qmtv
Starts Great, 10 rating, then crap acting, dialogue, story quickly moves to a 1 rating. Complete Failure!Great beginning at an earlier time with a demon and exorcism, cinematography, editing, sets, creepy acting makeup blood. Beginning is a solid 10 rating. The rest of the movie. The present day. We get the female lead, which was OK, but nothing special. The acting all around was cheaper than soap opera. The dialogue sucked. The story sucked. The atmosphere sucked. The whole freaking movie was set in a monastery and its grounds. Boring slow crap. Nothing is explained. Why did the demon decide to escape at that point in time. Was it because of the girl? Who knows. The sets were decent in the catacombs and the cinematography was good. The rest of the movie sucked. It's incredible with suck a strong beginning that the rest of the movie fails in such a glorious way. They had a budget, good sets and cinematography. Some decent actors with crappy lines. The hero priest was one of the worst actors. The female lead was OK, but nothing great. The rating is probably closer to C/D, or 4 stars. But for the complete incompetence and failure of a boring slow nothing happening movie, it is an F, 1 star. The only reason to watch this movie is to compare your thoughts to the reviews listed here. Maybe you can find some entertainment there.
Wizard-8
I imagine that the basic plot of "Catacombs" - a demonic force being unsealed from its tomb after hundreds of years of imprisonment and causing havoc - will seem familiar to a number of viewers. But I didn't mind that, seeing that few modern day movies are totally original. Some might be bothered by the problem that some things in the movie are not properly explained, though fortunately these are minor details and don't hurt the movie too much. The real problem with this movie is that it is both too slow and not horrific enough. The movie moves at a sluggish pace, and it seems mighty slow in showing both horror and a building feeling of horror, even during the climatic sequence. There is a little genuine atmosphere built, but this movie needed more shocks, jolts and bite of a significant size. For what was a very low budget, the movie does look decent - the locations and sets are serviceable. But I think the majority of horror fans will feel let down by the very soft feeling this "horror" movie generates.
cllangkjaer
I have a correction to what was written in an earlier comment. Well this Movie WAS shot under the Catacombs title, not Curse 4. Due to the fall of Empire Pictures around 1989, this film was "lost" for a few years. Charlie Band sold the rights to Tristar/Epic along with the Rights for Robot Jox to Transworld, an earlier film from veteran director Stuart Gordon. Tristar released Catacombs under the Curse 4 title.( Video Box Office) Also The Film score was done by Italian Composer Pino Donaggio. It is a fantastic score, truly haunting. The Stereo sound from Tristar's full screen Laserdisc edition is done nicely. Though there is a little video grain in the picture. The Entertainment in video UK VHS edition is in 1:85:1 and the picture and sound quality is fairly good. This is one of my favorite Empire movies and it is a well put together film from Director David Schmoeller.
vh290096
Picking this title up for a couple of quid, I had hoped for a standard lame monster flick in which those dam monks get there just deserves. Surprisingly, the characters throughout are well rounded, often humorous and quite believable. The demon that stalks the catacombs has some cool moves that unfortunately are not really exploited in the films conclusion. If you like watching these kind of bargain basement titles then Catacombs will serve you well as it is a little more intelligent and atmospheric than usual. Although not particularly scary or gory this movie offers more than enough laughs and thrills to recommend a rental. 5 outa 10
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