“As Above, So Below” is mutton dressed up as lamb. A movie with such a marketing budget behind it should never be trusted.
It starts with an Indiana Jones sort of vibe – actually, less Indiana Jones and more “National Treasure meets Harry Potter”. Welsh born Perdita Weeks plays Scarlett, an archaeologist come alchemist come all round clever clogs who is obsessed with completing her dead-father’s quest to find the famous ‘Philosopher’s Stone’ (you see the Potter angle), supposedly buried with its ‘inventor’ Nicholas Flamel beneath the streets of Paris.
She persuades ex-squeeze and ancient clock-mender (I’m not making this up) George (Ben Feldman) to join her on her underground quest , filmed by documentary maker Benji (Edwin Hodge) and roping in a bunch of Parisian adventurers who know the catacombs well. Through a series of rock falls and stupidity they are led deeper and deeper underground in their quest, and the deeper they go the more weird things get.
Who will get out? Who won’t?
And more importantly, do we care?
The answer is not very much. Whilst there are a few effective jolts along the way – a scene with a burning car is quite well done – much of the ‘horror’ is run of the mill ghost train stuff. The rest of the horror is associated with some of the acting.
Cinematography is of the Cloverfield handheld camera variety, which after 90 minutes gets tiresome and nauseous.
“And the Oscar goes to…” – – the head of marketing for Legendary Pictures. All in all this is one I’ll soon forget about.
Fad Rating: FF.
