pajamawolfie Saw this on cable several years ago (I'd never heard of it) and liked it enough to buy it. Re-watched it last night and decided to review it. Really good for what it is: a modestly-budgeted B-grade horror flick in an exotic location.Best reason to watch this movie: The catacombs. Seeing all those real skulls and bones is fantastically creepy. They've got to crawl through little tunnels clogged with human bones, digging through them to make space. Real skulls are embedded in the walls in patterns as decoration made by people hundreds of years ago. Knowing that they were the remains of dead people rather than props gave me an eerie feeling.Another reason to watch: If you've ever read "Dante's Inferno", you'll find plenty of references and symbolism to pick through. I had fun doing that. It made me want to learn a bit about alchemy too.Premise: A Lara Croft-type hires / convinces / drags three climbers, a cameraman, and her ex-boyfriend down into a secret passage in the Parisian catacombs to find the Philosopher's Stone. Things get supernatural really fast and everybody on the trip has some personal demon or sin they have to face, which often turns literal and actually kills some of them. But that's what happens when you literally go to Hell.The shaky cam footage gets tiring. There's an actual reason to film the movie this way: the characters illegally enter the catacombs on an exploration mission. (Plus, imagine trying to fit a camera crew down there.) Nevertheless, I wished they'd hold still for a minute.The characters? Scarlett has 4 PhDs, speaks 6 languages fluently, and has a black belt... and is under 30. Sure. Her ex-boyfriend can translate centuries-old Aramaic off of dimly-lit stone tablets and fixes church clocks in his spare time. Whatever. These revelations might have been a cue to not take this movie completely seriously. The cameraman and the three climbers didn't get much backstory, but what happens down in the cave gives you enough clues to guess about Papillon's and Benji's.The horror? It started out as creepy and tense, but once they get deeper into Hell, things went nuts. Then there were more jump scares, and one scene-I'll just say it involves fire-put it over the top for me and killed the creepy vibe that the first part of the movie had. By then, things are moving so fast, that you can't spend that much time on it and have to focus on the next horrible thing that's happening. Even after this tone-shift, I was still enjoying the movie.The puzzles and traps? There were some cool ones. Lots of collapsing ceilings and puzzle clues that relied on some sort of alchemy mumbo-jumbo. The archeologist usually solves them pretty quickly, but there are consequences the few times she doesn't. The end has some interesting symbolism to it, and might be a little corny, but it's not out of place given everything that just happened.So it's not "The Descent" or "Paranormal Activity" but I did find it entertaining enough to watch multiple times. I'll brush up on my Dante, check out some alchemy lore and watch it again.Film recommendation: "Inferno" (1980) by Dario Argento. It's not an adventure movie and the story makes less sense, but it has killer atmosphere. If you want more truly creepy stuff even better the beginning of AASB, check it out.

Kyle Hoschar Apparently all horror films made after 1999 get a 6 star rating on IMDb so without seeing the film ...its a 6! i apparently need 5 lines of text for them to accept this review so i guess ill just keep talking till i get to 5 lines. the modern horror movie seems only capable of get a....OK that 5 im done

Ghost33 If you're into horror movies, you already know that a modern, moderately unknown horror movie receiving over a 6 on IMDb is a good sign. As usual, with the films I like, I think it deserves better.This movie is different than others in this genre. It's well done and the subject matter is perfect for a horror movie. Oh sure, there's things you can pick apart if you're into dissecting every plot hole or unbelievable character action. But if you just sit back and enjoy the ride, I guarantee you'll find a movie that surpasses many in this genre in sheer plot alone. The acting is good and the movie builds and builds to a satisfying ending.I've re-watched it over three times. Half the horror movies nowadays, I turn off in 10 minutes.8/10

Syo Kennex As Above, So Below is a mystery horror from the director of No Escape and Devil.Some found footage films are just a mix of bad tropes, where as some of them break the mould completely. Surprisingly, As Above, So Below is a rare mixed film that has aspects of both of these.Scarlett, an alchemy student, is on a quest to find Nicolas Flamel's Philosopher's Stone. Information she has found indicates that it is buried within the Paris Catacombs, and her and her small group must head underground to find it.The characters in this film are a mix of strong and weak. At some parts of the film, they can be strong, at others, they're just pathetically weak. The characters just aren't relatable at all and they're annoying at most points during the film. Scarlett was determined, but in deadly proportions and honestly, everyone in this film should have died with her lead.As Above, So Below is different. It was original in some tones – the Paris catacombs, the plot line of the film and the characters themselves, but also, it was just boring. It was a good mix of excitement and pure boredom. The creators of this film did well in creating atmosphere, but were just as good at creating boredom. Tenseness changed to 'did they really do this that was horrendous' and racing hearts give way to 'was that it'.Original, but also not so original, exciting, but also not so exciting, this is not a recommendation from me.