What a fun horror movie! As Above So Below turned out to be way better than I thought it was going to be. We go along on a expedition underneath Paris into the catacombs where the remains of 6 million people lay arranged in macabre shrines or otherwise stacked like long forgotten debris. While it’s the perfect setting for a horror movie, why would anyone go wandering around down there alone?

Treasure! More specifically, the Philosopher’s Stone, the legendary holy grail of alchemy. The Stone is said to be able to turn base metals into gold and has incredible powers of rejuvenation, including immortality. I love alchemist lore from watching Full Metal Alchemist, so having that hook turned out to be a real draw for me.

Scarlett is obsessed with finding the Philosopher’s Stone to finish her late father’s work. She gets a young man named Benji to document the last leg of the journey and finds an old flame (George) to help her translate a major piece of the puzzle that she nearly died to get her hands on. Soon, they believe they have found where Nicolas Flemel put the stone, in a hidden section of the catacombs under Paris. With three guides who say they know their way around, they go in together. It isn’t long before things get weird. And then crazy dangerous. There’s a reason this thing was hidden away hundreds of feet below ground generations ago.

This journey to the outer rim of hell is presented as footage captured from the cameras the characters brought with them. While in the  “found footage” genre, the movie doesn’t stick to any presentation rule. It’s more like you’re going with them and jumping from camera to camera to get the best view of what’s going on as it’s happening. It’s kind of like being a character and a omnipresent observer at the same time. I think it works well, as once the movie goes underground, you’re crammed in with this group feeling like if they don’t get out, neither will you. There’s a Dante’s Inferno tilt to the movie mixed into the lore of the Philosopher’s Stone that I think worked really well together.

The darkness, weird audio and the unrelenting claustrophobia really sell the tension and fear. There are some crazy good ideas in As Above So Below, the creativity was a blast to watch (kudos to the special effects work) and direction is often great (absolutely loved the last shot).  I liked all the characters and aside from them reacting to the early crazy stuff too calmly (and continuity problems with people getting wet and dry), it all felt believable.

The Descent (2009) is the easiest comparison to this movie, but I think that’s much more of a monster movie than this. The motivation and history used for As Above So Below make it stand on it’s own and totally worth checking out. Of the horror movies I’ve seen recently, I dug this as much as Afflicted and VHS 2. Remember, the only way out is down!