Underworld: Rise of the Lycans
Every war has a beginning.

Plot: The prequel of the series, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans tells the story of the first Lycan half-breeds and the start of the war between Lycans and Vampires. Lycans were bred as slaves and day protectors of Vampires, until Lucian (Michael Sheen, Underworld), a well-trusted Lycan, leads a revolt against the Vampire captors. With the help of Sonja (Rhona Mitra, Doomsday), Vampire princess and daughter of Viktor (Bill Nighy, Underworld & Underworld 2), Lucian’s revolt against the Vampires becomes the start of the war between the two races.

When it comes down to it, Underworld 3 has simply retold a more detailed version of the story presented in Underworld. If you’ve seen Underworld, then you know the story of Underworld 3. TV spots, based on a single critic’s review, claim that Underworld 3 is the best of the series. I wouldn’t go that far. It would be more accurate to say “Underworld 3 is a movie in the Underworld series.” It was a great addition, but it wasn’t the best. Continue reading this review »

Quarantine

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It’s nice to have finally watched a good movie after all the I’ve had to sit through lately, and it’s even better that I’ve finally seen a good horror movie remake!

I had the privilege of watching [REC] a few months ago, and I have to admit that the idea of an English remake based on the same script (even if slightly modified for American audiences) seemed like a good idea. Now that I’ve seen Quarantine I can say that it was a great idea.

There are differences, other than language, that clearly show that remaking a movie for an American audience requires specific changes that, quite frankly, shouldn’t have to be made.

Most noteworthy changes in the English version, without spoiling any of the movie, include the dumbing down of dialogue, additional violent or gory scenes, and an unnecessary need to explain parts of the story that don’t require explanation. The language is much worse in Quarantine, additional cast was added and subsequently more people were killed, and the cause of the Quarantine was explained away instead of just leaving it a mystery. In my opinion, by offering an explanation for what was going on, some of the magic of [REC] was destroyed. However, seeing extra scenes of people getting killed in horrific ways almost completely made up for it.

All in all, it was the best horror movie remake I’ve ever seen, and it’s probably due in part to how good the original was to begin with and that it kept very close to the original. While I still think [REC] was the better movie, Quarantine did not disappoint me at all. I would recommend that anyone who hasn’t seen [REC] or Quarantine should see [REC] first and then watch Quarantine, but if you’ve already seen one, see the other! If you like horror movies, you won’t be disappointed.