As Above, So Below (2014)

When a team of explorers ventures into the catacombs that lie beneath the streets of Paris, they uncover the dark secret that lies within this city of the dead.

Director:

John Erick Dowdle

Writers:

John Erick Dowdle (screenplay), Drew Dowdle (screenplay)

Stars:

Perdita Weeks, Ben Feldman, Edwin Hodge

1 win & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Perdita Weeks	...	Scarlett
Ben Feldman	...	George
Edwin Hodge	...	Benji
François Civil	...	Papillon
Marion Lambert	...	Souxie
Ali Marhyar	...	Zed
Cosme Castro	...	La Taupe
Hamid Djavadan	...	Reza (as Hamidreza Javdan)
Théo Cholbi	...	Gloomy Teenager
Emy Lévy	...	Tour Guide (as Emy Levy)
Roger Van Hool	...	Scarlett's Father
Olivia Csiky Trnka	...	Strange Young Woman
Hellyette Bess	...	Strange Old Woman
Aryan Rahimian	...	Iranian Armed Guard
Samuel Aouizerate	...	Danny

Storyline

Miles of twisting catacombs lie beneath the streets of Paris, the eternal home to countless souls. When a team of explorers ventures into the uncharted maze of bones, they uncover the dark secret that lies within this city of the dead. A journey into madness and terror, As Above, So Below reaches deep into the human psyche to reveal the personal demons that come back to haunt us all.

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Plot Keywords:

catacomb | found footage | philosopher's stone | paris france | alchemy | 

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Taglines:

The only way out is down.

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Genres:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for bloody violence/terror, and language throughout

Did You Know?

Trivia

"As Above, So Below" is a saying from Occult Lore.

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Goofs

The headlamps used are all clearly on their lowest settings at all times. if they were at the highest or even "medium" settings, they would have illuminated the entirety of the confined spaces that the characters were in.

This was likely done to maintain some of "spookiness" that the film requires.

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Quotes

La Taupe: The only way out is down.

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Crazy Credits

On the last seconds of the end credits, you can hear a character saying "The only way out is down", followed by some of the noises heard on the catacombs earlier in the film.

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Connections

Referenced in Colony: Blind Spot (2016)

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Soundtracks

Hypsoline
Written by Sacha Got, Marlon Magnée and Clémence Quélennec
Performed by La Femme
Courtesy of Musique En Societe S.A.R.L.

User Reviews

Catacomb raider: The (unintentionally) hilarious adventures of Scarlet Croft

Precocious young female British archaeologist equipped with martial arts skills & mandatory posh voice (but this time without dual firing pistols) is off following her father's footsteps on an adventure to find an ancient mysterious artifact with fabled mystical powers.

It leads her into raiding a tomb (the French catacombs in this case, hmm why is this starting to remind me of something?) where mysterious things start happening involving angels & darkness. Along the way we are shown evidence as to how brilliant she is, for example she is an expert in languages (can string together a couple of basic words in French) & has a Masters in Chemistry, somehow allowing her to clean stone relics & perform basic First Aid. She is joined by her equally nonsensical potential love interest who fixes ancient clock towers using watchmaker glasses as a hobby & naturally translates Aramaic into modern English poetry.

So a little ridiculous then & not exactly original, but in this case that is part of it's charm. The movie continually sets up little sub plots that it is blatantly not going to do anything with, randomly introduces things that make no sense in order to lead to the next set piece & everything is done with such gleeful arbitrariness that I couldn't help but be charmed & highly amused by it.

Ultimately if you're looking for a dark unsettling movie about the nature of death, regret & evil or a psychological shaky cam movie with monsters you won't find either here (I'd recommend revisiting The Others or Rec instead). On the other hand if you fancy some faintly ridiculous, fun, funny adventure with good old fashioned scary set pieces give it a try.

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English French Latin

Release Date:

29 August 2014 (USA)

Also Known As:

As Above, So Below

Filming Locations:

Church of St Eustache, Paris 1, Paris, France

Box Office

Budget:

$5,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$8,632,820, 31 August 2014

Gross USA:

$21,321,100

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$41,898,409

Company Credits

Production Co:

Legendary Entertainment, Universal Pictures, Brothers Dowdle Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital Datasat SDDS Dolby Surround 7.1

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1