Transmutations

"Underworld" suffers from a painfully obvious lack of budget from the very beginning. This could possibly be due to the fact a good portion of the money has been spent securing the services of Denholm Elliott, Steven Berkoff, Art Malik and Miranda Richardson. Or perhaps it was spent on the B-movie special effects company drafted in to produce the scene where Denholm Elliott explodes in a bargain basement recreation of John Cassavetes's dramatic and show stopping exit in Brian De Palma's "The Fury" (1978). In any case no matter what the budget was actually spent on the small amount remaining provides the whole venture with the most basic levels of production values and it looks unavoidably cheap throughout. The biggest disappointment of all is how totally unengaging it is and this leaves you with a case of by-the-numbers film making on a ghastly shoestring budget.