Underworld is a 2003 action-horror film about the secret history of Vampires and a type of werewolf known as Lycans (an abbreviated form of lycanthrope). It is the first film in the Underworld series. The main plot revolves around Selene (Kate Beckinsale), a vampire who is a “Death Dealer“, or Lycan hunter, due to her hatred for the whole species. She finds herself attracted to a human, Michael Corvin (Scott Speedman) who is being targeted by the Lycans. After Michael is bitten by a Lycan, Selene must decide whether to do her “duty” and kill him or go against her clan and save him.
While reviewers generally gave the film a negative reception, criticizing the lack of character development and overacting, a smaller number of reviewers praised elements such as the film’s stylish Gothic visuals, the “icy English composure” in Kate Beckinsale’s performance, and the extensively worked-out vampire-werewolf mythology that serves as the film’s backstory.
Perched on the ledge of a building in a rainy night, two black-garbed vampires known as “Death Dealers” track a pair of werewolves who are walking on the street below in their human form. The vampires, Selene and Rigel, specialize in assassinating an ancient species of werewolves known as Lycans. Selene’s motivation goes beyond duty; she also wants revenge, for she believes that Lycans slaughtered her family when she was a child. The vampires believe that they defeated the werewolves many centuries ago and killed their leader, Lucian, and that they must now kill off the survivors. As the vampires follow the Lycans into a subway station, the werewolves open fire with submachine guns. In the chaotic shootout, Selene realizes that the Lycans may have been following a human, Michael Corvin, which would be very unusual. After the Lycans retreat from Selene’s barrage of machine pistol fire, she tracks them to their lair, where she hears loud howling and finds out that the Lycans have developed a new high-tech bullet to kill the vampires.
When Selene arrives at the vampire coven’s ornate, gated mansion, she recounts the evening’s events, and urges an attack on the Lycans, but the vampire regent Kraven tells her to drop the matter. Selene secretly continues her investigation, to find out why the Lycans were chasing a human. Meanwhile, in an underground Lycan lair, a scientist named Singe is testing blood from kidnapped descendants of the Corvinus family, to try to find a pure source of the ancient and powerful Corvinus blood type. Soon after Selene finds Michael, the pair are attacked by werewolves, including Lucian, the original Lycan leader, who still lives. After Lucian bites Michael on the shoulder, Selene helps Michael to escape, and the two become romantically attracted to each other.
Meanwhile, Selene finds out that when Lucian was killed, Kraven was the only witness. Fearful that Kraven and Lucian are in a conspiracy, she wakes a powerful elder vampire Viktor, who has been in hibernation. Selene tells Michael about the feud and her past. After Lycans attack Selene captures Singe, the scientist; unbeknownst to her, Michael is captured by Lycans. Selene brings back the wounded Singe, who admits to Viktor that the Lycans have been trying combine the bloodlines of the two species with the Corvinus Strain to create a powerful Vampire-Lycan hybrid. After Kraven flees the mansion (because Singe reveals that Kraven and Lucian are working together), news arrives that the female elder coming to wake Marcus has been killed by Lycans. Viktor kills Singe and instructs Selene to kill Michael.
Meanwhile, in the Lycan lair where Michael is being held captive, he learns that long ago, Lucian took Viktor’s daughter as his bride. When Viktor learned of her pregnancy, he killed her to prevent any crossing of the two species, which led to the war. After Viktor admits to slaughtering Selene’s family, and battles with Michael, who has transformed to a Lycan-Vampire hybrid Selene slices Viktor’s head in two. Selene and Michael flee the Lycan lair, now an enemy from both Lycan and Vampire covens. Back at the mansion, Singe’s blood seeps through the trapdoor of the sarcophagus of the remaining elder, Marcus, a carrier of the original Corvinus Strain…
