Catacombs
May 1st 2008 01:10
Just like the cover of a book or the artwork on a record or CD, you can be seduced by the title, the graphic design, the cosmetics. But low and behold once you get into the actual content, you can be very much mistaken. The five movies I mentioned above all had impressive poster designs and intriguing premises. The same goes for the fifteen movies I’ve brought to your attention over the last couple of posts, so I suppose seven or so might actually be worth forking out your hard-earned dollars for.
Shannyn Sossamon as hapless Victoria
From the producers of Saw (I should’ve baulked when I saw that statement glaring at me from the top of the DVD cover) Catacombs (2007) tells the incredibly vacuous “tale” of Victoria (Shannyn Sossamon), a naïve American girl who is invited to join her sister Carolyn (Alecia Moore aka Pink, who looks nothing like Shannyn) in Paris for some serious partying. Victoria has never left Baltimore, but the postcard of the City of Light looks alluring so she jumps on a plane.
Alecia Moore as vexatious Carolyn
Ravers take a break to swim in a catacombs' grotto ... eerrgh!
Fascinating stuff, unfortunately when I was recently in Paris on my honeymoon the damn catacombs were closed for maintenance! I was gutted. Oh well, next time.
Victoria in underground fashion catalogue
I’m a DJ by night and believe me when I tell you the rave scenes were unimpressive; over-lit, unrealistically chaotic, and the music was boring as bat shit. Then there’s the menace; a grunting beast of a man in a fleshy goat’s head mask who pursues and terrorises those who stray to far into the shadows of the tunnels. Poor Victoria gets separated from her sister and, after police raid the rave and there’s a massive exodus, she spends the rest of the movie trying to find her way out of the labyrinth.
I don't even remember this scene in the movie! I must have fallen asleep!
I’m so tempted to spoil the utterly irresponsible behaviour which serves as the movie’s backbone, suffice to say that the movie’s violent denouement is the most ludicrous I’ve seen in a horror movie for a while. It’s almost as if the filmmakers found themselves backed into a dark corner and were desperate to find the light. The mediocre acting didn’t help. Alecia Moore is apparently keen on an acting career, I say don’t give up the Pink job just yet.
Nice decor, shame about the movie
Catacombs is a movie that should have been really fucking scary! Instead it falls apart from the beginning, and disintegrates at a rapid pace. It’s an utter waste of time and money, but more to the point, an utter waste of a great location. Although to be precise none of the movie was actually filmed in the real Parisian catacombs. Instead the production design recreated numerous tunnel sets in Bucharest, Romania.
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Comment by David O'Connell
Screen Fanatic
What was that one with Heath Ledger (more than one actually!) - The Order? God, that was one of the worst films I've ever seen!!!
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by Damo
For the Sake of Argument
My Apologetics
Oh well. Usually when something goes wrong in anything it always starts at the beginning so we get plenty of warning.
Blows me away that the place is real.
Comment by Bethany
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
And, yeah, Shannyn does have the chops, someone should give her something to chow down on!
Comment by XlupoldX
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile