Tag line : The Birth of a Hero, The Rise of a Legend, The Beginning of a War!

This third and presumably final film in the Underworld series is actually a prequel, taking place during medieval times, way before the events of the first two films, showing how the Vampire/Lycan war got started..

This time round, the plot essentially revolves around the character of the werewolves leader Lucian (Michael Sheen, reprising his role from part 1) and his rise to power up through the ranks of the other Lycan slaves and how he triggered off a revolt against their vampire masters.

Many other original characters from the previous films return for this third outing, including Kevin Grevioux as Raze, Steve Mackintosh as Tannis and of course Bill Nighy, who reprises his role as the vampire leader Viktor.

Notably absent though is Kate Beckinsale, what with this being set before her character was introduced to the series. However, Rhona Mitra, who plays Victors daughter and Lucians love interest Sonja, makes an excellent lead heroine for this third outing, who defies her Father and attempts to help Lucian and the others gain their freedom.

If you've seen the other films, you'll know what to expect. Fans of the series should enjoy this, the film is very dark, very gothic and action packed, featuring plenty of fight scenes and lots of cool medieval weaponry. If you like gothic horrors or classic monster movies, then I’d heartily recommend this to you.

Overall Marks : 6/10.

Other Information.

• The film makers were originally planning to shoot this in Romania, but as the schedule required them to film between Jan-Mar, this proved impractical as the temperature at that time was minus 20 degrees, so production was moved to New Zealand.

• The films budget was $35,000,000.

• Bill Nighy had to return to England part way through production in order to complete his scenes in the film "The Boat that Rocked", which he was also working on at the time. He then had to fly back to New Zealand to finish his scenes in this.

• Though strictly not appearing in the film (except for a brief flashback at the end), Kate Beckinsale did return to provide the voice over for the films intro narration.

• The death scene of Sonja is considerably different to the flashback scene shown in the original Underworld. The actress in the first film had blonde hair, plus the execution took place in a courtyard with onlookers. In this film, it takes place in a dungeon without any onlookers and Sonja's hair is brown.

• The castle set was built close to a railway station and every time a train rolled by they had to stop filming because of the noise and vibrations.

• In the original Underworld film it was stated that only the older Lycans could change at will. Yet during the assault on Viktor's castle, Raze and many of the other former slaves, who had only been bitten days previously, are seen changing at will.

• The prosthetic vampire and werewolf teeth worn by the cast had a habit of coming loose and falling out whilst filming, which resulted in them having to do multiple takes in order to get all the scenes finished.

• Director Patrick Tatopoulous had worked on the previous Underworld films as a special effects artist. This film marked his directorial debut.

• There are 2 types of werewolf in the film, the original ones infected by William, which are unable to take human form again, and those infected by Lucian, who can change back into Human form. The old ones are made to look more wolf-like, with long snouts and excessive hair, whereas the newer ones have shorter snouts and shorter hair.

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