AS ABOVE, SO BELOW (R)
Released by Universal Pictures
Review by Adam Mast
Anyone else tired of found footage movies? Some of them work, but more often than not, this whole style feels like a breeding ground for lazy film-makers. For every BLAIR WITCH, CHRONICLE, and V/H/S/2, there seems to be a DEVIL INSIDE, APOLLO 18, and DEVIL’S DUE waiting in the wings. And with early reports suggesting that a new FRIDAY THE 13TH reboot may incorporate the found footage technique (if you want to call it that), it looks like this tiresome craze is here to stay.
So, does the new thriller AS ABOVE, SO BELOW do the found footage schtick proud? No, it doesn’t. In fact, it could be argued that if this film were shot in a traditional style, it might have worked to stronger effect. Alas, the studio probably looked at the script and said; “Well, we’ll greenlight you but you’re going to have to shoot it on an extremely tight budget.”
Found footage element aside, AS ABOVE, SO BELOW is a slightly better than average spook alley show about an attractive archeologist who teams with an ex-boyfriend, a camera man, and a couple of tour guides in an effort to explore a labyrinthian collection of underground catacombs in Paris. Once below, our lead characters quickly realize that sinister forces are at work underneath the city’s surface.
It’s quite surprising that it took someone this long to make a thriller about the dark, murky, twisty catacombs that rest below the surface of one of the world’s most famous cities. Better late than never, I suppose. From a story stand point, AS ABOVE, SO BLELOW is a fusion of THE DESCENT, THE GOONIES, and EVENT HORIZON and while it isn’t as strong as any of those pictures, director John Erick Dowdle (DEVIL) gets a ton of mileage out of a genuinely creepy location. It’s too bad that the found footage antics force him to shoot the majority of these catacombs in a tight, muddled manner.
Did I buy into the gorgeous Perdita Weeks as an archeologist? Not in the slightest. Was the found footage aspect of this picture irritating? Definitely. Still, AS ABOVE, SO BELOW offers up a handful of genuine scares and the ending of the picture is as creative as it is disorienting. Most importantly though, if you’re the slightest bit claustrophobic, then this flick is sure to give you nightmares. And since this is a horror picture, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Check out the trailer here:
1 Comment.
Completely agree with you about found footage. And the problems isn’t just the camera work either. It’s also the inane ‘real’ dialogue you have to endure. Drives me nuts. It’s a shame, too, because the trailer looks intriguing.