As Above, So Below, is a new horror film that arrives during the dog days of summer. It uses the overly tired faux documentary/found footage style without lending anything new to the genre. The film is marketed as straight horror, yet it leaves the audience without a shred of suspense.
As Scarlett’s camera crew and money-hungry drones delve deeper into the catacombs red flags appear everywhere begging them to turn back. Passageways collapse, a presumed missing man reappears long enough to bark an ominous warning and people start seeing phantoms from the past. These are all quintessentially overused horror tropes recycled to death, yet it’s possible the filmmakers hoped the audience would not notice.
It’s quite difficult to divulge much more of the plot, because it’s as thin as the walls holding up our fearless crew. Relics begin to appear signifying horrifying events in each of the characters’ lives. A burning car and decrepit piano are just two examples. However, there is one problem: the so-called events are spoken as throwaway lines and never pack the punch they are meant to. Also, just for kicks, the director and co-writer, John Erick Dowdle, throws in a love story. Apparently Scarlett and George (played by the wide-eyed Ben Feldmen) have been in sticky situations before, resulting in his imprisonment in Turkey. George reluctantly helps Scarlett, because his two weeks in Turkey were “the best weeks of his life.” Yes, the dialogue is that laughable the entire way through.
Perdita Weeks and Ben Feldman in “As Above, So Below.” Photo by Bruno Calvo – © 2014 – Legendary Pictures/Universal Pictures.
Two of the biggest problems with the film are the character development and believability quotient. The viewer never spends much time with any certain character (who all talk and act the same) so when they start to meet their demise it is hard to care. Not to mention, the camera work is so overly shaky it is nearly impossible to tell what is happening to whom at any given moment. Also, you never quite trust the cast is in as much peril as they pretend to be. But this could be a result of underworked direction and not just plain bad acting.
It’s a miracle this claustrophobic dreck of a film got a theatrical release. You’ll be thinking the same thing when the film descends into borrowing a scene straight from Sleeping Beauty during the climax. Save your money on a ticket and the cost of a bottle of Dramamine and wait for some of the more intriguing films than As Above, So Below arriving this fall.
Matt Santia
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