As Above, So Below
When well-made, found-footage horror movies add a certain element of plausibility to their proceedings, their freakiness can increase considerably. Of course, sometimes the most a found-footage film can offer is a bevy of bland characters and some shaky camerawork. When everything clicks, however, found-footage films can add that documentarian realism that really ups the creepiness ante.
As Above, So Below works more often than it doesn’t, and the film uses its found-footage authenticity to fill its running time with much broader ideas than many movies in the same format ever attempt. The 2014 film follows a group of explorers who descend into the Catacombs of Paris in search of the philosopher’s stone – the same one Harry Potter himself sought. As Above, So Below features plenty of spooky goings-on, but much of the film’s freakish power must be credited to its setting.
The film was the first ever to secure permission from the French government to film within the actual Catacombs, a miles-long network of tunnels and mass graves that actually exists beneath the City of Light.
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