As Above, So Below

The new horror/thriller "As Above So Below" is yet another victim of studio fear. When a film gets a press screening the night before the film is released, that's generally a sign the studio is embarrassed by it and doesn't want bad word of mouth to get out before making some "opening day money." And that's a shame, because "As Above So Below" is actually a smart, suspenseful chiller that's a mix of "The Davinci Code," "Raiders of the Lost Ark," and "The Descent."

Set in the catacombs beneath Paris, the film opens as British college student Scarlett (Perdita Weeks), takes up her now-deceased father's search for the elusive and potentially non-existent Philosopher's Stone. The stone is rumored to be able to turn base metals into gold or silver and has the ability to make anyone who touches it achieve immortality. She is granted access to a secret tunnel in Iran that holds a sort of Rosetta Stone that will allow her to translate ancient text in a museum in Paris that will guide her to the location of the artifact.

A few weeks later, she and her trusty cameraman Benji (Edwin Hodge) arrive in Paris to do just that. But they need to translate Aramaic writing so they seek out an old flame of hers, a master "fixer" named George (Ben Feldman "Mad Men"). She convinces him to help her translate the text, and that's when they realize the location of the stone is somewhere underneath an ancient crypt. And the only way to get down to where they need to go is to travel into the illegal parts of the Paris catacombs. They are sent to find Papillon (Francois Civil), a rebel who is familiar with the catacombs. He agrees to take them and brings along his friends Souxie (Marion Lambert) and Zed (Ali Marhyar) to assist. As expected, things don't go according to plan and as the five explorers go deeper into the catacombs, they realize that they may never come back out.

There's a lot of stuff about absolving oneself of past sins, the Gates of Hell, and a bunch of other mystical mumbo-jumbo, but the funny thing is -- it all kind of works. Shooting from a script he co-wrote with his brother Drew Dowdle, director John Erick Dowdle uses the found-footage genre to nice effect, something he also did well in the still unreleased (yet somehow already a cult favorite) "The Poughkeepsie Tapes." Taking a nod from "The Descent," the first half of "As Above So Below" focuses on the characters and the mysteries of the artifact they are seeking. It then moves into a more adventurous zone with most of the suspense coming from the dangers of the catacombs themselves. It isn't until the halfway mark that the film starts to move more into supernatural territory.

There have been plenty of horror films where a group of young adults get trapped in caves or tunnels, but this latest entry into the genre is pretty nifty and maintains a modicum of suspense throughout. It helps that the cast are all game and able actors, and the script doesn't fall victim to any number of horror movie clich�s. The "Davinci Code" aspect heightens this by making the setup a fairly brainy affair rather than just some dumb kids wandering into a forest that says "Beware" at the entrance. Sure, there is that moment where you are saying to yourself, "Um, I think you just literally entered the Gates of Hell," but by then you're having a good enough time not to care.

When all is said and done, "As Above So Below" is a fun, claustrophobic little thriller that plays on our fears of being trapped and tries to give the proceedings a little more weight than normal. Not everything in the film works, but it doesn't have to. This is like a scary Halloween Maze come to life. Not all of it is explained or makes sense, but it chills you to the bone regardless.