Review of As Above, So Below (2014) by Jeff B — 01 Sep 2014

Neither above nor below average, this Quarantine-d thriller sadly falls somewhere in-between. Sometimes, you wish that some found footage would just remain lost. Shakier than the hand-held footage that captures it, As Above, So Below's story doesn't demand much (faux horror documentaries pretty much just require camcorders and some sorta 'monster')...though it definitely should. Following in the footsteps of such recent similar mockumentary scaremakers as Paranormal Activity and The Last Exorcism, this flick needed to present something different. Long story short, we've seen it all before. Oh, the overall details ring new but the plot points play out beat for predictable beat. The main character (a strong female protagonist, mind you) proves to be an academic (but beautiful, mind you) driven to discover otherworldly secrets (lunging baddies, mind you), which is fine save for the fact that her father hung himself during this same Descent into madness. The use of Descent is purposeful as THAT was a found footage thriller that wrung new thrills out of a similarly claustrophobic setting. Once again, we've seen it all before. Why can't an intelligent woman seek out an ancient evil by her own inspiration rather than be a Lara Croft - Tomb Raider knockoff that falls into the clichéd honey pot called 'daddy issues'? If the thrills actually, well, thrill, the story is negligible, however.

In this R-rated horror flick, a team of explorers (Weeks, Feldman) ventures into the catacombs beneath the streets of Paris and uncover a dark secret lying within this city of the dead.

Here, not even the scares are out-and-out unique. As the writers and director of Quarantine and Devil, brothers Drew and John Erick Dowdle aren't new to this genre but their approach SHOULD be. Instead, loud sound design and lunging creeps rue the day. Again, we've seen it all before. Perhaps, As Before, So Again makes a better title.

Bottom line: City of the Meh.