Catacombs (2007)

Lack of good storyline.

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Admirable film.

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

Well, from the get go of this picture you can imagine almost everything that's gonna happen. If you are a daily movie watcher, you'll probably think that in the end, it was all Victoria's imagination and sick mind-- but hey, that's not what happens this time! Pink's character is extremely annoying, I was praying for her to die in the first scenes."Catacombs" is a strange film that was going very well until it's main character got lost in the cave; after that, it became a little boring and tiring to watch. I expected more story and less cat and mouse race. But, I have to admit this story is pretty original and runs away from most clichés, which is admirable for such low-budget production. The ending is ridiculous in my point of view, but it depends on what you like in a movie. Thought being entertaining at most times, doesn't deserve more than five stars.

Catacombs has nothing to do with the Catacombs from 1988, it's not a remake. The only comparison it has is that it takes place in a, sigh, catacomb. And that's what this movie is all about. It's being trapped in a catacomb that really looks like a maze. But the movie had his problems. Why oh why do pop stars want to act. Here we have the famous Pink! her acting is like other pop stars really wooden. And it's even a bit of overacting. But the main problem is the story itself. What starts of like a decent movie turns out to be a bit boring. The scene's were they show how the satanic cult lives in the catacombs is really nicely done. It is even a bit gory and the killing of the baby is even for some squeamish. But from that point it's only running and running. The plot is a surprise but again, what happens then is also overrated, and suddenly the end credits appear. But they say you can't judge a book on its cover but not for DVD's (or Blu Rays). It was stated as "from the producers of Saw". When you see "from the..." you almost immediately know that it's going to be bad.

Catacombs is about as basic as scary movies get. It's a pretty girl in the dark with a flashlight trying to get away from a guy in a goat mask. Occasionally, these filmmakers work way too hard to try and convince the audience (and probably themselves) that they're doing something more sophisticated and they throw a nihilistic twist in at the end. None of that disguises the fact that this entire script could have been written on the back of a cocktail napkin.Victoria (Shannyn Sossamon) is the quiet repressed sister who gets invited to Paris by her free spirited sibling Carolyn (Pink). Yeah, the pop singer Pink is in this thing. She's listed in the credits under her real name, so I wasn't expecting to see her. When she popped up on screen, I disgustedly said out loud "Oh, for God's sake". Not because I expected her to be terrible in the film, which she sort of is, but because I look more like Shannyn Sossamon's sister than Pink does. David Spade would have been more convincing in the role. Sossamon is a slim, dark, angular beauty. Pink looks like a very pretty bulldog that was dunked in peroxide. Imagine watching The Godfather and instead of Sonny Corleone looking like James Caan, he looked like Charles Nelson Reilly. That's the effect Pink has in this movie.Anyway, Carolyn introduces Victoria to her Eurotrash friends and then takes her to an illegal dance party in the catacombs under the streets of Paris. Victoria gets told the story of a killer in a goat mask who lives in the catacombs, winds up separated from everyone and unsurprisingly winds up getting chased through the catacombs by the goat mask killer. She gets away from him, literally wanders around in the dark for about a half hour where nothing happens and as she's just about to escape from the catacombs, the big nihilistic twist kicks in. I've seen worse twist endings, but that doesn't mean this one is any good.There are parts of Catacombs that are really bad, where every visual cliché from every heavy metal music video or horror movie of the last 10 years gets thrown onto the screen. There are other parts, though, that are actually affecting. This film is a bit like those "ghost hunter" shows you find on basic cable. It's silly and contrived and your first instinct is to snicker at it, but the rough simplicity of a frightened person alone in the dark, wondering what's going to happen next, can still get to you.The story begins and ends with bursts of high energy, but there's a whole lot of nothing in between. None of the characters rise above the generic. You do get to see some random naked boobs, but not from the titular stars of this production. And what violence there is, is more suggested than graphic.Catacombs is a horror movie for Amish teenagers. If you've never seen a horror movie before, you might find it exciting. If you're at all familiar with the genre, you'll recognize this as another sub-mediocre entry. I'd probably have harsher things to say about this movie, except I watched Rob Zombie's Halloween II earlier this week. In contrast with that shambling monstrosity, I'm forced to recognize a certain level of competence in this film. So, if you ever watch a horror movie so awful it makes you feel like the director has propped open your mouth and urinated down your throat, you might get some enjoyment out of watching Catacombs. Unless your aesthetic standards have been pushed down that low, you're probably better off avoiding it.

As a lover of the horror genre I am tired of films that rely on blood and gore to not scare but simply gross out the viewer, I prefer films that work on more of a psychological level and this one definitely does. It starts of fast with two sisters visiting each other in Paris, They decide to go to a party in the catacombs under the city and all hell breaks loose. The acting was very good for a horror film and I thought that the atmosphere was very well done and made the film very creepy. The direction was a little erratic at times and I couldn't always follow what was going on but other than that the film was the most disturbing movie I have seen since The Exorcist.