Vampire Egg: The Matrix Has Confirmed Bloodsuckers (and It Influenced the Gun-Toting Vamps of ‘Underworld’)

This is your nightly reminder that vampires are canon in the Matrix movies. The Oracle (Gloria Foster) references them in The Matrix Reloaded, which rode the franchise freeway into theaters on this day in 2003. In the playground, before the Burly Brawl — where Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving) and his duplicates dog-pile on Neo (Keanu Reeves) — the Oracle tells Neo:

"Every story you've ever heard about werewolves, vampires, or aliens is the system assimilating some program that's doing something they're not supposed to be doing."

Later, Persephone (Monica Belluci) leads Neo, Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss), and Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) into a room where two dudes who may or may not be vampires or werewolves are watching the 1960 Hammer Horror film, The Brides of Dracula. Persephone says they "come from a much older version of the Matrix" and "they're notoriously difficult to terminate." She then dispatches one of them with a silver bullet to the head.

Story continues below

Pretty soon, more possible vampires arrive with guns, and Neo becomes embroiled in the epic Chateau fight. By now, we're well on our way to the first Underworld movie, which came out four months after The Matrix Reloaded and starred Kate Beckinsale as Selene, a gun-toting vampire “Death Dealer,” clad in goth black Matrix leather. 

Selene’s subway shootout in Underworld, which involves her hiding behind pillars (as one tends to do in these situations) recalls Trinity doing the same thing during the lobby shootout in the first Matrix movie. And of course, that movie also featured a memorable fight scene set in a subway station.

While Selene is forced to contend with bloodthirsty Lycans (a.k.a. lycanthropes or werewolves), the Underworld series would be forced to contend with bloodthirsty reviews. Despite four commercially successful sequels, it’s somehow never risen above 31% on Rotten Tomatoes.