Prequel hits and misses

From ‘Godfather’ to ‘Chainsaw,’ where will ‘Underworld’ fall?

Concocting a solid movie prequel is a delicate balancing act. Elaborate too much on what makes beloved characters tick and you risk losing their particular mystique. Withhold too much background and audiences will wonder why you bothered.

Which isn’t to say that “Underworld: Rise of the Lycans”—the Jan. 23 release illuminating the origin of the vampire/werewolf war depicted in the first two “Underworld” films—should be entirely discouraged. They may be few and far between, but worthy prequels do exist. We’ve compiled the winners, and losers, in Hollywood’s backward-looking franchises. —Brett Buckalew, Special to Metromix