As Above, So Below - Seen it all before

Two words: ‘Found’ and ‘Footage.’ That’s basically all you need to know.  If you’re in any way into your ‘modern horror’ films, you’ll already know that ‘found footage’ movies are basically entirely filmed from the perspective of the cameraman (using some loose pretext of ‘needing’ to film absolutely everything that everyone does).  If you didn’t already know that then you’re probably quite lucky.

The reason Hollywood seems to be so obsessed with way of filming horror is because it’s cheap.  If you’re constantly running away from a monster (for example) then the camera shakes and you don’t need that much in the way of special effects.

‘As Above, So Below’ is just another in a long line of found footage movies.  Yes, it’s got slightly more of a budget than your average B-movie and the acting is okay.  Basically, some girl and her cameraman decide to look for treasure in the tunnels under Paris.  They get some bland tour guides to show them the way and then end up lost down there.  Naturally, there are things down there which are going to chase them and generally mess with their minds.  So, expect every horror (and found footage) cliché going.  Ever since ‘The Blair Witch Project’ it’s been common for the protagonist to talk directly into camera at close distance.  As Above, So Below does this.  Just like it does all the chasing through the darkness with shaky camerawork.  The first half is basically getting to know the characters.  Not that there’s much to know about them.  They’re just the cannon fodder for when the film gets going.  The chases come in the second act, but, if you’ve seen any other found footage film, you’ll know what’s coming.

You won’t care about the characters.  You probably won’t care much about their plight.  There are a couple of moments when you’ll jump and there’s a bit of gore near the end, but there’s nothing here to really write home about.  It’s not a bad film, but there’s just so little new here that it doesn’t make it worth watching.  If you’ve never seen a ‘found footage’ film before, you may think it’s original and get something out of it.  But, for us hardened horror buffs, move along...

4/10 You can watch this film while you're doing the ironing (you'll still get the general gist of it)