Katakomben

Robert Langdon in a skirt runs through the Parisian catacombs Indiana Jones-style in search of a secret chamber with the philosopher’s stone. To be honest, even though As Above, So Below blends motifs that I like (underground, ancient secrets, demons, mysticism, and history), the result is not very convincing and John Erick Dowdle is yet to reach the levels of The Poughkeepsie Tapes. That’s due mainly to the script, which is very weak, really. The characters are apathetic, they don’t react properly to all the shit going on around them. Something happens: “we have to keep on going”; something even worse happens: “we have to keep on going”; something happens: “oh! Our friend is dead. boo-hoo, whatever, we have to move on”. And that’s how it goes almost the whole time. Plus a bunch of never again mentioned, pointless and mysterious arbitrary nonsense (who was that mysteriously vanished guy that mentioned Papillon during the tour? And that mysterious girl leaving the club, did she have any purpose other than singing weirdly with other people later in the catacombs?) Sometimes it’s actually hard to watch, for instance, why did the fake magic stone worked the fist time, when they healed the injuries on that girl? Maybe some alchemist in the past had this train of thought: “I will make a beta version of the philosopher’s stone, single use, just in case someone who finds it wanted to see if it works. And then they will take it and, when they get back to the surface, they will realise that they have nothing but a worthless dud, ha, ha, ha!”. Some of the scary scenes are pretty effective, the tempo is high, so there’s no risk of getting bored, those 90 minutes are quite fun (on the other hand, the way the puzzles are solved feels almost always too hurried). Overall, the film is nothing but a chain of the worst and the best horror attractions, where the only slightly more ambitious motif of sin atonement is completely lost because there isn’t any bond with the characters. (06.09.2014)

After a long time, a horror movie that captures our attention with its subject, grabs us by the throat with its trailer, and confirms with the film that good ideas (even if subtly collected and rewritten from elsewhere) still work in this underestimated genre. It would be very easy to criticize a few overly easy riddles that Scarlett effortlessly solves or even the premise itself, but that would take away from the fun of the whole concept. The found footage format finally makes sense again, and those few damn well-crafted moments (most of which are stolen by the black-haired girl) were so intense that I found myself cheering on the main characters more and more, even if it only meant they would get got around the next corner. (11.07.2015)

Ich weiß nicht, wie im Kino, aber in der häuslichen Umgebung, obwohl gut auf einen Horrorfilm vorbereitet, hat es bei mir wirklich nicht funktioniert. Paradoxerweise hat es mich nur begeistert, als die Helden in die Pariser Katakomben hinabstiegen, allmählich begraben wurden und gelegentlich in diesen unangenehm engen Gängen hängen blieben. Aber als ihre Halluzinationen kamen und sich Geister zeigten, schrumpfte die ganze Spannung auf die Frage zusammen, was nach dem klingelnden Telefon und dem schlecht gestimmten Klavier noch Schlimmeres kommen wird. Und obwohl sich die Schöpfer offensichtlich bemühen, steigt der Adrenalinspiegel in diesem hektischen Durcheinander einfach nicht an. Der australische Tunnel bleibt also unübertroffen, aber das hat wohl niemand erwartet. (18.11.2014)

To me, it's a shame that the creators of As Above, So Below chose the fake documentary form, which limited them too much. For example, all the characters had to see the hallucinations/delusions/ghosts of others, which were also recorded by their cameras, and that made me more upset than intrigued. The attractive idea of the film gradually sort of drowned in it, and the finale, which was definitely supposed to be bigger, except for the great last “head down" scene, bored me. (22.02.2021)

A piece of crap whose frantic pace would wake up Snow White from her enchanted sleep, but in terms of content, it fails miserably to keep up with itself. The basic plot may be trivial and the premise of an adventurous quest for a historical artefact suits it quite well, but all the horror elements are either completely unoriginal and underdeveloped (who was the mysterious woman outside the bar?) or try so hard to be cool that they become ridiculous (the feet sticking out of the ground was the funniest moment). And as usual, I was not at all satisfied with the ending, which compared to the previous 80 minutes or so, which worked hard to maintain a decent psycho-terror atmosphere and the curiosity about what will happen next, seems terribly sloppy and bland. The overall feel in the cinema wasn't bad at all, but I wouldn't have missed anything if I had passed this film. 50% (05.10.2014)

I really enjoyed this story at the beginning because I simply love mysteries, references to history, mystery, and alchemy. But this film has a clear genre structure, and even though there are interesting moments in the later parts, I was very annoyed by the fact that they just scream, breathe loudly, and everything is essentially just a classic found footage variation, only this time with the Philosopher's Stone, which is still a novelty. And that's it. (13.01.2015)