Released in 2014, the story follows a team of adventurers as they explore the Catacombs of Paris.
The movie was crafted by John Erick Dowdle and his brother Drew. The Brothers’ Dowdle were the force behind the absolutely abysmal flick “The Poughkeepsie Tapes” which, I think I called for them to retire from movie making. “As Above, So Below” isn’t nearly as bad, managing to complete a ten yard pass before fumbling the ball.
Indiana Jones meets Lara Croft
Scarlett Marlowe (Perdita Weeks) leads the team. She’s an adventurer in the mold of Lara Croft; beautiful and reckless. Scarlett’s team consists of ex-boyfriend George (Ben Feldman), Benji (Edwin Hodge) Souxie (Marion Lambert) Zed (Ali Marhyar) and my favorite character, Pap (François Civil) who is the guide into the catacombs.
One can decipher from the onset that every character, save for Scarlett, will be expendable at some point.
The setting can’t be scripted.
The Catacombs of Paris are very real, and interesting to read about. A series of seemingly endless tunnels beneath the city, the catacombs are claustrophobic and extremely dangerous. Not to mention, dark, and creepy – they house over 6 million bodies.
As we’ve seen in the past, The Brothers’ Dowdle wreck a chilling premise by including a bunch of junk. The found footage angle is cool. Each member of the team has a head camera on, and we get different perspectives from them all. It’s dark and spooky in the tunnels. They encounter weird things and some ghoulish people. I disliked the insertion of magical elements and the like.
“As Above, So Below” is okay. There are much better and much worse options for found footage horror.
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