I have two suggestions for title tracks for the forthcoming Underworld Awakening as the first trailer has just found its way online. Neither song speaks much to the story, which sees the return of Kate Beckinsale to the franchise as the Lycan hunting vampire Selene, but I think they capture a certain aesthetic known to the franchise. You can listen to both in the players to the right.
As for the film, this is the fourth feature in the Underworld franchise following the lackluster prequel, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, which saw Rhona Mitra fill in as the vampire sexpot while Beckinsale was thought to have left the franchise behind. Yet, she returns, this time Selene has escaped imprisonment to find herself in a 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. Co-starring in the film are Michael Ealy, Stephen Rea and Charles Dance.
Personally, the first Underworld film became a guilty pleasure of mine after I was pretty down on it the first time I saw it back in 2003 (read my 2003 review here). The sequel I enjoyed more when I saw it in theaters (read that review here). However, I thought I had only seen it once, but a DVD review I posted back in 2006 says I watched it once more. Go figure… I guess it wasn’t too memorable. The third film, well, that was a piece of junk.
How will the fourth film shape out? Personally I’m happy to see Beckinsale back in the lead role and am excited to see what directors Mans Marlind and Bjorn Stein have done. I’m not expecting much, but the first two films in this franchise are fun diversions… the first one especially.
You can watch the trailer for Underworld Awakening directly below and look for it in theaters on January 20, 2012.
