As Above, So Below Trailer (2014)

Trailer for As Above, So Below.

Miles of twisting catacombs lie beneath the streets of Paris, the eternal home to countless souls. When a team of explorers ventures into the uncharted maze of bones, they uncover the dark secret that lies within this city of the dead. A journey into madness and terror, As Above, So Below reaches deep into the human psyche to reveal the personal demons that come back to haunt us all.

The movie did not use a film-set for the location of the catacombs but actually filmed in the real catacombs. It was the first film to ever gain permission by the French government to film there. Since the catacombs were not just a set, actor Ben Feldman became extremely claustrophobic during filming and had to take many breaks to cope with his issue.

Filmmaking team and brothers John Erick Dowdle and Drew Dowdle are accustomed to the horror genre and specifically the subgenre of found footage. They also made The Poughkeepsie Tapes and Quarantine.

Just as many similar films before it, As Above, So Below tells the story of a group of young and adventurous people who are determined to uncover something or other in a scary place where terrible and mysterious things tend to happen. This time a new group with similar motivations and apparent personality archetypes embark on seeing what is down in the catacombs beneath Paris. Even though this is a place that is a never-ending maze of the remains of dead people, these characters are psyched to check it out. To each their own.

The trailer for the film is a bit reminiscent of previous horror films like The Descent (2006), and it includes the hand-held camera bit that was made unbearably popular by The Blair Witch Project and continues to be a common element of horror films now. There are so many horror films made each year, it would be nearly impossible not to look familiar no matter how unique the film may be. As Above, So Below looks genuinely scary and that is all we need.

The reason the characters decide to go down there, the silly plot device that causes them to go deeper even though it goes against all common sense, and any potential plot hole or unrealistic aspect of the flick is irrelevant because the trailer freaked me out just enough to want to see more and guarantee a sleep full of nightmares.