As Above, So Below
Writers: John Erick Dowdle and Drew Dowdle
Cast: Perdita Weeks (Scarlett), Ben Feldman (George), Edwin Hodge (Benji), Francois Civil (Papillon), Marion Lambert (Souxie), Ali Marhyar (Zed), Cosme Castro (La Taupe), and Hamid Djavadan (Reza).
The story begins in the Iranian border, a women archeologist, Scarlett Marlowe (Perdita Weeks), recording herself, as she faces extreme danger seeing that the government has plans to demolish a historic maze of catacombs; this stubborn women continues, even with her guide Reza's warning about the government and there tactics, Scarlett continues down the path, something tells her that the Rose Key is close.
Behind the wall Scarlett (Weeks) finds the Rose Key, a bull covered with markings, a historical site about to be demolished, her time is running out, as sirens go off. Reza (Hamid Djavadan) warns her again, but this time he is ready for nothing more than turning around and running from this place. Scarlett tells him to go, but she needs a bit more time, the sirens continue, she captures the markings on film, she turns and runs as debris falls short in killing her.
Scarlett will find the Philosopher Stone, the very quest her father embarked on and could not finish, that journey took him down the path of madness. Scarlett must find her friend George (Ben Feldman) the only one she knows that could translate Aramaic. Intrigued, George translates the markings, but the excitement is filled with worry, so many dangerous paths that could lead to another dead end, but with a guide, down beneath Paris, France, the catacombs, they would find the stone.
George is somewhat convinced to travel, only as a translator, but along the way with the guide and his friends, Papillon (Francois Civil), Souxie (Marion Lambert), Zed (Ali Marhyar), and La Taupe (Cosme Castro) they embark on a journey started by her father, and now his daughter must continue where he had failed, but this time Scarlett is passionate enough, she will find the stone, and the path will again be set.
The group begins to walk in the catacombs, but this time we have a camera man filming every turn, and the dangers they face. Welcome to yet another, found footage film, it really is done well, and that's saying a lot a for these types of movies. The film will make you jump in some sequences that is presented, and when i say it's done well, it really is. Being a horror fanatic, and coming from a family that has watched dozens or more creepy movies back when i was a kid, many, many years ago. The sequences are done right, for a scare flick, it was pretty amazing the good storytelling that was this found footage film. but, that wasn't what bothered me, it's the camera, shaky camera thing that gave me doubts. Flashbacks of Paranormal Activity, almost stopped the film, but i continued to watch, and to my surprise it was a pretty good, either way, i couldn't stop the film, because my family was present, and turning it off would've been a bad thing for me, remember majority rules when you have a family watching, the same flick your reviewing. Plus, it was good because my wife has a knack for catching continuity issues throughout the movie, which in the case for this film, there was not.
Found Footage: The fact that a camera is going in every space, bothers me, i guess going to the movies with my friends and seeing the Blair Witch for the first time, and the film did it's job, it scared you, and it did it well. The very first found footage film that banked big bucks. Not going to make comparisons, but this film had it all, from good acting to pretty good action sequences. Not the fighting kind, but the dangerous surroundings the group was in. The film crew actually filmed on location, which to me is pretty cool, like the Blair Witch. Found Footage has it's ups and downs, so please understand that some films done over, and over the same way, kinda defeats the purpose in horror. Making a horror film should be scary at some point, i guess film buffs forget that while making you think this actually happened, and the truth is really a dumb camera, with people screaming. Found Footage to me is a unique film technique, if it works, you have a gem of a movie, if it doesn't, you get the Paranormal Activity films. Just my opinion, don't get mad, i know there is thousands of Found Footage fans.
The acting in the film was very believable, from the lead characters to the folks in the background, all of the actors did a wonderful job, not because of who they were, but the interactions in critical scenes. The delivery was done well, and that being said, you ever watched a movie, and afterwards you realized how fake some dialog delivered by actors can be.
I would not pick this one as one of my best Horror of all time, but i would keep it in the top 20. This movie will scare you, it is a gem from all the found footage films, maybe not a Blair Witch, but it delivers where most films did not.
P.S.- Watch it, it's good, let me know what you thought, of the film.
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