Release: 2014.
Writer/director: John Erick Dowdle
Do you enjoy a bit of claustrophobia? Spelunking your game? Join Scarlett and her team as they run around underground in search of a history mystery.
We first meet Scarlett in Iran as she finds the Rose key which will decipher the plaque to find the philosophers stone… just before the caves are destroyed. We meet up again as she joins a team of urban explorers in Paris. Off to search down the catacombs for the for the philosophers stone, a failed life mission of her father.
There is a lot to like in the premise of the movie, bringing in a lot of great horror touch points; following a family legacy, old mysteries (Philosopher’s stone, nine circles of hell), found footage filming, being stuck or lost underground, atmospheric setting in old tunnels full of bones, pseudo-documentary. But the movie soon turns the corner of the tunnel and descends to running around with ghouls and noises as they get picked off one by one in an unsatisfying way. Then plop (or roll) back to the land above/below in an anticlimactic way.
The good stuff:
- Set and filmed in the actual Paris catacombs, makes this a good match for the found footage style and adds to the horror setting.
- Gaining speed up to nearly the middle of the movie the tension builds nicely.
- Adding in some tension with the character background helps to round them out and makes the viewer feel invested in them.
Not so good:
- All the clichéd pretty, young people
- The pacing seemed to drag on once the tunnel running around started
- The ambiguous ending did not leave you wondering why, it just felt flat.
Not a bad movie for a low budget film (5 million budget) Well worth the 93 minutes as it is very watchable for most of the movie.
Uncanny Lounge 
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