Synopsis for
Underworld (2003) More at IMDbPro »

Background: 1400 years ago, Vampires had decided that the best way to ensure the survival of their species was for three Elders--Viktor, Marcus, and Amelia--to 'leap frog' through time, one ruling while the other two slept, each being awakened at their appointed time according to a never-to-be-broken covenant. 1,000 years ago, during the reign of Viktor, the oldest and strongest of the Elders, the Vampire-Lycan War began. 600 years ago, Kraven set the 'great blaze' which killed Lucian, the leader of the Lycans. Kraven brought back a brand cut from Lucian's arm as proof of his death, a deed which earned Kraven high favor with Viktor, who put Kraven in charge of their coven. The great blaze caused the Lycans to scatter. Vampire Death Dealers, armed with silver bullets and shuriken, have been picking Lycans off one by one until very few remain.

Present time: Three Death Dealers--Selene, Rigel, and Nathaniel -- follow two Lycans into the subway. A firey battle ensues in which Rigel is killed, one of the Lycans gets away, and Nathaniel comes up missing. In the fracas, Selene [Kate Beckinsale] makes two discoveries: 1) the Lycans have devised an ultraviolet bullet, and 2) there appears to be a large band of Lycans amassing under the subway. Selene hurries back to alert the Vampires, but they are more interested in the clothes they are going to wear at tonight's party with the coven from across the 'great ocean' in celebration of the upcoming awakening of Marcus by Amelia, the current reigning Elder. Not interested in their gaities, Selene views some digital photos Rigel took of the Lycans and notices that they appear to have been following a human. A computer search reveals the human is Michael Corvin [Scott Speedman], an intern at a local hospital. Meanwhile, the wounded Lycan` has returned to the Lycan den with the bad news that he lost the candidate he was tailing, as well as to have the silver bullets and stars dug out of his body so that he can regenerate.

Selene pays Michael Corvin's apartment a visit. While snooping, she overhears a phone message about his involvement in some 'shoot out.' Now convinced that she is right about the Lycans stalking Michael, she tries to interrogate him just as his apartment is raided by a pack of Lycans. While Selene holds them off, Michael escapes in the elevator, but the doors open to a face-to-face confrontation with Lucian [Michael Sheen], the current leader of the Lycans. Selene attempts to shoot Lucian, but he is intent on biting Michael and spitting the blood into a vial which he takes to Singe [Erwin Leder], who has been researching humans with the last name of Corvin, so far with negative results. He analyzes Michael's blood and pronounces it 'positive.'

Selene and Michael make a getaway together, but Selene has lost a lot of blood in her fight with the Lycans. She passes out, the car leaps into a river. Michael saves her, binds her wound, then passes out himself. When Selene awakens, she takes the unconscious Michael back to the Vampire's mansion, incurring the wrath of Kraven [Shane Brolly], who wants Selene to be his future queen and is jealous that she seems smitten with Michael. When Michael finally comes to, he is face-to-face with Erika [Sophia Myles], who realizes that Michael has been bitten and is becoming Lycan. Erika leaps to the ceiling and starts hissing at him. Scared shitless, Michael jumps out a window and escapes the Vampire's mansion.

Although it is forbidden to delve into the past, Selene decides to do a little reading about the history of the Vampire-Lycan War, particularly the chapter on the Fall of Lucian. She notices that the Lucian in one of the pictures is wearing the same medallion that she noticed the current Lucian wearing during the fight at Michael's apartment. Could he and the Lucian that Kraven supposedly killed 600 years ago be one and the same? Could Kraven and Lucian be conspiring together? Could the fact that the Lycans are amassing near the Vampire coven portend an attack on the Vampires? When Erika informs Selene that Michael has been bitten and is turning Lycan, Selene has heard enough. Against the covenant rules, Selene decides to awaken Viktor and ask for his guidance.

Michael has begun having hallucinations and wants to know what is happening to him. Selene takes him to their Lycan interrogation room so that he can hide for the night. She also gives him the good news --he has been bitten by a Lycan, and during the next full moon (tomorrow night), he will turn into one. The hallucinations, she tells him, are memories passed to him from Lucian. When Michael asks Selene why she cares about what's happening to him ('Do you intend to bite me, too?'), Selene explains that the lycan virus and the vampire virus are incompatible and no one has ever survived a bite by both species. When Michael asks her why she hates Lycans so much, she tells him how Lycans slaughtered her entire family and how Viktor arrived just in time to save her from the same fate. Viktor made her vampire and then raised her like his own daughter. Selene then handcuffs Michael to a chair, gives him a gun with silver bullets, and advises him to use it on himself if she isn't back by tomorrow night.

Back at the mansion, Viktor [Bill Nighy] has fully awakened and is being briefed by Kraven. When Viktor learns that he's been awakened a full century ahead of schedule, he is livid. Not even Selene's attempts to explain her findings appease him. In fact, Viktor basically tells Selene to let Kraven handle this and that she will be judged by the council for breaking the covenant. Kraven locks Selene in her room.

It is the night of the full moon. It is time for Amelia's train to arrive, and Kraven has ordered Soren [Scott McElry] and his team to fetch her and the council members. Erika, who has wanted to be Kraven's mate for a long time, cuts the power to the main gate, allowing Selene to run to Michael. Selene releases Michael, but they are attacked by Lycans. Selene stays to fight while Michael jumps out a window. When Michael lands on his feet some five or six stories below, he is immediately captured by Lycans posing as cops. On the way to the Lycan den, Michael begins the change. The Lycans pull over, and they dose Michael with an enzyme to stop the change.

Selene has captured Singe and brings him to Viktor where Singe is forced to explain how, for years, the Lycans have been trying to combine the blood lines. They've been testing descendents of Alexander Corvinus, a 15th century Hungarian warlord who was the sole survivor of a plague that ravaged his village and turned him into the first immortal. From Corvinus's offspring, one became the Vampire line, one became the Lycan line, and one remained human but carried the imprint of the original immortality virus hidden in its genetic code in dormant form and passed down through the ages to Michael Corvin. Lucian plans to inject himself with blood taken from Michael and from a powerful Vampire elder, creating a hybrid--both Lycan and Vampire--but stronger than both.

Concerned that Amelia has not yet arrived, a group of Vampires are sent to find out what's taking so long. They find that Amelia and the council members have all been assassinated, having been bitten by Lycans. In addition, Amelia's blood has been totally drained. When Viktor finds out, he orders Selene to kill Michael.

Meanwhile, Michael is being held at the Lycan den, where his visions have suddenly become clear and he now knows what started the Vampire-Lycan war. Many years ago, Lycans were the renfields for Vampires, but it was forbidden for Vampires and Lycans to fraternize. Lucian and Viktor's daughter Sonja fell in love and mated, creating a hybrid child that Viktor would not allow, so he (Viktor) placed Sonja, his own daughter in the sun where she burnt to a crisp while Lucian was made to watch--'His own daughter burnt alive just for loving me,' says Lucian poignantly--and Viktor has spent the last 600 years exterminating the Lycan species so the bloodlines will never blend.

Kraven knows he's been found out. He was indeed in league with Lucian. Together, they planned Lucian's 'death' 600 years ago so that Lucian could lay low. Now the agreement is for Kraven to gain control of both covens by obtaining an ironclad peace treaty with the Lycans, while Lucian gets revenge on Viktor.

Time to knock off a few main characters. The Vampires, along with Selene, Kahn, and Viktor storm the Lycan den. Kraven shoots Lucian with a silver nitrate bullet (The silver is in liquid form so that it will go directly into the Lycans' bloodstreams and cannot be dug out). When Michael tries to escape, he is also shot by Kraven. As Michael lays oozing silver nitrate from his wounds, Kraven tells Selene the true story about her 'dark father,' Viktor. Her family wasn't killed by Lycans but by Viktor himself. Seems he didn't like the taste of livestock very much, so once in a while he would engorge himself on human blood. Since Selene reminded him of Sonja, he spared her and raised her as his own. Selene is stunned.

When Kraven demands that Selene go with him, she refuses. As he's about to shoot Michael again, the dying Lucian runs a sword through Kraven's leg and tells Selene to bite Michael. 'Half vampire, half lycan -- they're stronger than both.' Selene does it. Kraven finishes off Lucian. Michael turns into a hybrid [Lycampire or Vampthrope?] and, after Michael and Viktor tussle a bit, Selene cuts off Viktor's head. Selene is now to become the hunted. [Original synopsis by bj_kuehl]