Catacombs (2007)

Directors:

Tomm Coker
David Elliot

Writers (WGA):

Tomm Coker (written by) &
David Elliot (written by)

Release Date:

6 July 2007 (Italy)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

Below the city of lights exists a world of darkness.

Plot:

On her first trip to Paris, a young woman hits a party in the Catacombs, the 200-mile labyrinth of limestone...

Plot Keywords:

Slit Throat | Claustrophobic | Prank | Inspired By Documentary | Taxi

Cast

Shannyn Sossamon	...	Victoria
Pink	...	Carolyn (as Alecia Moore)
Emil Hostina	...	Henri
Sandi Dragoi	...	Liaves
Mihai Stanescu	...	Jean Michele
Cabral Ibacka	...	Hugo
Radu Andrei Micu	...	Nico
Cain Manoli	...	Leon
DJ Kosta	...	DJ
Marcello Cobzarju	...	Customs Officer #1
Marinela Chelaru	...	Customs Officer #2
Catalin Rotaru	...	Customs Officer #3
Tomm Coker	...	Dr. Giggles
Maxime X.	...	Virgin Mother
Conner Gebhart	...	Goat boy

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence, terror and disturbing images, language, some nudity and drug content.

Runtime:

USA:100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French

Color:

Color

Certification:

South Korea:18 | Philippines:R-13 (MTRCB) | Portugal:M/16 | USA:R | Australia:MA (2008) | Japan:R-15 | Finland:K-18 | Singapore:M18 | Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Bucharest, Romania

Company:

Lions Gate Films

Trivia:

Producer Gregg Hoffman died during the making of the film, and production was halted for about six months.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Victoria: My sister sent me a postcard. All it said was, "Come to Paris. It will be good for you." Forty-eight hours after I arrived, she and everyone I'd met were dead.

Soundtrack:

Love Theme from Catacombs

Some entertaining moments but blows its potential. Flashlight consolation

This film has amazing potential including the mysterious underground catacombs of Paris, a rave in the crypts, weirdos galore including the lead -- even a goat monster on the prowl. Unfortunately, while it offers some entertainment value, it devolves into a jumble of underground in the dark shots that are not patched together well, and in the end, nothing much to take it beyond the potential and into the realm of a good movie.

With hundreds of miles of catacombs to play with you would think they could have dreamed up some interesting places to stop. Maybe the Nazi bunker which is down there would have added some creep. Or a secret meeting place of a cult. An old crazy recluse. I mean, something more than endless stairs and passageways and pools of water and places that look like the attic of an old house in need of a rummage sale. There's just nothing to make you go "Wow!" or prickle the hairs on the back of your neck.

It doesn't help that the attractive lead is an asexual emo queen. Sure, she's been through a lot, but most of her actions consist of screaming and running, followed by more screaming and running, topped off by more screaming and running. By the end she is thoroughly unlikeable mess with no real redeeming qualities, and that's before the real "end" which I won't spoil here.

Actually the best part of the movie was the flashlight. To steal a line from Will Smith: "I have GOT'S to get me one of those." Not only does it last forever, and display immunity to immersion in water, it survives falling ~100 feet onto hard concrete and doesn't lose a lumen in the process. Hmmm. The fact that the flashlight steals the show says something about this movie. Not a bad movie. Just not a good one.