Underworld: Rise of the Lycans

Underworld: The Rise of the Lycans is the prequel story which traces the origins of the centuries-old blood feud between the aristocratic vampires known as Death Dealers and their onetime race of slave werewolves, the Lycans. In the Dark Ages, a young Lycan named Lucian (Michael Sheen) emerges as a powerful leader who rallies the werewolves to rise up against vampire king Viktor (Bill Nighy), who has enslaved them. Lucian is joined by his secret lover, Sonja (Rhona Mitra), in his battle against the Death Dealer army and his struggle for Lycan freedom.

Lycans DVD released on May 12, 2009

Critics panned it but fans of Rhona and Underworld loved it (they gave it a 79 on the tomato meter on rottentomatoes.com. The DVD for Underworld: Rise of the Lycans comes out on May 12, 2009.

Reviews for Underworld:

"Those Goth-savvy filmgoers who enjoyed the first two Underworld epics will have no complaints here. Everything they love is delivered in spades: foreboding sets, sexy costumes, mock-serious dialogue about destiny and bloodlines, frenetically edited action, and very straight performances. (The film has but one joke, and it's a beauty)." -www.theage.com.au

"... Those looking for a fast paced, beautifully shot medieval tragedy that never fails to deliver on the blood soaked action will find it all in Underworld: Rise of the Lycans. For fans of down and dirty monster bashes, this should not be missed!" - www.dreadcentral.com

If medieval heroism and vampires vs. werewolves both sound like fun to you, UNDERWORLD: RISE OF THE LYCANS is hugely entertaining."" - iFmagazine.com

"Just when I thought I couldn't like the Underworld franchise any more than I already do, writer Danny McBride and his posse make me giddy all over again." - SUUjournal.com

Rhona Mitra interviews on Underworld:

iesb.net - the movie reporter
movies.about.com
MediaBlvd Magazine
CraveOnline.com

Patrick Tatopoulos on casting Rhona as Sonja: "She was the choice of the studio in the first place. I thought she was a great choice because there's a clear sentence in the first Underworld, I think, where [Viktor says], "You remind me so much of my own daughter." Great. Rhona was a perfect actress for that. She's different than Kate [Beckinsale], more of the warrior. Kate's very sophisticated, there's some quality in Kate you don't find anywhere else. But Rhona had that warrior, primeval, rough quality that fit the movie because this is more brutal. From the beginning, she was conscious of the fact that she was going to be the next girl - worried she was the new Kate in some way. I said to her, 'It's simple. The character of Selene was created from your character, so don't try to match it. You're the origin of everything.' That made her feel good."

Read the full interview at shocktillyoudrop.com

Rhona looking hot at the Underworld Premiere

Best Underworld Poster was the French version with Rhona Mitra:

Trailer for Underworld: Rise of the Lycans is online. Visit the official site at entertheunderworld.com. Watch the trailer.

In the first film, Underworld, Selene (Kate Beckinsale) plays a vampire known as a Death Dealer, a Lycan hunter. 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 he is being held in the Lycan lair, Michael learns that Viktor killed Lucian's vampire bride, Sonja, to prevent the mingling of the two bloodlines, which led to war. He learns this by way of memories passed on to him through the bite Lucian had given him.

After Kraven flees, Viktor kills Singe and instructs Selene to kill Michael. After Lucian is severely wounded, he urges Selene to bite Michael, so that his blood will have both Lycan and vampire strains. When Selene learns that Viktor killed her entire family, and not the Lycans, she dispatches Viktor with a sword and flees with Michael.

Patrick Tatopoulous on Underworld 3:

"We are not making a big world of war. We are making Gangs of New York with Vampires and Werewolves. This is the scale.

We are not having 20 million werewolves vs 200 milion vampires. We could never do this. So we contained it a little bit more. That story of the movie is the story of the slavery which is basically the roots of Lucian. The Romeo and Juliet aspect, the love story between the two characters felt very strong to me.

Its a bit like Romeo and Juliet meets Underworld. Thats very appealing to me. In this we have strong character development to play with and we have a new world thats darker, bolder because its a story scene from the eyes of the werewolf. We are not seeing it from the eyes of the vampires anymore."

Directed by Patrick Tatopoulos, Underworld: the Rise of the Lycans