Film

Underworld: Blood Wars

Name: Underworld: Blood Wars
Genre: Fantasy, Action, Thriller, Horror
Released: 2016
Cast: Kate Beckinsale, Theo James, Tobias Menzies, Lara Pulver, Bradley James

Fantasy
War action
Relentless

Underworld: Blood Wars is a vampire-versus-werewolf action thriller that trades narrative coherence for stylish violence and gothic atmosphere. Kate Beckinsale returns as Selene, the leather-clad death dealer caught between warring supernatural factions. It's kinetic, visually slick, and asks nothing of you but your ability to enjoy ninety minutes of fangs, bullets, and betrayal.

TMDb rating

3.0

If you liked this

Resident Evil: Retribution2012

Paul W.S. Anderson's maximalist action cinema in service of Alice fighting through zombie hordes and clones. It's schlocky, propulsive, and committed entirely to spectacle over sense—sometimes that's exactly the ticket.

But The story barely exists and the dialogue often feels like an apology for the action. If you need character development, look elsewhere.

Van Helsing2004

Silly supernatural action-adventure with Hugh Jackman as a gothic monster-hunter fighting Dracula, Frankenstein's monster, and werewolves. It commits to its own absurdity and moves fast enough that you won't feel the logic gaps.

But It's aggressively dumb and the CGI has aged poorly. The tone swings wildly between camp and portentousness.

The Mummy Returns2001

Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz in a romantic-action romp that knows exactly what it is: summer popcorn with creature effects, globe-trotting, and good-natured chaos. Charisma carries it far.

But The plot is a retread of the first film with added complications that don't improve it. Some of the CGI is distractingly shoddy.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Underworld: Blood Wars

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Only Lovers Left Alive2013

Both center on vampires as isolated warriors, but Jarmusch inverts the formula entirely—his vampires are contemplative aesthetes rather than action heroes, exploring what eternal life actually costs.

Jim Jarmusch's vampire love story is quiet, philosophical, and gorgeously shot. Two ancient vampires navigate modern existence with wit and melancholy. It's about immortal ennui rather than action, but it has a sensuality and intelligence that typical vampire films never reach.

But Almost nothing happens. It's a mood film for people who want to think about existence, decay, and art. There are no fight scenes or plot propulsion.

Queen of the Damned2002

A Anne Rice vampire gothic that commits to moody atmosphere and Aaliyah's star power in her final role. There's real visual style and a sense of operatic drama that elevates the material.

But The narrative is messy and the pacing drags. It feels like watching someone else's concept art rather than a fully realized film.

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 12011

If you want vampires mixed with action spectacle, this delivers a climactic vampire-versus-werewolf battle and commits fully to its own soap-opera earnestness. It's shameless in its conviction.

But You need to have watched four films already to care about any of it, and the mythology is actively incomprehensible to newcomers.

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 poster

Underworld: Evolution2006

The predecessor that established the vampire-versus-lycan world with more narrative momentum. Kate Beckinsale is sharper here and the mythology feels fresher before the franchise exhausted itself.

But It's still a 2006 action film, meaning the digital effects look dated and the plot is thinner than it thinks. It's worth seeing but not dramatically better.

Priest2011

A grimy, desert-gothic action film where Paul Bettany hunts vampires in a post-apocalyptic theocracy. It has a distinctive visual palette and doesn't overstay its welcome.

But The world-building feels half-formed and the character arcs are perfunctory. It's competent rather than compelling.

Vampire's Kiss1989

Nicolas Cage descends into paranoia thinking he's a vampire. It's a psychological nightmare-comedy that's genuinely unsettling and bizarre—a total left turn from typical vampire entertainment.

But It's extremely weird, deliberately uncomfortable, and has almost no action. If you want bloodshed and spectacle, this is the opposite.

The Night House2021

Both feature a isolated protagonist betrayed by their closest allies and forced to confront the darkness in people they trusted, but The Night House uses that betrayal as an engine for personal devastation rather than action sequences.

Rebecca Hall gives a devastating performance as a widow unraveling the dark secrets of her deceased husband. It's a supernatural thriller about grief that genuinely frightens and breaks your heart simultaneously, with an atmosphere that lingers.

But It's slow and psychologically difficult. The horror is mostly internal and atmospheric rather than visceral, and there's no catharsis—it ends in genuine ambiguity.

Near Dark1987

Both feature a vampire protagonist navigating between two warring communities, but Bigelow strips away all the gothic pageantry to show what vampirism actually is: predatory, rootless, and corrosive to the human soul.

Kathryn Bigelow's vampire western is a sunlit, dusty fever dream where vampires are just drifters and survivors, not myth-burdened warriors. Bill Paxton is unforgettable, and the film has a tragic, morally complicated view of the undead.

But It's from 1987 so it looks it, and the vampire mythology is sparse and deliberately unglamorous. There's no explanation, no world-building, just dread and consequence.