Underworld: Awakening

"Vengeance Returns"

2012 1h 28m EN

😐

6.3

MID

★6.3TMDB · 4,488

FantasyActionHorror

Synopsis

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Having escaped years of imprisonment, vampire warrioress Selene finds herself in a changed world where humans have discovered the existence of both Vampire and Lycan clans and are conducting an all-out war to eradicate both immortal species. Now Selene must battle the humans and a frightening new breed of super Lycans to ensure the death dealers' survival.

“Vengeance Returns”

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Cast

Kate Beckinsale
Selene
Stephen Rea
Dr. Jacob Lane
Michael Ealy
Detective Sebastian
Theo James
David
India Eisley
Eve
Charles Dance
Thomas
Sandrine Holt
Lida
Sanny van Heteren
British newscaster

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Måns Mårlind
Writers: J. Michael Straczynski, Len Wiseman, John Hlavin
Languages: English, Russian
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

88 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Mid-budget at $70M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 14 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Russian.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Underworld Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Måns Mårlind, shot by Scott Kevan. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Paul Haslinger. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Jeff McEvoy shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Måns Mårlind directs. Scott Kevan behind the camera. Paul Haslinger scores. Jeff McEvoy cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English, Russian.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

188 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
2Mid-budget at $70M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.
3Released 14 years ago.
4Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Russian.
5Part of the "Underworld Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
6Directed by Måns Mårlind, shot by Scott Kevan. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
7Original score by Paul Haslinger. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
8Editor Jeff McEvoy shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
9Kate Beckinsale and Stephen Rea and Michael Ealy carry the top of the cast.
10Marketing tagline: "Vengeance Returns".
11IMDB entry: tt1496025 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
12Classified under 13 themes, including "daughter", "experiment", "vampire", "hybrid".
13Released under 11 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Scott Kevan
Original score: Paul Haslinger
Editing: Jeff McEvoy
Production design: Claude Paré
Costume design: Monique Prudhomme
Makeup / hair: Rosalina Da Silva
VFX supervisor: James McQuaide
Sound: David Farmer
Stunt coordinator: Brad Martin
Runtime: 88 min · 1h 28m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $70,000,000
Box office: $160,112,671
Return: 229% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Underworld: Awakening (2012)

Part of

Underworld Collection

A centuries-old war is waged between vampires and lycans (short for lycanthrope, from the Greek 'luk' [wolf] + 'ánthrōpos' [human], or werewolf). It begins with a fifth-century man, the sole survivor of a plague that wipes out his village. Somehow, his body turns the disease to his benefit, and afterward, he ceases to age. After living secretly, he moves often to prevent his immunity to the ravages of time from being discovered, even marrying on occasion. After he fathers twin sons who also inherit his gift, they learn its ultimate price after they become the first vampire and lycan after one suffers a bite from a bat and the other from a wolf. Once they learn they can "turn" normal humans into others like them by inflicting their bites on them, they terrorize the nearby countryside, taking from them either victims or tribute. The vampires ultimately enslave the Lycans until love leads to the Lycans' escape, igniting a bitter war that seems destined to have no end.

Also by

Måns Mårlind

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Andres Gomez2015-06-06
★ 5/10
Repetitive script for a very badly done mass up of FX. In addition, the cut of the movie is not properly done with scenes that seems to be unrelated one after another. They should have left it after the first, good movie.
John Chard2015-10-17
★ 6/10
I dreamt of the day we would meet. Like a silly little girl. You're as cold as one already dead. Popcorn bonanza as the Underworld series passes by in a whirl of effects driven action. Kate Beckinsale returns as super sexy - latex wearing - vampire Selene, after having skipped the third movie, here added into the mix is that Selene is searching for her hybrid daughter, while the pesky humans are intent on wiping out all vampires and lycans. Cue carnage. The story is very slight, the script equally so, where pretty much all roads lead to another action scene. So Selene leaps about a lot amongst blood, brains and beasties, the later of which fronted by a new giganticus hulkus werewolf. No actor in the film is asked to stretch their acting chops, but for fans of the series and action junkies in general, this is undeniably a good fun movie. 6/10
Dr Nostromo2026-07-05
★ 7/10
69/100 4th film in the timeline, Selene & Michael's peace, after killing the elders, is short-lived as humans discover the vampires and lycans. After begin captured and put on ice for 12 years, Selene wakes up to find their races have been purged nearly to extinction ...and she has a daughter. With, I'm assuming, a smaller budget, the CGI is pretty blatant in this one but the story's solid (even if it's just an excuse for some excellent action sequences), the characters are fun and engaging, and there's still a whole lot of imagination going on here. Good fun. -- DrNostromo.com