Catacombs is not very scary -- but I loved the ending.

The maze-like city beneath the city of Paris is, of course, the perfect setting for a horror movie. Populated by the corpses of six or seven million skeletal remains of Parisians past, the hundreds of miles of winding passages cast in perpetual preternatural darkness have claimed the lives of many who never found their way back to the light. The mystery of the place, reinforced by the authorities' attempts to keep people out, makes it an irresistible attraction to rebellious young people and others with a penchant for the darker side.

This film never manages to capture the truly claustrophobic and disorienting nature of the catacombs or to inspire any real sense of fright in the viewer, but it is still well worth watching if you're a horror fan -- thanks in large part to a very effective ending.

We don't know a lot about Victoria (Shannyn Sossamon) when she arrives in Paris. She's there because her sister Carolyn (played by Pink, aka Alecia Moore) invited her, she takes pills to help her deal with anxiety, and that's about it. Carolyn is her complete opposite, a total extrovert who lives a rather bohemian lifestyle apparently centered around having fun. The historic attractions of Paris apparently have little meaning for her, as she almost immediately drags her weary sister to a secret underground party located in -- well, I'm sure you can figure that one out on your own. Naturally, Victoria eventually ends up lost and alone, desperately searching for a way out while being pursued by someone or something with bad intentions.

These catacombs never really come to life. The passages seem too wide, there is an almost complete lack of crawlspaces requiring one to skitter along atop or through piles of human remains, and there is never a sense of the walls and ceilings closing in. I'm highly claustrophobic, and this film never made me the least bit uncomfortable. Without the buildup of any sense of dread, the scenes that are supposed to be frightening don't really deliver, either. So why don't I hate it? The ending really saves this film from being average and somewhat forgettable.

I would argue that it is not predictable (I did guess right about one thing, but the ending as a whole was not something I saw coming), and that it is quite effective -- and, at least for me, quite satisfying. If you only watch one movie set in the catacombs beneath Paris, watch As Above, So Below -- but give Catacombs a chance, as well.