As above, So below. A review of this camera footage horror film.
As above, So below is a film carried by the performance of Perdita Weeks. Her character is intelligent, strong, and highly capable. Unfortunately, not all are so well fleshed out or convincing in their performances. Ben Feldman delivers a good performance as Scarlet's friend and colleague, George, with his own trauma played convincingly. The others feel there just to fulfil the story, bystanders to the events that unfold around them. The story is rather simple, but some elements depend on your suspension of disbelief. There is reliance on certain principles of philosophy, of things beyond the realm of the material alone. I enjoyed the claustrophobic atmosphere of this film, with it being underground made everything much more daunting. The supernatural elements feel heightened by the existing tension.
The film follows Scarlett as she attempts to find the Philosopher's Stone, a legendary artefact used in alchemy. Scarlett undertakes a journey into Iran, seeking something to help her locate the Stone. With help from a friend, she finds the Rose Key, a kind of Rosetta Stone, but experiences a strange vision while in the tunnels. After narrowly escaping being buried, her friend tells her that everyone that searches for Flemel's Stone is crazy. More so, that her father was crazy. We flash then to Scarlett being interviewed, introducing herself and what she is pursuing. We get information on Nicolas Flemel, the supposed alchemist that created the Philosopher's Stone, and how he would have had immeasurable wealth and immortality. That when people went to dig up his grave, they found his body was missing. There are many tales of Flemel being an alchemist, and these came about after his death, and Scarlett is convinced he will lead them to the Stone. Others believe that the Stone does not exist, that alchemy is a failed science, and that she is on a fool's pursuit. Scarlett found a way to translate the alchemical symbols into Aramaic. However, she cannot read Aramiac but knows someone who can. This is where we are introduced to George, but he is unhappy to see her. It turns out that Scarlett left George in a Turkish jail, that she chose her pursuit over him. George likes to fix things, is mid-fixing a church bell, and reluctantly agrees to do the translation. And the translation has a part that any Green Lantern fan will recognise, and well done to whichever writer snuck that in there. This leads them to Flemel's headstone, and after some dodgy science, they discover where they should be looking for the Stone. It turns out that they need to go to the catacombs. However, they soon realise they will need someone to guide them to where they need to get. This is where we get a stranger telling them they need to find Papillon and giving directions to a club. As they quickly look away and then back, the stranger is gone.
They find Papillon in the club, and he agrees to take them. They meet his team, Souxie and Zed, as they prepare for the journey into the catacombs. Soon the group are heading for the access point to the underground, George accompanying them but adamant that he will not go underground. Things go wrong, and they have to flee underground, and George is forced to go with them. Here it is relaid that his little brother died in a cave, that George doesn't go underground because of that experience. They travel to a point in the system, and Papillon insists they take a route that Benji, the cameraman, is hesitant to take. Seeing another passage available, Scarlett wants to take that one, but Papillon is utterly against it. He insists that something is wrong with it, telling of how a friend went in there and was never seen again. At this point, the strangeness begins. They take the tunnel but wind up where they started, which should not be possible according to Papillon, and even on the map, it shows that they couldn't have come back. With no other choice, they take the other passage. Things rapidly become stranger, with phones ringing, a piano found perfectly preserved, and La Taupe emerging from the dark to lead them. La Taupe has been missing for two years and strangely needs no light to travel in this lightless place. That alone would be enough to make me hesitant to follow him. They travel deeper, somehow finding ways to travel downwards until they find the chamber where the Stone resides. And so does a trapped treasure.
Plummed into darkness, La Taupe seemingly dead, the group finds themselves buried. Thankfully, such sites always have a secret escape route, and Scarlett soon discovers it. But once free find themselves in a copy of the chamber, and the tunnel disappears behind them. They keep moving downwards, which puts them deeper than should be possible. And the strangeness shifts into terrifying experiences, Souxie the first to be killed, followed by Benji. Soon those left find themselves before a narrow passage with an inscription above it. It reads, 'Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.' which is supposed to be above the gates of hell. Worse, they have to travel in a near crawl to enter. The quartet becomes a trio after Papillon is killed in a gruesome manner. The trio is then pursued by a towering figure in black. After George is injured, Scarlett backtracks to find the Stone and faces a series of trials on her way to and from them. George is healed, and the trio eventually find their way free of this hellscape.
The film does a great job of growing the tension and fear as the group travel further. The minor incidents grow in intensity and creepiness until they are terrifying for our dwindling group. They are all haunted by something, some experience coming back to bite them, most notably George seeing his little brother and Scarlett, her dead father. Whilst there are several good things about this film, it fails to be anything other than a little creepy, never reaching heights of terror. The characters outside George and Scarlett are rather bland, never really being fleshed out. The whole pursuit of Flemel's Stone seems somewhat ridiculous, with only a sparse explanation of why it is so important. There is no explanation of how it is supposed to affect things beyond some metaphysical rubbish. This is a weakness in the writing, which is to the detriment of the film's overall premise.
In all, I give this a 7 out of 10. It is a solid film but lacks that spark which could make it a great watch. It is good, especially for a fan of the camera footage style. It fails to be creepy enough to scare the viewer and thus is never truly memorable.
