Catacombs (2007)

Catacombs (2007)
Directors: Tomm Coker, David Elliot
Writers: Tomm Coker, David Elliot
On her first trip to Paris, a young woman hits a party in the Catacombs, the 200-mile labyrinth of limestone tunnels under the city that's lined with the remains of 7 million people. Separated from her friends, she becomes convinced that someone or something is chasing her.
'Before the movie starts in what I guess is a way to form some real horror tone to the film, we are told due to space Paris was built on the biggest mass grave in the history of the world. Cut to present day and the hedonistic filled Paris youths don't care what lays beneath the city only what fun they can have. The film starts with moody anxiety ridden Victoria (played by the attractive actress Shannyn Sossamon) being picked up at the Paris airport by her sister Carolyn (played by pop star Pink) for what promises to be a party fueled trip. Only instead of going to some dull club Carolyn decides to take her sister to the ultimate party down in the catacombs of Paris. It's a regular youth bash that’s held in a different location somewhere within the supposedly 300 miles of skeleton filled catacombs. Instead of keeping with the core few hundred party goers Victoria & Carolyn break away with the charismatic party founder and his friends. Here they sit get wasted on absinth and tell spooky stories about the caverns many myths. One being about a sect called the black virgins who rumor says raised a boy born of incest on raw meat, he’s forced to wear a goats mask and is never let above to the surface in the hope he'll turn into Satan. Victoria rightly spooked wants to go back to the main party for fear of her getting lost Carolyn takes her back. Only they get lost and pursued by a goat masked killer, Carolyn's is the 1st to get attacked and killed leaving poor Victoria alone, She manages to fight the goat masked attacker off and somehow get back to the main party. Only the party as been crashed by the police, which causes 100s of youths to run riot trying to find an exit instead of being arrested, Victoria follows the masses only before reaching the exit she bangs her head and falls to the floor. She wakes up alone some time later, only the exit as now been shut by the police this is when the nightmare really starts can she find her way out ?. The tension and mood make up for the predictable story, the dark torch lit caverns which I'm not sure are real locations or sets but are highly reminiscent of first person video games like Doom or Wolfenstein. The use of light and ambient music helps greatly, also the films editing is classy. The slight let down was for a film so dark you couldn’t see your hand if you held it up infront of your face, you could see the ending coming miles off. Not that bad though sure the teen market will love it and as horrors go it had scares and was well acted, Shannyn Sossamon was perfect for this style of film. Not usually my thing teen survival horror, but as much as it pains me to admit its above average and I found myself on more than a few occasions thoroughly gripped.'

(7 out of 10)