It always makes me mad when someone creates such an awful movie about such a great story... 7 million people buried under Paris in some scary catacombs... could have been a great movie... And silly me I expected something cool and scary, but what I have got was definitely not cool or scary, rather annoying. The actress is screaming in the entire movie like a stupid teenage girl, and there is absolutely no chance to get to like her. The conversations are very lame, and her lines are again, annoying. I give you an example: the french guy( who does NOT speak English! ) is holding a map, and she asks him: "Is that a map?" After a while i was hoping she gets killed, because with that lame acting she did not deserve to survive. OK, there is one positive thing about the movie, and that is the ending, it is surprising, something you did not expect from this movie. But that nice feeling doesn't last too long, at the very end they blew it again. So if you like horror/thriller movies, do not watch this, waste of time!
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JaylineFrance21 November 2007
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Jessgarner3 April 2008I thought it was a refreshing horror film, due to the complete crap lately. I have been to the Catacombs in Paris and know first hand how creepy and historical the place is. This movie was obviously a low budget film, yet it captured the damp and horrifying mood of the Catacombs to a T. Also, the actors put out a performance that I thought was quite good.( Pop singer " Pink " wasn't horrible at all) and the directing was well done.
I loved the use of light and darkness throughout the film. In my opinion, there is nothing more terrifying than being in a state of complete darkness. The story of the satanic cult was a little over the top, considering it actually produced a "satan" child. The plot twist , in my opinion, ruined the film. Of course, as in any "scream" flick, there are always some cheezy and predictable parts, but overall, I found it entertaining. Definitely, think the ending could have been thought out a little better. Scratch that, A lot better. Take out the crazy twist, ....much better. Over all though, a good, not great, horror film. -
distortedturtle66614 December 2007I can't believe that this film has such a high rating. The acting is dismal, even by B-movie standards, I didn't care about a single one of the characters, there was far too much reliance on strobe lighting and flashing effects and the ending was just ridiculous. The basic storyline was fairly reasonable to start with, an underground club in Paris where illegal parties are held by groups of social misfits avoiding police raids. The setting looks awesome at times and there is no denying that in the proper hands this could've been a hit. Unfortunately it is let down by the overall stupidity of the lead characters and just wanders into familiar territory instead of offering anything new. Do yourself a favour, if you want to a see a claustrophobic horror set underground, watch The Descent before you see this or you'll get that deja vu feeling. Shame really, the first few minutes were great.
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rootsandwings-5474531 August 2021The repetition in the begining of the : 200 hundred years ago Paris ran out of place to bury it's dead... they repeat often because they want the information seered on your brain. That is a classic manipulation technique.
And although the fact is impressive on it's own (200 years ago...) I feel they didn't exploit it as well as they could.
Antichrist raised in the catacombs could have worked as a good premise too.
But no! It was a joke! Haha! Just a bad joke! Kidding! I love Pink as a singer but her caracter is a mean minded person and I certainly was glad to see her die. What kind of sick individual has a sister with mental issues and tries to scare her half to death? I would't tolerate that from a friend and certainly not family!
The police crashes the party to make arrests but they leave Shannyn Sossamon's caracter passed out in the middle of the dance floor. Ridiculous! Oh and of course a map of the catacombs! Lol. -
leesimon-263577 February 2021This piece of trash is a Rob-Zombie-Wannabe, poorly made, poorly shot, terribly stupid movie. They tried SO hard to make this subversive, dark, spooky and special, and do not accomplish any of it. The acting is so bad. There are so many scenes where the writers try to get away with bad writing and not knowing how to end a dialogue, so they make everyone just start laughing. It is baffling how much dumb laughing at people occurs in this movie, for something that is supposed to be a horror. They also tried way to hard with the soundtrack. The "twist" at the end is stupid, and everything before it is even stupider. Did you know that cool kids throw raves in underground catacombs in Paris? Because it's so avant-garde and cool, they have to move every single night, which makes the fact that their raves are fully powered, with surround sound and first rate lighting, as well as a backlit bar, fully stocked with premium spirits, simply amazing. Did you also know that the coolest kids at those parties go skiny-dipping in the crystal clear waters beneath Paris? Do the makers of this film know what catacombs are? They are decaying gravesites, which stink of death, and emit infectious pathogens. And any liquid beneath the city is sewage. Those disgusting kids are partying by breathing in the remains of the people who died of the plague, and swimming in the sewage of Parisians. Not cool and dark. Just stupid and gross. Skip this garbage movie.
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Coventry9 September 2008Few things are as infuriating as great horror settings that are entirely wasted on trite scenarios. Catacombs immense and ominously dark mazes where thousands of ancient dead bodies are stored form the absolute greatest locations to set a horrific story in, but the creators of this movie ruined all the potential they were offered here. Surely this could have been an interesting film, but the unoriginal script almost immediately reverts to clichéd situations, chaotic editing and creating false suspense. The emotionally unstable Victoria travels to Paris, following an invitation from her sister Carolyn, and promptly gets dragged into the wild nightlife of illegal parties thrown in the catacombs underneath the city center. When she gets separated from the group, Victoria finds herself relentlessly pursued by a raving madman and they expect us to believe it concerns an inbred and carnivorous monster wearing a goat head mask. You'll notice right away there are several things wrong with the narrative. Why would the partying sister bother to invite such an uptight individual like Victoria to a place where drugs and hideous Techno music reign? Why would an insatiable killing machine exclusively chase isolated party-goers when there are hundreds of unsuspecting easy targets waiting to be butchered in the room next door? Once Victoria is trapped inside the underground labyrinth, "Catacombs" turns into an intolerably boring and irritating film. She just stumbles around the passageways for hours, praying the batteries of her flashlight won't die which they do a couple of times, of course, and you'll find yourself staring at a black screen throughout very long periods - and suffering ridiculous injuries, like cutting her leg on the spokes of a rusty bicycle. Oh, the horror! This movie is slow and boring, the hectic editing of randomly creepy images is pointless, the soundtrack is god-awful and not a single one of the lead characters is even mildly amiable. Victoria constantly whines and, to me personally, it's a complete mystery why she's such a confused woman. She's young, attractive, supposedly intelligent and free to spontaneously leave everything behind and travel to Europe. So what the heck is the problem? The French boys serve as dumb screen fillings and Carolyn is positively one of the most annoying horror characters ever. Pink is an even worse actress than singer, for that matter. Throughout almost its entire playtime, "Catacombs" was destined to receive a rating 1 out of 10 from me, but then came the ending which suddenly brought an unexpected highpoint. There are two end "twists", by the way. One is painfully frustrating and caused me to hate the film even more, but luckily there's a second one which turned tragedies around a bit and all of a sudden the film was good enough to increase my rating towards two.
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chow9139 March 2016The catacombs of Paris, a lesser known historical marvel of how Paris' over populated cemeteries were cleaned out and 7,000,000 human skeletons were arranged in a macabre maze underground!
So in 2007 when I heard it was the setting for a new horror movie I just had to see it! There's no cheap CGI, it's filmed on location.
Victoria flies from Boston to Paris to visit her sister, a drugged out drunk party girl. It's the role Pink was born to play.
Pink takes Victoria to a rock concert in the catacombs. And by "concert" I mean an orgy of drugs and alcohol. Predictably Victoria gets lost and chased by a goat headed monster said to haunt the catacombs. This goes on for 80 minutes and it's more boring than words can describe.
At least the ending is a good one. SPOILER WARNING!!! Eventually Victoria kills one of her pursuers only to discover this was all a prank by Pink and her friends. Ha ha ha. What it's a joke is that Victoria really did kill one of the friends out of fear. As Pink is cursing her Victoria beats all of them to death! Amen. They all deserved it for the hell they put her and the audience through.
Can't really think of single reason to see this film as they don't make use of the on location filming in the catacombs. Come on! 7,000,000 human skeletons and they couldn't come up with anything scary? -
The female lead in this movie is very unfortunate. She gets lost in the catacombs under Paris twice in about half an hour. The first time she escapes a murderous lunatic and, shortly thereafter, she unluckily becomes separated from a room full of ravers and a platoon of police. Huh? Hell, just lie down on the ground and let the police take you into custody! There's just way too much stupidity in this movie. We're supposed to believe that an elaborate, illegal rave is set up in the catacombs complete with rock concert light towers and sound system. We are also to believe that there is a spring-fed pond in the sewers of Paris which is great as a swimming hole. We are also to believe that Romanians are French. Hey they have an accent, right? In addition to the insipid casting and plot, like so many of these so-called horror movies nowadays, the characters act too stupidly to believe. The sister arrives in Paris for her first visit overseas and is met with an idiotic practical joke. Nice welcome, jackasses. Just too much stupidity all around.
This movie is apparently targeted to the teenage audience, complete with headache-inducing, thumping rave "music", but I believe most teenagers are too sophisticated for this inanity. This movie is much similar to the horrendous trash produced by the sci-fi channel, which is intended for 10-year olds. Avoid this one, people! -
adam-harding216 March 2008This is my first user comment on IMDb and feel I have to make it to prevent people being put off my the low average score.
If you are a horror fan you will enjoy this one. Pink is not the main character, but she does a decent enough job for her part...don't worry they have a proper actress for the lead! Anyway, the location is really cool and it provides a really tense feel throughout. There is a 'Saw' feel about certain scenes which is all good.
The film is also fairly intelligent in parts. They do a good job of conveying the scary feeling of being alone in another country and not being able to understand the language.
And don't be put off by the "bad ending" people have been quoting. Its not that bad, its even pretty cool I think. Its the journey you go on during the film that makes it enjoyable, the ending is not a major problem really.
Hey, why not go for a double bill. Watch this first followed by Them aka "Ils". Would be a quality night of French/Romanian horror goodness.
Enjoy! -
I'm sometimes surprised to experience just how perceptibly little, in some cases, low-budget fantasy/horror cinema has really evolved in the intervening years since the sixties and the here and now. I just watched The Blood Beast Terror (a no-budget sixties fossil from the Hammer wannabe Tigon Studios) and Catacombs (from the producers of the Saw movies, apparently) back to back and I remain utterly amused to report that The Blood Beast Terror tramples all over the newer effort for sheer entertainment value and (thankfully) sustaining a far lower level of crashing boredom-inducement.
Catacombs has a neurotic anorexic US chick, Victoria (Shannon Sossamon), visiting her fleshier free-spirited sister, Carolyn, in Paris. Carolyn is played by pop-strumpet Pink and she's clearly a serious, solid-gold, major-league non-actress in the Madonna mould. Pink and pals a bunch of ignorant Gallic goth pranksters - like to party in the ancient burial chambers situated in catacombs beneath the City of Light. They sweat and gyrate to rave music, smoke Gauloise, swig absinthe and skinny dip in the underground pond, which looks like it resulted from a ruptured sewage pipe. They also spin yarns of a satanic man-beast who lives in and stalks the catacombs in a ceaseless quest for fresh meat.
After a police raid, Victoria gets trapped in the catacombs and, believing her sister to have been done-in by said beastie boy, spends the rest of the film running around in a raging panic, sweating, screaming, scrabbling, sustaining minor injuries (the sort a half-hearted self-harmer might inflict) and rejecting the advances of Henri, a non-English speaking Frenchie who is also trapped underground with her. Henri behaves like all non English-speaking Frenchman by grunting, posturing, pointing at things and exhibiting a rapid multitude of mood-swings in a fantastically short space of time. That's about it, folks, until the earth-shattering shock twist ending which proves to be as unpredictable and inventive as a song by er Pink, I guess.
Put simply, Catacombs is crass, dull, monotonous, scare free, noisy and irritating. One of the most pointless films I have ever seen in my life. It sets out to achieve little and undershoots spectacularly by succeeding in achieving nothing at all of any worth, merit or significance.
Which brings me to The Blood Beast Terror. Not the best of its ilk by any stretch of the most lenient imagination. It's a Hammer rip-off from the late sixties and the film which its star, the late, great Peter Cushing, classed as his worst ever. When you consider some of the stuff Mr Cushing churned out, that's quite some put-down. He was in Star Wars.
Mr Cushing is a Scotland Yard detective who seems to spend most of his time in the Victorian countryside trying to solve a series of murders perpetrated on young men. The victims have been mutilated and drained of blood. The perpetrator is the "daughter" of local entomologist and mad scientist Dr Mallinger who is in fact one of his genetic experiments and she is able to, nay, compelled to turn into a giant wait for it, wait for it Death's Head Moth! That's right, the girl can turn into a huge moth with a craving for the blood of university students and brawny gardeners. She spares the local coach driver, who goes promptly off his rocker and gibbers: "The eyes! The eyes! Oh the eyes! Leave me alone!" This prompts the kindly visiting police doctor to diagnose and prescribe in one: "He's completely insane. We'll take him to the lunatic asylum in the morning." Yes, the script is laughable, the budget would probably just cover the price of a bag of chips and a bottle of pale ale by today's standards, the acting is woeful even Cushing, a man capable of elevating the shoddiest material way beyond the most plunging of depths, is left floundering here. When one character proudly announces "They call me Billy the Bug-Catcher" you really know that this film has transcended the boundary separating the mere crap from a realm of infinite mind-numbing stupidity the like of which is seldom if ever breached for fear of ending up just like the gibbering coachman and facing a lifetime caged in the booby-hatch. Well, you would if you saw a giant moth with furry breasts.
Yet, in comparison with Catacombs, The Blood Beast Terror is almost a work of art. What it has in common with Catacombs is being equally as scare-free. But, and here is where it scores points, the acting is better, there's more actually going on to keep you interested and engaged, there's the camp comedy value (unintentional, but it at least amuses), and it has an un-cynical attitude and Gothic atmosphere that worthless tripe such as Catacombs replaces with ruined expectations and cheap anticlimactic plasticity. At least The Blood Beast Terror has the gumption to go all the way with it's monster - no matter how ludicrous. Whereas, Catacombs...
Should it be worrying that, to me, a mediocre sixties movie about a woman who can turn into a blood-sucking death's head moth seems more credible, valid and fun than one about a shrieking idiot bumbling around in a mass grave beneath the streets of modern day Paris? Moth probably, bug who knows? -
rishi_is_here-110 June 2008I watched this movie y'day and must say it is a good one...the lead actress Shannyn Sossamon is natural in depicting her fear and nervousness...BTW i just happened to watch another latest movie of her "One Missed Call" and that too is good... there are many horror movies which deal with gore and bloodshed only, this is not that type, rather kinda chased down by a maniac in a deep dark tunnel can breakdown anybody's nerves... however everything became clear towards the end and you gonna like the climax, its undoubtedly different only that i can say... When I am writing I saw this one got an average rating of 4.7 which is very unfair with this movie...I would say a decent 6.5 should be given... only one comment about the music, it could have been more spine chilling....
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escape1979uk18 February 2008People are slating this as a "bad" film however it is a decent enough, unnerving thriller that doesn't quite give the feeling of crushing claustrophobia the Descent does, and doesn't quite set you on the edge of your seat like monster chase films such as Creep does...
Some camera shots are a bit too "arty" for my taste, and detracts slightly from the overall effect seeing as it is a horror film, however it is easy to see what they were trying to achieve with such closed in, minimal light sourced tunneled shots that fade into the distance only as the main character rounds the bend taking the torchlight out of shot.
But overall, a good enough film with a slightly transparent ending that will either have you smiling or groaning! -
I enjoyed parts of the movie. I am a raver and the aspect of a rave in the catacombs is brilliant. yet actually doing that would be incredibly stupid. any way, it seemed like a lot of running in the dark and screaming, little dialog.i so on and so forth its an OK film. i heard a lot of mixed reviews about the movie...i am indifferent towards whether its good or bad. it appeals to some people and not to others. what can i saw...so do most films. Also i would like to go party in the underground. maybe not in France in the catacombs...but making a nightclub that was under the streets and making it look like the catacombs would be amazing.
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EXodus25X11 September 2008Sub-par acting all around along with an especially horrible performance by Pink, even by B-Movie standards. The premise is OK and even the beginning is not completely horrible, but then the action get relentlessly repetitive as are made character is chased and chased and chased some more, which does work for me at times but with nothing unique thrown in there to mix it up a bit then it just gets old fast. I was pleasantly surprised by the ending, not only a twist but a twist that makes a little sense and actually works, it doesn't feel contrived and just thrown in at the end to screw with the audience. If your looking for a good horror movie you could do much better, but if you can stomach Pinks horrible attempt at acting for the length of this film (more power to you) then you could give this one a try, but only for it's unique ending.
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200 years ago 7 million people where buried in the catacombs under the capital Paris in France.Victoria(Shannen Sossomon) get invitation to Paris from her sister played by famous singer Pink .They go to party in the catacombs with some other friends to Victorias sister.Things start to happen..lots of running and screaming but no scares.Not my cup of tea but not totally crap.I think S.Sossomon is good,the ending fine and some scenes well done.The version I saw was the 86 minutes one.Maybe there exist an unrated version with more power in some scenes as I think the movie was a bit tame considering the story is very gruesome. I give Catacoms 4/10
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oyku_6220 December 2007well...there goes 2 hours of my life,which i'm not getting back.One of the worst films I've ever seen.With 7 million people buried under Paris,I was expecting a lot of zombies or grudge-like ghosts.I thought "well..this is going to make me scream". But all I got was a stupid man in a stupid mask.Constant screaming of the lead actress nearly killed me.The ending was so lame.The whole time I was watching it I wanted it to end right away.I was really expecting a lot more.I wish someone else took the plot and make a much much more scary film.Anyway,I just wanted to warn people who haven't seen it yet.You're lucky...stay that way.Please please do not watch this movie
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Mr_Saxon6 December 2007Have you ever watched the movie "Creep"? It's the one where Franke Portente becomes lost under the city of London with a homicidal maniac chasing after her. Did you like that movie? If so, then it's a good bet that you're going to enjoy the first hour or so of "Catacombs".
In "Catacombs" we have Shannyn Sossamon - an actress with less talent than Portente sadly - who arrives in Paris to stay with her sister (played by the pop star Pink no less) and her wacky French friends. Before she can get over her jet lag she is whisked away to a rave taking place in the catacombs beneath Paris. Whilst drinking with her sister's friends she learns the story of a Satanic cult which raised a child down in the catacombs, fed him raw meat, made him wear a goat mask and convinced him that he was the son of Satan. After she learns this, she becomes lost in the tunnels and guess who she runs into? What follows is around an hour of Shannyn running frantically around in the darkness searching for a way out whilst being chased by Mr. Goat Head. This pretty much sums up the majority of the movie and, to be fair, the catacombs themselves are quite interesting. As the burial site of several hundred corpses, it's certainly an eerie place and somewhere that you wouldn't want to get lost in. The direction is adequate although there was one moment where I was sure Shannyn almost ran into the cameraman.
And then we reach the ending. Oh my God. What a catastrophe.
I won't spoil the ending for you in case you still want to watch "Catacombs" but don't say that I didn't warn you. It's almost as though the writer couldn't think of an ending and asked his eight year old son for advice. It's a shame that the child didn't suggest aliens make an appearance or something along those lines because that would have been far more entertaining than what's actually in this movie.
If it wasn't for that ending, I would have probably awarded this movie a five. However, because of my revulsion for what the scriptwriter did I am forced to knock two points off and award it a three.
Oh dear. -
mlev4688 February 2015Why wouldn't she stop screaming? "It's a prank"? Worse premise than nightmare on elm street's waking from a dream in a dream in a dream...
This was on a movie channel while I was doing other things - definitely 'walk-out' material if I'd gone to a theater.
I don't understand why a short and succinct review has to be 10 lines.
Why wouldn't she stop screaming? "It's a prank"? Worse premise than nightmare on elm street's waking from a dream in a dream in a dream...
This was on a movie channel while I was doing other things - definitely 'walk-out' material if I'd gone to a theater.
I don't understand why a short and succinct review has to be 10 lines. -
claudio_carvalho20 November 2008When the troubled and addicted in pills Victoria (Shannyn Sossamon) receives a card in USA from her sister Carolyn (Alecia Moore), who is studying in Sorbonne, inviting her to visit Paris, she immediately travels to meet her sister. When Vic arrives, Carolyn brings her to a rave party in the underground of Paris in a location called Catacombs, and introduces her to her friends. They tell Vic that in the 500 kilometer mace, more than seven million people was buried two hundred years ago; further, the labyrinth is haunted by a monster that wears a goat mask and chase people. In accordance with the urban legend, a boy born in an incestuous intercourse was locked in the labyrinth and fed with raw meat by the Cult of the Black Virgin to be the Antichrist, becoming an evil beast. The tired and upset Victoria decides to leave the party, but she gets lost in the mace; when her sister finds her, she is attacked and killed by the beast. Victoria runs in the dark tunnels trying to reach an exit or find Carolyn's friends while she is chased by her innermost fears.
The claustrophobic and tense "Catacombs" is an underrated horror movie. The gore story is good with a great twist; Shannyn Sossamon screams a lot in panic and has a great and convincing performance, demonstrating the tension and fear felt by her character; but on the contrary, Carolyn is too vulgar for a student of the traditional Sorbonne. The frantic camera work associated to the use of lightening is excellent and I startled many times along the story. My vote is seven.
Title (Brazil): "Catacumbas" ("Catacombs") -
mrmuggles8 July 2007I went to watch the film giving it a chance. I think it was OK but nothing more. The film at the cinema was quite scary in parts (expecially first part), I was surprised not to see gore and extreme violence like in the most recent films (hostels and similar) but I think on TV won't work as well. It wasn't one of those horrors you laugh at when you watch it the cinema, if you know what I mean. The finale is OK but ruins all the film a bit and makes you no need to watch it again (you will understand this last sentence watching it). My final comment is: "It was alright but I wouldn't watch it again. No plot holes or absurdities (like in many horrors) but maybe a bit weak. If you don't spend too much money to watch it you can enjoy it easily and as easily forget about it.
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sunznc26 February 2009After reading what people had said about this I was geared up to dislike this film. In fact, I wanted to dislike it. However, I did in fact enjoy this film. It is intense, dreary, disturbing, scary, anxiety provoking and it went by very fast. The lead actress is good. The photography is good. I found the sets very well done. If you like The Decent you'd probably enjoy this.
I will say this; "Pink" comes off as a low class skank to be blunt. I'm sure the French were glad she came back to America. She is the least likable character in the film. She looks like a skank, talks like one and probably smells like one too. But, maybe that is how Pink wanted her character to appear.
Whatever. You can't deny that this film is effective, Pink or no Pink. I think it is worth viewing. Check it out. -
pekoeworks11 May 2007I saw this film at a free screening about a year ago. They were passing out tickets at my college campus.
Basic Plot: Sossamon plays the lead character who goes to Paris to visit her sister, played by Pink. They go out for a late night rave-like party hidden in the catacombs beneath Paris. The cops arrive to break up the party and chaos ensues. Sossamon gets knocked out in the chaos and wakes up a few hours later, finding herself locked in the catacombs with no way out.
It's not anything really special but it was highly entertaining watching a frantic Sossamon run around in the dark for about an hour trying to find her way out of the catacombs while being chased by a goat-headed killer. The action in this film is very fast-paced with an almost continual feel of chaos and urgency. Some, if not most of the action comes from first-person POV with Sossamon running through the labyrinth of tunnel-graves with a dying flashlight. Oh, and the ending is one of the best parts about the film. Very amusing.
No ridiculous amount of gratuitous violence. -
A vacuous American teenager popping anti-depressants goes to Paris to stay with her sister. This sister (claimed to be a student at the Sorbonne) turns out to be equally vacuous, with added unpleasantness and stupidity. The thought that either girl would gain anything by staying in Paris is absurd. They spend their time shopping and talking like the 'guests' from Big Brother. They'd have done the same in Newark or Bolton.
The blonde sister (the one from the Sorbonne) takes her dark sister (the depressing one) to a really groovy club called CATACOMBS - believe it or not, it's an illegal club set up by a young 'philosopher' who says fatuous things like 'Death is spectacle.' (He's no Sartre.) The club is situated in... wait for it... the actual catacombs under the Paris streets. Is that creepy and weird or not? Not.
Anyway, the two girls meet some French boys and drink absinthe. They dance around with a crowd of other people. Before we know it, the dark, depressing girl is lost in the catacombs and is being chased by a mad axeman wearing a goat mask... She runs around in the catacombs for the rest of the film. We're supposed to be getting REALLY SCARED. I was looking forward to being terrified or at least mildly frightened - but nothing much happened except an increasing feeling of ennui.
The dark girl's lines are of the 'f**k! s**t! help! oh God is anyone there?' variety. Eventually she meets a French man called Henri (like many American tourists she is unable to pronounce this and insists on calling him 'Henry' - as if he were Ray Liotta in 'Goodfellas'). 'Henry' helps her, but she simply ignores the fact that he can only speak French and she only English. She keeps asking him dumb questions in English and shows her gratitude to her rescuer by calling him 'asshole' and 'jerk' when things go wrong. Her intelligence really shows through when 'Henry' produces what a 5-year old can see is a street map of Paris. Our 'heroine' asks, 'What's that? Is it a map? IT'S A STREET MAP!' When 'Henry' suggests a way of walking through the catacombs to escape from the man with the goat mask, all the heroine can do is to complain,'Oh my God, it's so FAR!' Perhaps she thought she could phone for a cab instead - or get the subway.
Hardly surprisingly, there are no 'stars' in this grand entertainment. It isn't horrific in the least. The ending is quite clever, but to sit through the preceding hour and half to get there is asking too much of anyone. If you want a stylish, witty, and genuinely disturbing film set in the sewers and underground railways of London, watch Gary Sherman's DEATHLINE from the early Seventies.
This film was dead before anyone stepped foot in the catacombs. Less frightening than an international webcast by Lyndon Larouche - and nowhere nearly so funny... -
Leofwine_draca23 December 2015I've seen a lot of poor horror films in recent years but nothing prepared me for the mess that is CATACOMBS. Shot on the cheap in Romania by an American crew, and made with a list of unknown, amateur actors, boasting the appearance of pop star Pink in her first acting role, I have to say I wasn't expecting much. Then again, I knew the film was set in the Paris catacombs, and such places are undoubtedly good for atmosphere even if the film itself is lacking (I'm thinking the '80s Italian flick SPECTERS). Sadly, CATACOMBS wastes its setting from the start, never generating one iota of interest or intelligence from a stupid premise, and consisting of little more than a woman running around in tunnels armed with a torch, BLAIR WITCH-style.
The story is particularly stupid, so bad that you wonder who on earth would greenlight a plot such as this. It goes nowhere and is riddled with holes and inadequacies. Characters behave stupidly and change motivation as the script demands and nothing at all makes sense. The worst part, though, is the twist ending, which falls flat after becoming completely laughable. The acting is poor and the direction worse. Sossamon is bland as the supposedly empathetic lead and Pink is repellent in her acting debut. There's no gore here, no action either, and the only horror comes from a two-minute flashback sequence detailing the birth of a demon child to a pair of Satanists. This flashback, with its jagged editing and extremely repulsive imagery seemed out of place in CATACOMBS. I didn't care for it at all, but at least it was something: something the rest of the entire film is lacking. What a mess. -
jpfr-12 January 2008Was waiting hoping for a good title but I wish I could get my money back for watching this poorly made movie that is probably written by a 15 year old. The story is lame and its "inspired by true events" like they would say but if there where killing in the catacombs then wouldn't we know about it? Anywise this movie is a waste of good time and money I would avoid it if only I knew. I was expecting something good from the director. Not much from pink and didn't get anything. And lets not speak of the acting. Story : 1/10 Acting : 4/10 Sound : 7/10 how long it stays interesting : 3/10 If anybody els feels the same as me I wouldn't blame them what I don't get is what do people see good in this movie?.