In a Nutshell. Mini reviews of movies old and new. No fuss. No spoilers. And often no sleep.

Thursday 20 November 2014

AS ABOVE, SO BELOW [2014]

Director John Erick Dowdle revisits found footage horror film territory with As Above, So Below.
It follows a group of explorers that go deeper into the Catacombs of Paris than anybody has before, only to find there's a terrifying reason why not.
It starts off quite promising with it's well-acted characters embarking into a sense of mysterious adventure à la  Indiana Jones and a frightening claustrophobia reminiscent of The Descent.  The atmosphere and setting make for an extremely creepy crawl into the darkness, as hints of what's to come are placed at all the right moments sending tingles down the spine.  However once the visual "horror/action" elements starts kicking in it falls so far into overused scary movie tactics it's hard not to be disappointed.  A very good start to a so-so conclusion didn't leave me completely turned off but I still can't enthusiastically recommend it either.

3 wrong numbers out of 5

3 comments:

Dr Faustus said...

The title of this had me intrigued but if it's a found footage horror film I'll avoid it like the plague.
Someone ought to warn the Thelemites.

cuckoo said...

Technically I think the Thelemites stole it...someone ought to warn the Hermetics.

It's got some interesting ideas brought to the table that I would have loved to seen explored into greater detail but unfortunately it's found footage so the characters are more interested in running with the camera rather than allowing the photography to form any sort of exposition.

cuckoo said...

..Hermetics?

...Hermites?

Guys who dig Hermeticism. :D