Film 78 - As Above, So Below

As Above, So Below - 10/09/2014

Back in 2005, my cousin James and I convinced my life-long friend to join us at the cinema to watch "The Descent".  We told her it was a period drama about the descent in to madness.  What we watched was a terrifying, claustrophobic masterpiece that still holds strong today.  Characters you care about and an environment that felt so tight and cramp that there are times you struggle to breathe.  I am also proud to say that I have not seen the sequel (not made by Neil Marshall)

Back to 2014, and I am sat contemplating the lack of decent horror films this year, hoping that my next film, As Above, So Below would redeem the year.

Done as a found footage film, again, a group of explorers, spelunkers, and archaeologists descend into the catacombs of Paris in search of a mysterious stone which legends says is found a the entrance to the gates of Hell.

AA,SB takes a good 40 minutes to set up characters and back story, but I struggled to care about most of the team or their reasons.  The location is definitely creepy and there are real moments of claustrophobia.  As for scares, pretty much all of then are shown in the trailer, so by the time I came to watch the full film there was nothing much left.  I seem to remember only one real jump which came from the "F.E.A.R Alma and her ladders" book of scares.

With all found footage there has to be a reason to keep filming instead of just dumping the camera and running.  As each person's head light is fitted with a camera this problem is mainly dealt with well, however there is also a camera man documenting the expedition carrying round a HUGE camera despite crawling through squeeze holes and dropping down shafts.  Surely there would be a point that you would just leave it behind.

AA,SB is not a bad film, it does what it sets out to do, but there are definitely better attempts out there.