As Above , So Below is an challenging excavation horror movie that tries to conflate the populace of Indiana Jones with the find footage musical genre . And though the location are breathtaking and the scares very real , the film as a whole collapses under its own mythology . But we hold open rooting for the survivors .
manoeuver by John Erick Dowdle ofQuarantine , who co - wrote the book with his brother Drew Dowdle , As Above , So Below did a lot of things correct and a lot of thing wrong . But what really make this movie stand out above the rest of the low-down - budget horror movie glut was the decision to shoot on location in the Parisian catacombs . It does n’t take much to make the dark grave ( which house more than six million souls ) freaky , and As Above use every corner and cranny of those tunnels of the dead , creating an surpassing shivering factor .
The level is centered around the foolhardy , “ I arouse up like this ” beauty Scarlett . She ’s a modern - day archeologist and student of alchemy . But unlike the stage - holstered video secret plan harpy she will most likely be compared to , Scarlett dons the prerequisite khaki ensembles with a kind of earnestness that you want to consider . Even when it ’s let on that Scarlett is descending into the depths of the catacomb to retrieve an artifact to uphold her founder ’s legacy — and it ’s all you may do not to turn into the * cough cough Lara Croft , Lara Croft coughing * dick — I still really , really touch base to the character . Perhaps it was the clever molding of Perdita Weeks , an actresses who manages to be so lasting and so drive that you ca n’t blame the fate company as they crawl head first into the gate of hell .
That ’s essentially the premise : a bunch of incredibly wise tyke are led by a crew of Parisian street urchin inside catacombs on a hunt for the wizard philosopher ’s I. F. Stone . And instead of heading to Diagon Alley , they comply a bunch Indiana Jones meet National Treasure - type clew into the abyss and stumble upon Hell . And it ’s in this hotchpotch of historical action versus classic revulsion where things start to get tricky .
Above ground , it ’s allBlues Clues for history nerds . Like in any unspoiled Da Vinci Code - type moving picture , Scarlett ’s historical secrets are blot out within the etchings of famous tombstones or carved into the side of a historical memorial . Which is to say , you ’re not really learning anything about the historical import of Nicolas Flamel ( steward of the problematical Harlan Stone ) or the bailiwick of alchemy , but a sight of pretty people put together ancient puzzles really tight and you feel smart just for being clued in on the chase . In fact , oftentimes Scarlett and her band are spit out Romance meaninglessness so fast there ’s really no direction you could keep up . But long story short , the rock act the wall and look , quondam scary shit — we’re smart !
But this is also where As Above radiancy . There ’s no overexplaining , no lengthy monologue about character ’s backstory . You ’re given the creature to put the pieces together yourself , especially where it interest Pap , the leader of the Gallic catacomb kids ( and my personal favorite quality ) , and Scarlett . unhappily , the rest of the gang does n’t get the same kind of light touch with their personal tale , and it ’s a bummer because the Dowdles are understandably good at this .
The deeply the movie endure underground , the faster the diachronic puzzle solving gets . The catacombs precede the band into Hell and it ’s maybe two steps down beforeAs Above , So Below goes full Event Horizon . And Hell land out the fright inside each traveller within the tunnels , playing on the creepiness of the “ this does not belong here ” sensation . reckon your puerility piano appearing around a bouldery corner . A ring phone is just a ringing telephone , unless it ’s sitting on a dusty table hundreds of feet below the earth , inside a giant grave accent . And when it work , it really put to work . There ’s one particular manifestation that was badger just a snatch and later blossomed into a glorious horror show . It was really just swell .
In the beginning , these fantastical manifestations work with the puzzle - solving realness . The character ’ exploration into the Old - World religious mysticism somehow put them stomach - down , crawl through the backdoor of Hell . So the brain shenanigan work . You keep solving these puzzles , and we ’re going to keep barrage you with your own personal horror . But the further the crew descend , the less the picture relies on personal demons and the more it just starts to cast random scare at the characters . As Above work up this wonderfully elaborate and glowering world , but does n’t fully utilise it . Why take us to Hell if you ’re just going devolve into a haunted family of jump panic attack ? And as the scares become more and more disorderly , so does the logic behind the historical scavenger hunt that pay back them there .
That being said , there are a lot of very weird and noteworthy risks As Above takes that do pan out . I was completely enrapture by the last few moment and the reflexion I mentioned earlier . And for a POV horror moving picture , there was plenty that feel fresh and novel .
Thankfully , As Above does n’t attempt to outdo the claustrophobic colossus that is ( and evermore shall be ) one of the good horror films ever made , The Descent . As Above has those spelunking repulsion moments , but here there is much more of a puzzler - driven , video plot - like motivating to get through the maze and win the prize ( your life ) .
Perhaps ifAs Above spent more time mining the role for revulsion and depth , the emotional character Southern Cross of the moving-picture show would n’t have draw out laughs from the audience , and I would experience more comfortable recommending it . Then again , there ’s a lot of really challenging camera piece of work and plot decisions that deserve to be applauded . So that ’s where I fall on As Above So Below : a fate of effective ideas and a heap of bad mind in one pic .
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