As Above, So Below

 

The idea of horror films being placed in one setting is not uncommon. The main idea of this is to put emphasis on the setting and to make for a claustrophobic film. The Blair Witch Project of 1999 or Evil Dead of 1981 involved settings in the woods and never left it once it was entered. In The Descent of 2005, the only setting was a cave. In Paranormal Activity of 2007, the setting was one house in San Diego. The list of horror films with a single setting could go on and on.    

As Above, So Below's director John Erick Dowdle is somebody who is very overlooked in the film world and is slowly turning into my favorite horror director around. His first film Poughkeepsie Tapes from 2007 never got a proper release through the theater and or on disk and can only be found on the internet but it got rave reviews from the few that did see it. Quarantine was a 2008 remake of a Spanish film that was set only in a apartment. In 2010, he puts out Devil which had a very interesting plot about a group of people trapped in an elevator with the devil being one of them. The film was so overlooked that the trilogy that was originally planned around it was cancelled. Now in 2014, his As Above, So Below is a horror movie following a very similar formula using claustrophobic ideas and the "found-footage" filmmaking technique. This is also kind of a Dowdle "formula film" but still, As Above, So Below is a very fun ride.                      

The movie follow around Scarlet Marlowe (Perdita Weeks) a middle-aged woman who's father has committed suicide and who's on a quest to continue her father's goal of finding the Flamel stone which can grant everlasting life. After going down to the catacombs beneath Paris to search for the stone with a group of explorers, strange hauntings and happenings occur.               


From the above plot described, it would seem like this is a magical-type adventure filled with fantasy. Well yeah, you could say that would be true but barely because unlike most horror films, As Above, So Far Below is quite full of culture, including Parisian, European and even the Middle East. Being set in Paris, it's uses European ideas and obviously has a French vibe. Lead character, Scarlet gives off such a vibe of being smart that she comes off as being a scholar. Once we enter the catacombs, it is full of many horror ingredients and to say this would be different ending for a found footage film would be quite correct.



Yes, it is silly for this to be a found-footage film because it really serves no purpose in the film. Even more problematic, these characters aren't very rich in substance and they are kind of all over the place but still the acting is far from a problem and just about everyone has a backstory which isn't necessarily common in these type of plots. The catacombs idea is quite original and brings a different vibe to the film but it becomes even more interesting once the film puts psychological and also metaphysical ideas on top of it. It's not the type of horror film that is going to outright scare you but at least you are going to be creeped out by the concept and for crying out loud, it is shot in the real catacombs of Paris which contain the remains of 6 million dead people!
    

In the end, As Above, So Below could be described "as Blair Witch in catacombs" or a really messed up version of "The Goonies". Anyway, As Above, So Far Below is an innovative shock to the horror genre in 2014. A film that literally came out of nowhere for me.



4/5