phancy.com - horror reviews - MOH 2019

As Above, So Below



IMDb Info

Release Year: 2014
Runtime: 1h 33min
Country: USA
Language: English, French, Latin
Genre Tags: Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Plot Summary: 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.

Poster - Title Card


phancy.com rating:

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Outside Reviews:

Simon Abrams
2.5 out of 4 stars - rogerebert.com

The makers of "As Above, So Below" earn points for trying to make their film look different than the preponderance of found-footage junk. But their distinctive, impressionistic camera-work is also head-splittingly alienating. Even viewers with cast-iron stomachs will want a barf-bag, a bottle of Dasani, and a strong shoulder to rest their head on just to prevent early on-set car-sickness. "As Above, So Below" is novel enough to be worth the price of admission, but you'll think twice before getting back in line for a second visit.


A.A. Dowd
Grade: C+ - Despite a uniquely creepy setting, As Above, So Below scares up no new thrills

And director Erick Dowdle, who previously helmed the [REC] remake Quarantine, has a solid handle on the mock-doc format, having learned how to achieve some degree of visual elegance without completely sacrificing the illusion that his movie has been shot by a bunch of terrified amateurs. It’s a pity then that As Above, So Below fails to make good on its potential, the payoff too familiar to inspire any fresh fear. Unnerving signs of trouble—a cursed instrument from one character’s youth, singing zealots performing some godforsaken ritual—give way to the usual running and screaming and dying.