As Above/So Below

"Abandon all hope ye who enter here"

As Above/So Below tells us that these are the words believed to be written over the gates of Hell.  They are also the same words inscribed near the entrance to a desolate cave that our heroes foolishly enter.  I'm going to go one step further and say that theater owners should place these words over the door of any cinema showing this movie.

This is Hollywood's umpteenth attempt at "found footage" horror.  In theory, the approach is supposed to bring us closer to the characters and the terror they face by placing us in the middle of the action.  In reality, it usually results in a blurry mess that has viewers reaching for some Dramamine instead of covering their eyes in fright.  I have to wonder, are there still some people out there who are thrilled by movies that consist of nothing but characters poking around in the dark until something happens, at which point the camera shakes around so violently, we can't even tell what is supposed to be happening or what we're looking at?  If you want to recreate the experience of this movie at home, turn off the lights, grab a camera, and fumble around blindly.  Have a friend or neighbor waiting in the dark somewhere to throw an object at your camera at random, while you shake the camera violently, screaming "Oh my God, what is that??".  Not only will you have saved yourself the price of a ticket, but you'll probably be having more fun than you would watching this.

The reason why films like The Blair Witch Project and the better entries in the Paranormal Activity series worked is because they actually allowed us to get close to the characters, and made us feel like we were watching the events through their eyes.  We felt like we were right there along with them during the more tense moments.  We never get that effect here, because this movie never really tells us anything about these characters.  We learn maybe one thing about each major character.  This isn't for character development, however, it's to set up a cheap scare later on.  You see, our main characters are trapped in some kind of hellish cave where they are forced to confront their inner demons.  One character's father killed himself, so that person is haunted by visions of their father hanging from a noose as they explore the cave.  That's as deep as the movie goes.  This approach could have created some decent scares, but because we know nothing about these people, there is no impact when their individual pasts haunt them.

Who are our heroes, exactly?  They're a group of adventurers led by a young tomb raider named Scarlett (Perdita Weeks).  She's spent the past few years tracking down the legendary philosopher's stone, which is believed to be able to turn lead into gold, heal the wounded, and grant the user immortality.  With such a fantasy-based subject right off the top, the "found footage" approach shoots itself in the foot, as we don't believe in what we're watching for a second.  But, I digress.  Scarlett believes she has tracked down the location of the stone in a series of tunnels underneath the streets of Paris.  She brings her good friend, George (Ben Feldman), along for the adventure, as well as a small band of experts who know their way through the tunnels.  The deeper they explore, the individual members of the team are haunted by hallucinations of their inner demons.  There are also ghosts, I think, and some satanic worshipers roaming around down there.

As Above/So Below is not really concerned with explaining itself.  I think the basic idea is that these characters are supposed to be descending into Hell the deeper they go into the caverns, but it's never quite clear.  What is apparent is that the movie is not intense or terrifying at any point or time.  I don't know how you film an entire movie in a decrepit and dank cavern, and not create a sense of claustrophobia, but somehow the filmmakers have done just that.  The nightmarish illusions tied to their individual pasts that the characters experience also leaves no impact upon the viewer because, as I mentioned before, we know nothing about these people to start with.  In a better script, these sequences could have been scary and maybe even poignant.  Here, they're either uninspired junk, or inspire unintentional laughs, such as a scene where someone discovers a working telephone in the middle of an abandoned tunnel.

The film is being released on Labor Day weekend, which is an infamous dumping ground for studios.  If you do want to see a movie this holiday weekend, there are plenty of films you can track down that are thrilling, exciting and yes, scary.  This isn't one of them.

See the movie times in your area or buy the DVD at Amazon.com!

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