

Chapter Stops: 28

Sound: DTS Digital 5.1 Theatrical Surround Sound and Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound

Year of Theatrical Release: 2003/DVD Release: 2004

Theatrical Distributor: Screen Gems

Home Video Distributor: Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment

MPAA Rating: R

Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera

“Underworld” is a high octane, pulse pounding action thriller set in a dark fantasy world that coexists within and around our mortal world though most may never know it. For centuries, the Vampires and the Lycans have been locked in mortal combat. It was believed that the vampires won, but the standing order for all members of the coven is to kill a lycan AKA a werewolf, on sight. Kate Beckinsale plays a sexy vampire soldier, also known as a “death dealer,” who engages two werewolves stalking what appears to be an ordinary mortal man (Scott Speedman). As she becomes obsessed with finding out why the lycans would be interested in the human, she becomes embroiled in a larger conspiracy on both sides of the battle lines where the hunter becomes the hunted and the truth is elusive.

Columbia TriStar is releasing “Underworld” in their latest wave of Superbit DVD titles, where the entire resources of the DVD are used exclusively to create the best possible picture and sound quality, which includes for the first time in a Region One DVD release of “Underworld,” an English DTS Digital 5.1 Theatrical Surround Soundtrack. “Underworld” reminded me a lot of both “Blade” features in particular because those films and this film are really more focused on the supernatural characters than they are on the mortals with the exception of whoever the star mortal character might be. The film is very entertaining and has lots of action even if at times it does not make a whole lot of sense. Overall this is a comic book picture for a graphic novel that didn’t even exist when the film was first released into theaters in 2003. “Underworld” refreshingly uses a lot of live action special effects with prosthetics and animatronics intermixed with CGI so as a result the film feels more like a movie than a video game on celluloid. The color timing for the theatrical prints did not work quite as expected and resulted in a film that looked too blue in tone. However the DVD the picture is the film was intended it to look like. So as a result the image quality is still very blue and monochromatic, but we can now see a bit more of variance between the bone white like flesh tones of the vampires and the more normal looking skin tone of the few mortal characters that appear in the film. There is also a healthy grayscale mixed in with green and red palettes where appropriate that add a lot toward creating a more realistic and yet still stylized dark fantasy world. The overall look of the film gives it a higher production value without an insanely large budget too.

“Underworld: Superbit” is presented in an anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) aspect ratio and the transfer looks terrific. The background detail resolution looks quite clear and there are no real compression anomalies to note. Both the English DTS Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack and the English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack are excellent and far more discrete than the previous widescreen special edition DVD released last year. English Captions and Closed Captions for the hearing impaired as well as French and Spanish Language Subtitles are encoded as options on to the DVD too.

It should be noted that the version of “Underworld” presented on the Superbit DVD is the theatrical release cut and not the alternate Director’s cut also available on DVD-Video from Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment. “Underworld: Superbit” is available on DVD-Video now at retailers on and offline.

Return To The Previous Page

Buy This DVD Now By Clicking On The Icon Below!