Editorials
Looking Back on the Gothic Action-Horror of the ‘Underworld’ Franchise
Despite having similar mythological origins, Vampires and Werewolves are behind one of the most iconic rivalries in media. There are countless books, movies and games that pit these legendary creatures against each other, and everyone has their own opinion on which is the superior monster (I’ve always been firmly on team Werewolf). Today, however, I’d like to explore one of the most iconic takes on this ancient feud by looking back on the insanely popular Underworld franchise and how it reshaped these myths for an ever-evolving audience.
The 2000s were a good time to be a fan of action-horror blockbusters, seeing the rise of R-rated franchises like Resident Evil and the Blade sequels. Knowing that audiences were hungry for more bloody thrills, it’s no surprise that Lakeshore Entertainment would end up investing in a gothic passion project by the unlikely trio of Len Wisemen, Kevin Grevioux and Danny McBride. Proposing a complex mythology detailing an ongoing war between Vampires and “Lycans”, the trio wowed producers with their original pitch, and with a final draft completed by McBride, Underworld finally leapt off the page in 2003.
An international co-production, Underworld was a strange beast, combining the gothic thrills of classic vampire flicks with modern-day action and a gritty sci-fi twist. While the slick photography and exaggerated costumes made it clear that this was a case of style over substance, the surprisingly in-depth lore behind the screenplay wouldn’t have been out of place in a Role-Playing Game. This makes sense, as the producers were eventually sued by White Wolf Inc. due to the film’s similarities to their World of Darkness setting, though the case was ultimately settled out of court.
Regardless, even during that peculiar wave of leather-clad post-Matrix action flicks, Underworld managed to stand out by providing audiences with a fresh take on monster movies and a badass female protagonist. Kate Beckinsale was perfectly cast as the Lycan-hunting vampire Selene, torn between her loyalty to her masters and a newfound love interest in Michael Corvin, played by Scott Speedman. As viewers accompany Selene down the rabbit hole, the film jumps from one bloodthirsty action sequence to the next, always boasting remarkable practical effects and wirework.
The Wolfman on steroids.
Produced on a 22 million dollar budget, Underworld became an unexpected hit, ultimately raking in over 95 million at the box office. While critics weren’t crazy about it, audiences absolutely adored the classy aesthetics and kickass soundtrack (which features an incredible remix of David Bowie’s Bring Me the Disco King by Danny Lohner), not to mention Beckinsale’s memorable performance as a veteran Death-Dealer. Naturally, she would end up becoming one of the most badass leading ladies of the 2000s, rivaled only by RE‘s Milla Jovovich.
The rest of the cast is also impressive, with Bill Nighy gleefully chewing through scenery as the Elder Vampire Viktor and Michael Sheen leading the Lycan rebellion as Lucian (years before becoming a vampire in the Twilight franchise). Kevin Grevioux himself also makes an appearance as Raze, one of the film’s most memorable Lycans. Luckily for fans, despite a few gruesome character deaths, this wouldn’t be the last time that we’d see this curious ensemble on the big screen.
Having successfully jumpstarted a franchise, Wiseman and company soon returned to this world of ultraviolet bullets and rebelling Lycans with 2006’s Underworld: Evolution, a sequel that takes place almost immediately after the first film. While it’s an equally stylish endeavor, with Selene and Michael on the run from Elder Vampires as they uncover the secret origin of both Vampires and Lycans, the movie suffers from trying too hard to be bigger and more action-packed than its predecessor.
Even so, the convoluted script and bloated budget couldn’t keep Evolution from becoming yet another box office success. Critics still refused to warm up to the series, but general audiences appreciated the return to neo-gothic melodrama and balls-to-the-wall Vampire vs Werewolf action. While the film serves as a somewhat definitive conclusion to Michael and Selene’s story, its success meant that we would soon see another entry in the franchise with the 2009 prequel, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans.
Same monsters, new setting.
Patrick Tatopoulos‘ prequel suffers from having its main plot points spoiled by flashbacks in the previous films, but it’s still my favorite entry in the franchise, focusing on the origin of the conflict between enslaved Lycans and tyrannical Vampires in medieval Europe. While Beckinsale is appropriately absent from the prequel (except for a final zinger), both Michael Sheen and Bill Nighy reprise their roles from previous films and are clearly having a great time doing so. The timeline might not completely add up and the pacing is a little choppy, but the exaggerated action and fresh setting make this one of the most thoroughly entertaining films in the series.
The same can’t be said for 2012’s Underworld: Awakening, a movie that was meant to be Beckinsale’s long-awaited return to the franchise. It’s undoubtedly great to see Selene once again mowing down ferocious Lycans with specialized weaponry in a dystopic future (this time unaccompanied by Scott Speedman), but the film really drops the ball with some excessive CGI and low-effort backstory. There are still some legitimately thrilling set pieces as Selene attempts to protect her hybrid daughter from the clutches of an evil organization, but the sanitized atmosphere and decreased focus on practical monsters make this entry less interesting than the films that came before.
Despite even more negative reactions from critics, Awakening was successful enough to warrant another sequel in 2016 with Underworld: Blood Wars, the final film in the franchise. Unfortunately, this one is only marginally better than its predecessor, doubling down on questionable CGI and insanely convoluted mythology in order to tell a generic story. In this one, Selene is being hunted by surviving Vampire and Lycan clans who each need her for their own nefarious reasons. Like Awakening, Blood Wars features almost none of the original Underworld team behind the scenes, resulting in a loosely-fitting cap to a once-memorable franchise.
Like all the Underworld films before it, Blood Wars was financially successful, but it also proved that the series had run its course. Without the original creative team backing these productions, there was little reason to continue making them. It’s now been five years since Blood Wars, and despite rumors of the contrary, it seems unlikely that the Underworld franchise will be undergoing a resurrection anytime soon.
I can’t be the only one that misses these monster battles.
Looking back on these movies, it’s clear that they weren’t all masterpieces, but I’ll be the first to defend their commitment to style and gruesome action. Even when the scripts didn’t make much sense, a lot of effort was put into the look and feel of these films, as well as the choreography behind the memorable monster battles. The Underworld Lycans are some of the best practical Werewolves in media, and it’s a shame that later entries traded in the costumes and puppets for cheap CGI.
Beckinsale’s Selene was also a truly iconic character in her own right. While some fans viewed her as nothing more than a leather-clad sex symbol, her arc was a lot more complex than most folks seem to remember. Her feminine traits were never ignored in favor of traditional action hero tropes, but she also routinely showed up to save her confused love interest, a rare twist on the usual damsel in distress formula.
The Underworld franchise may have been a roller-coaster ride when it comes to quality, but I’ll always have fond memories of those fleeting glimpses into a world dominated by Vampiric intrigue and monstrous mutations. Revisiting these movies, I realized that it’s been a long time since audiences have been graced with stylized gothic action on the big screen, and with Resident Evil getting a fresh start in Johannes Roberts’ new film, I’d also love to see a return to the grimy streets of Underworld. After all, the Vampire vs Lycan war is far from over, and there will always be more dark stories to tell.
Editorials
Before ‘The Blair Witch Project’, ‘Alien Autopsy’ Showed How Real Found Footage Could Feel
The line separating artist from con man is a lot thinner than you might initially believe. While I think we can all agree that lying for the sake of profit is actively malicious behavior, isn’t it also true that the faux documentary aspect of The Blair Witch Project is half the reason why that film became such a cultural phenomenon? After all, if there’s one thing filmmakers have in common with stage magicians, it’s that misleading and misdirecting audiences is simply part of the job.
That’s why I’ve developed a habit of mostly ignoring the moral quandaries behind many of film and television’s biggest “hoaxes” in favor of appreciating the narrative elements that drive productions like Mermaids: The Body Found and even Animal Planet’s highly underrated The Cannibal in the Jungle. However, if there’s a definitive case of a highly publicized broadcast fooling the world into taking it seriously, it has to be Fox’s infamous 1995 TV special Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction.
It’s been over three decades since that eerie footage first haunted television screens right at the peak of the ’90s ufology craze, and in that time, the video has taken on a life of its own. From countless parodies and references in everything from The X-Files to Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater (as well as John Dower’s recently released tell-all documentary The Alien Autopsy Scandal, which I’d highly recommend to genre fans everywhere), there’s no denying the legacy of the Alien Autopsy video. However, I rarely see the tape discussed as what it truly is: a highly convincing found footage film directed by a passionate stage magician and brought to life by masterful practical effects work.
That’s why I’d like to invite readers to join me on a deep dive into one of the most infamous broadcasts of all time in an attempt to reevaluate the footage as a fascinating narrative experience rather than a complete hoax.
The TV Special That Convinced Millions It Was Real
Ray Santilli next to Extraterrestrial replica in ‘The Alien Autopsy Scandal’
For starters, regardless of whether or not you believe that there was in fact an extraterrestrial crash in Roswell during the summer of 1947 and that some form of autopsy was performed on the victims, the producers behind the black & white recordings, Ray Santilli and Gary Shoefield, insist that their video was a “restoration.” Though I’d argue that the proper word is “remake”of genuine footage that was too damaged to air on television. That’s why the duo went on to recruit filmmaker and eccentric magician Spyros Melaris and sculptor/monster designer John Humphreys to bring their version of the autopsy to life and sell it to the highest bidder.
This is where the story of the Alien Autopsy as a narrative experience really begins. Melaris claims that his approach to the faux recording consisted of striving for extreme period accuracy in both shooting equipment and setting while also planting subtle details that would initially seem like mistakes but could later be revealed to actually fit the time period. That being said, the filmmaker was under the impression that the short would be released for free as a PR stunt, with the team later producing and selling an informative documentary chronicling exactly how the footage was faked and commenting on how easy it is to manipulate public perception with a good old-fashioned magic trick.
This obviously isn’t how things went down, and that’s likely the reason why Melaris has since distanced himself from everyone else involved with the project. Yet, no amount of behind-the-scenes drama can undermine the genuine effort that went into making the short as impressive as it is. From the sourcing of real animal organs from a local butcher to make the organic part of the creature more lifelike to the highly detailed sculpt that made use of a hollowed-out underlayer that could be filled with fake blood and assorted viscera, there’s a reason why so many Hollywood specialists are still impressed with the artistry on display here.
Of course, the believability is only half the story, as I think that the best part of the autopsy is how Melaris builds on the existing tension by obscuring certain details and often embracing the chaos of what a real examination of extraterrestrial life could feel like. The camera often goes out of focus at just the right time to make certain effects hit even harder, and we can only speculate as to what the hazmat-suited doctors are gesticulating about during the operation. There’s a real air of mystery to the whole thing that almost makes it feel like a cosmically terrifying, cursed film containing forbidden knowledge that civilians were never meant to see.
So when Fox’s Fact or Fiction brings in the specialists to comment on the film and its otherworldly subject, it’s no surprise that we end up with one of the most memorable mockumentaries of all time – albeit one where the participants are unaware that the footage they’re commenting on is basically a large-scale practical joke. A joke that the network was obviously in on, as many participants claim that the TV special cut out significant portions where guests point out that they believe the footage to be an elaborate hoax.
The Lasting Impact of the Hoax Turned Cultural Event
Regardless, I remember going to bed terrified after watching reruns of the special and thinking about the respected pathologist who claimed that the body was almost certainly inhuman, with even effects maestro Stan Winston commenting on how difficult it would be to recreate some of these visuals through practical puppetry. That’s not even mentioning Jonathan Frakes’ dramatic hyping up of the disturbing imagery as if he was talking about the tape from The Ring, with his spooky demeanor here likely being responsible for his later role as the host of Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction a few years later.
Personally, I’d argue that the Alien Autopsy phenomenon had just as much of an impact on me as a horror fan as The Blair Witch Project, a film that was almost certainly influenced by the success of this immensely popular hoax (to the point where they even produced their own TV special commenting on Heather’s found footage). Even if Fox didn’t intend to produce a narrative feature about the aftermath of the Roswell crash, the end product still holds up remarkably well as a highly entertaining mockumentary exploring the idea that we may not be alone in the universe.
While neither Santilli nor the rest of the production team has ever commented on this, I also think it’s very likely that the idea of a faux Alien Autopsy could have been influenced by Dean Alioto’s The McPherson Tape/UFO Abduction. I’ve already written about how this granddaddy of found footage was co-opted by rogue ufologists who began selling bootlegs of the tape at conventions as if it were real evidence of a close encounter, so it’s not that much of a stretch to imagine that Santilli and company could have heard about this phenomenon and been inspired to come up with their own highly profitable hoax.
At the end of the day, it’s unlikely that the Alien Autopsy film is recreating any real footage from Roswell, but I can still appreciate the short and the accompanying television event as a standalone horror story that still influences the way we see found footage to this very day.
After all, the possibility that something could be real is often much scarier than finding out for sure – and that’s why I think Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction is still worth revisiting three decades down the line.
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