Imagine being trapped and lost in catacombs hundreds of feet beneath the city. As Above/So Below exploits that fear well. It’s unfortunate that the narrative isn’t nearly as strong. There are definite cinematic skills on display and director John Erick Dowdle (Quarantine, Devil) excels at creating both a claustrophobic environment and delivering startling jump scares. But the story may raise chuckles instead of tension. Enjoyment on the part of the viewer will ultimately depend on how much silliness you can handle between the effective moments.
Scarlett (Perdita Weeks) is a woman on a mission, obsessed with finding the Philosopher’s Stone. When she discovers evidence suggesting it may be located in the catacombs beneath Paris, she recruits a friend named George (Ben Feldman), a cameraman and a group of locals to guide her into the maze-like underground. Of course, it isn’t long after exploring the hidden area that strange events begin occurring. The party soon finds itself headed deeper and deeper, trapped with a strange and terrifying supernatural force.
As is currently common in the genre, the filmmakers take a found-footage approach to the proceedings. Much of the footage is inter-cut from various GoPro cameras mounted on heads as well as a larger HD camera operated by one of the crew members. Admittedly, the filming is too shake-ridden for its own good, but overall this is an instance where it makes sense and doesn’t hurt the movie.
The explorers are forced on several occasions to crawl through tiny spaces and the technique does emphasize the claustrophobia. In fact, one of the scariest scenes in the film involves a character who panics after becoming wedged and immobile while crawling through a tight space. The photography perfectly conveys the tightness of the environment. All of the images in general look much better here than in other movies of its ilk, with the browns and red reading quite atmospherically at times.
And on a technical level Dowdle knows exactly what he’s doing when it comes to generating scares. He hides blurry shapes in the darkness behind the group and perfectly times the arrival of various creatures in a variety of startling ways. There are also some interesting visual concepts – one highlight occurs late in the film when the panicked group find themselves so deep within the catacombs that the setting begins to mirror itself and the environment flips in a subtle but dizzying manner.
While it looks great, it is unfortunate that the story isn’t more convincing. The characters often appear too prepared for the bizarre events they encounter. Additionally, many early moments intended to be foreboding come across as amusing rather than scary. These include the appearance of a mascara-heavy background extra trying to look threatening and the inexplicable appearance of a choir group who perform nude in the underground.
As the group witness this and other unusual phenomena, their reactions veer wildly. Sometimes they seem understated at the strangeness, while at other moments they appear to overplay the terror. And the sheer number of times one character states, “This is the way out!” ends up raising a chuckle – if one took a drink every time it was stated, they probably wouldn’t make it to the end credits. And as all is finally revealed, the message and theme ends up being very similar (in fact, almost identical) to that of the Dowdle’s previous film. It gets the job done, but lacks impact and feels overly familiar.
As Above/So Below is a tad silly but it looks good and does provide a few decent scares. In many respects, it’s better than most recent terror titles. Personally, it’s a borderline call sitting right between a C+ and B-. In the end, the film may not be quite worthy of a full recommendation, but horror and B-movie enthusiasts will at least get a jolt or two out of it.