The year 2014 was a peak period for found footage horror. In addition to the weakening Paranormal Activity franchise and respectable entries such as Creep and Unfriended, the market was inundated with cheap cash-ins such as The Possession of Michael King, Devil’s Due, Alien Abduction, The Pyramid, and Exists.
The glut made the subgenre feel watered down and unspectacular, which may be one of the reasons that John Erick Dowdle and his brother Drew Dowdle’s Parisian catacomb found footage film, As Above, So Below, didn’t make a bigger splash upon release. The film didn’t impress critics, who panned it with a 26% “rotten” rating on Rotten Tomatoes (comparatively our Brad Miska has repeatedly championed it – both initially and over the years). Audiences followed suit: the film ultimately grossed only $21M, albeit on a slight $5M budget.
Over the last five years (the film is celebrating its anniversary this week), As Above, So Below has quietly and steadily gained a vocal fanbase. Supporters laud the found footage film as a risk-taker, praise its (admittedly convoluted) mythology and its diverse range of exciting set pieces. There remain, however, audiences who find the film cluttered, slightly shallow and/or confusing.
As a first-time viewer, both of these reactions make perfect sense, so let’s unpack why audiences have such polarizing reactions to the film.
What Doesn’t Work For Some
Thin Characterizations: This is hardly a surprise for a found footage film, but many of the characters are a little thin. Credit Drew Dowdle’s attempt to turn Scarlett (Perdita Weeks), the film’s historian/symbologist protagonist, into a more rounded character. Her search for the mythical Philosopher’s Stone at the center of the narrative traces back to her relationship with her father and a desire to vindicate his obsession, which ultimately took his life. It’s not a bad back story, although observations that Scarlett is simply a variation of Lara Croft, Tomb Raider, are not far off.
Aside from Scarlett, only love interest George (Ben Feldman), with whom Scarlett has a checkered past and a modern day meet-cute, and cameraman Benji (Edwin Hodge) truly make an impression. In the latter case, it is mainly because when Benji is glimpsed onscreen, bad shit is about to go down.
Alas, the supporting cast doesn’t fare nearly as well; they fall into mostly forgettable archetypes. Tunnel guide Papillon (Francois Civil) is most distinguishable by his floppy hair. Climber Zed (Ali Marhyar) seems too nice to survive, and Souxie (Marion Lambert) is…a woman? Her character sadly exists solely to contribute to the body count.
Convoluted Mythology: Scarlett’s obsession with the stone is the film’s inciting incident. Following a (literally) explosive opening set in Iran, Scarlett recruits Benji and George to aid her in decoding a series of DaVinci Code-level puzzles that occupies the majority of the first act. After the rest of the team is assembled, the film heads into the subterranean graveyard and immediately becomes ensconced in a maze-like series of passages, holes and submerged pathways leading to Nicholas Flamel’s tomb. So far, it’s par for the course in terms of trapping characters somewhere that facilitates plenty of running and screaming.
After a cave-in, the film’s convoluted mythology kicks in. An occult cult – briefly glimpsed upon entering the catacombs – becomes a looming threat. La Taupe (Cosme Castro), a friend of Papillon’s who improbably survived underground only to die in the cave-in, is resuscitated as a dark doppelganger. And then there are the monsters lurking in the walls of the inverted shadow world the characters must navigate. It is a lot to process considering that the film began as a found footage riff on The Descent with a symbology angle and the result is too loaded with extras for some.
What Does Work for Some
The Kitchen Sink Approach: While some folks are understandably put off by the sheer volume of things happening in this supposedly straightforward film, the abundance of narrative elements (particularly in the third act when the shit truly hits the fan) is what helps As Above, So Below rise above the glut of mediocre found footage films.
Consider how many films simply replicate the iconic ending of The Blair Witch Project by having characters to run around, tripping and falling. While there are several POV sequences (most notably when Scarlett traces her steps back to swap out the “fake” Philosopher’s stone), As Above, So Below subverts expectations by introducing increasingly odd and unusual plotlines as it sprints towards the climax.
Looking back on the film as a whole, the Dowdle brothers prove to be wildly ambitious in their attempts to play outside of the conventional found footage sandbox. As Above, So Below is equal parts conspiracy theory/puzzle film, occult film, and monster film with some mild body horror and claustrophobia/fear of enclosed spaces thrown in for good measure.
The Set pieces: If there is one area that the film unabashedly succeeds, it is its scares. Complaints about a reliance on jump scares apply, but there are some legitimately horrifying sequences and they vary in format, which is paramount for maintaining interest and avoiding the ennui of characters simply running around in the dark.
Among the stand-outs, there’s an early sequence that simply features Benji caught in a tight passage atop a pile of skeletal remains. As the makeshift passage begins to collapse, Dowdle keeps his camera fixed on Hodge’s face in close-up to highlight every panicked reaction. It’s a classic move that has been used in nearly every film featuring caverns and caves, mostly because it is incredibly effective. It works a treat here, too.
La Taupe’s brutal murder of Souxie is another stand-out set-piece that carefully combines audience anticipation, camera framing and bone-crunching sound effects. Here the combination of elements, as well as the frenetic movement of the head cameras, elevates what could have been an obvious and telegraphed attack into something far more memorable.
Benji’s death is similarly predictable in that his repeated refrains of “anyone there?” and swinging POV shots clearly portend doom. Still, the extra few beats between when the Priestess pushes him down the hole to the inevitable, agonizing moment when he strikes the ground far below are delicious.
The FX in Papillon’s death doesn’t stand up under scrutiny, but there’s an uncanny effect as he is pulled like a lightweight dummy into the burning car. The result defies physics and the image of his upside down legs – which briefly move! – sticking out of the ground is haunting. This death may not be an intentional homage, but it is extremely reminiscent of Clive Barker’s Lord of Illusions (a personal fave).
Throw in the scenes when Scarlett falls into a bloody trough of disembodied hands, and when George is bitten by a man encased in the wall and As Above, So Below delivers a finale that veers unexpectedly into hallucinatory, monster-infused territory.
The Survivors: The least surprising aspect of the film is that the romantic couple prevail, but there’s still a twist! Going into the film, it seems likely that if there is to be a third survivor, it will likely be Benji. The simple fact that Zed – of all people – survives (and then simply walks off without fanfare!) is one last final unexpected twist from this unconventional little gem.
Overall: As Above, So Below delights in existing somewhere between conventional found footage horror and subverting expectations with unexpected storylines and survivors. The kitchen sink approach to the film’s mythology is undoubtedly not for everyone, but for those seeking a film that is unafraid of taking risks and playing outside of found footage’s conventional sandbox, As Above, So Below is a delightful surprise that clearly deserved a far kinder reception from critics and audiences when it was released back in 2014.