Underworld (1985)

Director:

George Pavlou

Writers:

Clive Barker (screenplay)
Clive Barker (story)

Release Date:

18 April 1986 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

A horrible experiment. A criminal empire. One thing in common...

Plot:

When high class hooker Nicole is kidnapped from her brothel, Rich businessman Hugo Motherskille hires her ex love Roy Bain to find her...

Plot Keywords:

Mad Scientist | Detective | Hitman | Underground | Gangster

Cast

Denholm Elliott	...	Dr. Savary
Steven Berkoff	...	Hugo Motherskille
Larry Lamb	...	Roy Bain
Nicola Cowper	...	Nicole
Irina Brook	...	Bianca
Art Malik	...	Fluke
Brian Croucher	...	Darling
Ingrid Pitt	...	Pepperdine
Trevor Thomas	...	Ricardo
Clive Panto	...	Abbott
Sean Chapman	...	Buchanan
Candy Davis	...	Barmaid
Karen Gould	...	Dancer
Jeanette Landry	...	Dancer
Mark West	...	Dancer

Also Known As:

Transmutations (USA)

Runtime:

USA:103 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Belgium:16 (video rating) | USA:R | Iceland:16 | UK:18 | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Company:

Alpine

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Svengoolie: Transmutations" (2001)

Plain Awful

I recently bought George Pavlou's "Underworld" aka. "Transmutations" of 1985 (which was sold as "Clive Barker's Underworld) for 4 Euros, and I my expectations were not very high. It is hard to believe that the man who created such an essential and influential cult Horror flick as "Hellraiser" is obviously also (partly) responsible for such a piece of crap. I bet Barker's story must have differed a lot from the end-product of this lousy flick. I'm personally a big fan of B-Movies, especially Horror B-Movies, and I would never condemn a movie for just being cheaply made or for poor scenery. "Underworld", however, just fails in every aspect and is easily the worst 80s Sci-Fi/Horror movie (if one can even call it a Horror movie) I have seen - And I have seen a lot.

After his former girlfriend, high-class prostitute Nicole (Nicola Cowper) is kidnapped by 'eerie' mutants (well, that's what they're supposed to be), private detective Roy Bain (Larry Lamb) starts to investigate and stumbles across a new, extremely effective drug with atrocious side-effects.

Most of the acting is absolutely terrible, the only two good actors in this piece of crap are Steven Berkoff and Denholm Elliott, and due to a terrible script their appearance can't save this pointless movie either. The sceneries are terrible, the costumes are just ridiculous. Some of the mutant's make-up is OK, but it's not good either, the plot is just plain awful and nothing in this movie makes the slightest sense. There is no doubt that Clive Barker is a highly influential and rightly respected horror author and director, and I bet he was ashamed when he saw his name put on this. Some movies are so bad they are good. This one is not one of them. "Underworld" is not good-bad, not even a bit funny-bad, it's just bad bad. Avoid!