Rating of
3/4
Catacombs.
TrifibianTerror - wrote on 04/21/10
Catacombs.
The film tells the story of Victoria, a young woman, also mentally unstable, who is invited to Paris by her bitch of a sister. Upon arrival, her sister brings her shopping, insults her fashion sense and has her friends scare the poor girl witless. Afterwards, they bring her to an illegal underground rave taking place in the Paris catacombs. Confused and a little uncomfortable amidst the ear-drum shattering rave, Victoria, her sister, her friends and the host of the rave, the self-reightous and cocky Jean-Michel, go into a quiet back room, where they take drugs, drink and proceed to frighten Victoria some more. They tell her, after the myriad ghost stories, of the Cult of the Black Virgin, who bred for themselves the Antichrist, which was set loose in the labyrinthine tunnels.
When the group (well, Victoria's sister) decide to go for a swim in a freezing underground pool, Victoria leaves her slut of a sister and tries to make her way back to the rave. But, of course, she gets lost. Now trapped in the dark, her mind starts to wander a little, and it becomes apparent that something is following her. After a brief encounter, we meet the Antichrist: a subhuman, boiler suit wearing maniac with a goatskin mask who kills her sister. Awesome.
Chases ensue, Victoria finds herself back at the rave, only for it to be disbanded by the police and Victoria knocked unconscious by a truncheon. She wakes up, runs some more, and eventually meets up with Henri, a lunatic drunkard hobo with no English who tries to help Victora get out alive with his map, aswell as himself. But he falls down a small shaft, shatters a leg, Victoria steals the map and runs off, promising to get help. Then there is more chasing, Vicotira finds a passage out by the Metro, but runs off because the Antichrist is hot on her heels. She finds a pick axe to defend herself, and defend herself she does, as she pick axe's the Antichrist in the face near the end...only to find out it was one of her sister's friends, and that her sister is alive and well, and that the whole mind-shattering experience was a prank, a cruel, evil prank, or an 'initiation' according to Victoria's sister. She then proceeds to scream at Victoria for killing her friend for a good 3 minutes befre Victoria pick axe's her and the rest before wnadering dazily out of the underground, drenched in blood. She gets into a taxi and it ends.
Now, it may sound like I didn't like this film, but I did. It had an interesting backstory, a great setting and a believable main character. The sister is a total slut and her friends are asses, and the Antichrist was suitably freaky. It was paced quite well, with chases and aimless wandering done in moderation, and yes, the revelation was wholly unoriginal, but it was fun to see Victoria's sister get a pick axe in the face.
I can't say much more than that, since it really was a good film. It didn't have much in the way of an original soundtrack only he INCESSANT techno music.
You know what, check it out. If you like horror films, check it out. It's not a film for everybody, believe you me, but it's fun. Worth a rental or cheap second hand edition.
