The only way out is down.
Directed by John Erick Dowdle.
Written by Drew Dowdle and John Erick Dowdle.
AKA
Necropolis – La città dei morti (Necropolis – The City of the Dead)
Derin Kabus (deep Nightmare)
Katakomben (catacombs)
Found footage film set in the Catacombes de Paris, “The World’s Largest Grave”, which hold the remains of six million people. Professor Scarlett Marlowe (Perdita Weeks) is looking for alchemist Nicolas Flamel’s legendary Philosopher’s Stone which can turn base metals into gold and provide the key to eternal life. Scarlett’s father was the world’s pre-eminent historian in alchemy but committed suicide. She finds the Rose Key used for translating symbols into Aramaic in a cave in Iran. She contacts her friend George (Ben Feldman) and tells him about her find and asks for his help translating the Aramaic on Flamel’s tombstone. The inscription’s riddle leads them to continue their search underground in the Catacombs of Paris.
With the help of a man called Papillon (François Civil), his girlfriend Souxie (Marion Lambert) and their friend Zed (Ali Marhyar), Scarlett and cameraman Benji (Edwin Hodge) head into the catacombs; George reluctantly joins them when the police show up. The six venture deep into the catacombs…
It’s a well-made film, shot in the actual Catacombs of Paris which is huge plus. The cast are fine; Perdita Weeks’ character’s an Indiana Jones type who I really liked. You never know what to expect from the story so it keeps you watching and it plays with your head from early on. There are some great scenes, I thought, and I could easily watch it again. For me at least, a big fan of found footage horror, I want to see more films like this that push the genre further; I’m looking forward to The Pyramid (2014) which appears to be a similar type of film.
It might not appeal to everyone, I believe it got some damning reviews, but personally I think there was enough going on and enough to see to make this worth at least a watch. I liked it.
Also stars Hamid Djavadan as Reza, Théo Cholbi as Gloomy Teenager, Cosme Castro as La Taupe and Roger Van Hool as Scarlett’s Father.
If you like As Above, So Below you might also like:
The Tunnel (2011)
Grave Encounters (2011)
The Frankenstein Theory (2013)
The Pyramid (2014)
