Director: George Pavlou
Screenplay: Clive Barker & James Caplin
Starring: Denholm Elliott, Steven Berkoff, Larry Lamb, Nicola Cowper, Irina Brook, Art Malik, Brian Croucher, Ingrid Pitt
Country: UK
Running Time: 92 min
Year: 1985
BBFC Certificate: 15
Roy Bain, private investigator, is hired by shady businessman Hugo Motherskille to investigate the mysterious disappearance of his former lover, high class prostitute Nicole. As Bain follows Nicole’s trail from the brothel where she worked to a strange underworld community full of mutants, he must uncover the secret of a drug that seems to have the underworld in its thrall, as well as the drugs progenitor, Dr Savary.
Before breaking out with his superb directorial debut Hellraiser, British author Clive Barker worked with director George Pavlou to try and bring his distinct style to the big screen. While 1986’s Rawhead Rex, an adaptation of one of Barker’s short stories, is possibly the more well known of the two films this pair worked on, 1985’s Underworld stands as the first film based on the works of Barker, in this case an original screenplay. Notoriously neither film is great but both stand as a fascinating insight into the authors journey into film.
For all its faults, Underworld certainly gets off to a great start with a high frame rate opening sequence largely devoid of dialogue. With flavours of neo noir and a dreamlike, sweepingly surreal pace, this sequence sets the stage for a film that never really materialises, one which could almost be expressionist, however the next 80 odd minutes demonstrate a very distinct genre dissonance. Never really knowing what it wants to be, Underworld bounces between thriller, noirish detective dreams, horror fantasy and even briefly slips into slasher territory, but doesn’t seem to know what to do with itself when it’s in any of these genres, leading to a hugely disjointed and tricky to follow narrative.
The narrative itself feels like Barker is experimenting with some of the ideas he’d explored in his Books of Blood short story collections, with the idea of a secret underground society of mutants being something that would be expanded on in the 1988 novel Cabal and its eventual film adaptation, Nightbreed, a story which sells the idea of outcasts far better than Underworld. The film itself does continue to look great, with its almost neon noir stylings contrasting with the grimy, rainy English setting, something that would eventually carry over to Barker’s directorial debut in Hellraiser. All of these visuals are underscored by a strange and at times schizophrenic synth rock soundtrack from Welsh band Freur, a group with an interesting film pedigree – later naming themselves Underworld after this very film, they contributed the track Born Slippy to Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting, leading them to a huge musical hit in the process.
The cast is stacked with British talent with the likes of Art Malik, Miranda Richardson and Phil Davis all showing up in supporting roles. Ingrid Pitt is delightfully glamorous as brothel owner Pepperdine while Steven Berkoff is as unhinged as expected as businessman Motherskille. Larry Lamb is unfortunately unbearably flat in the lead as Bain, in a performance that’s almost Neil Breen levels of bad, despite his stylish and inexplicable red streaked hair. Standout though is Denholm Elliott playing absolutely straight as the sinister Dr Savary.
Compared to Barker adaptations like Hellraiser, Nightbreed and even this films direct follow up, Rawhead Rex, Underworld is remarkably toothless, lacking in darker visuals and, surprisingly for the subject matter, any kind of sexuality, and has a narrative that plods from setpiece to setpiece, rarely engaging the viewer. A large part of that is down to Lamb’s dreary performance, but when even a full on scenery chewing Steven Berkoff can’t keep the viewer’s interest, you know something’s wrong. There’s enough here to spark fans’ curiosity, but despite the pedigree of Clive Barker’s name, Underworld is not an essential part of the writer’s oeuvre.
Bonus Features
2-DISC 4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Heather Vaughan
- Collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Daniel Burnett
DISC 1 – UNDERWORLD (4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY)
- 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
- Original lossless English 2.0 stereo audio
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Audio commentary by director George Pavlou, moderated by Stephen Thrower, author of Nightmare USA
- Wild Recrimination, a brand new interview with director of photography Syd Macartney
- Becoming ‘Darling’, a brand new interview with actor Brian Croucher
- No Limits, a brand new interview with long-term collaborator Nicholas Vince discussing his experiences working with, and the enduring legacy of, Clive Barker
- Makeup Tests and Clive Barker Designs
- Storyboards
- US Trailer
- Artwork and Stills
- Image gallery, from the archives of Phil & Sarah Stokes
DISC 2 – TRANSMUTATIONS (LIMITED EDITION EXCLUSIVE BLU-RAY)
- High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation (contains standard definition inserts)
- Original lossless English 2.0 stereo audio
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Famously, both Underworld and Rawhead Rex were the films which pushed Barker into the directors chair for Hellraiser, so it’s fascinating that we have nestled among the bonus features here an interview dedicated to exploring the writer’s legacy. The bonus features themselves cover a decent amount of the making of the film and Arrow have also included a Blu-Ray of the US version which has simply been retitled to Transmutations. The 4K presentation on the main film is great, with a crisp and clean image allowing the stylish photography and neon colours of Underworld to shine through.