Essentially the story is about a group of explorers and researchers seeking treasure in the catacombs underneath the city of Paris. They venture off into an uncharted path and their only way out is to keep going down.
The film starts off fairly novel and interesting, despite the over used genre. It even got a few jolts of surprise out of me. As the crew keep venturing deeper into the catacombs, ominous signs warn them "to give up hope, all ye who enter." The viewer's sense that something evil lurks in the tunnels is kept in suspension until half way through the film. Wouldn't it be interesting for a found-film drama to actually not devolve into ghouls and zombies? Once the crew started to heal broken limbs and encounter other hellish creatures of their imaginations, my suspension of fear turned to confusion.
There are as many reasons why this was a 3 out of 5 stars for me. The plot was promising. The acting was pretty good. However, it was only good because the characters' motivations were common place. Back stories were revealed as the film went on (smart move), until that itself became cliched, because it was done for every character.
Ultimately, where it lost me was that switch in plot. Suddenly it was no longer about surviving the catacombs, but a test of magical thinking. I like a good theological drama, which seems like where this was trying to go, but it was poorly executed.
If you are looking for a Christian horror novel, pick up the Bible and read Revelations. That's the great piece of horror lit.
I'm sure As Above, So Below will work for others. I wished it worked for me. You can rent or own it through most VOD sites.
