As Above, So Below
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.
YoursTrulyYoshi reviewedJune 16, 2025
Potential.
TLDR; There's definitely something of value in here for those who approach it with curiosity, instead of wanting to watch a disposable sunday flick.
You know what? I'm not entirely sure why people say this movie is bad. I'd go as far as to say this is one of the better found footage films.
There's much more of a story and it's much more interesting than the average thanks to its mythological/historical/esoteric resources.
If anything I'm sad they didn't lean more into those because they really are an excellent basis for an interesting story.
Sadly, there are one or two things that play against it, one of them being the not constant but definitely annoying SCREAMING which can go on for too long and could've been used for something more interesting, such as the main character's family dynamic (if you get what I mean).
---SPOILER ZONE---
Similarly, something I found completely unnecessary was the inclusion of the Spooky Guys™, which may or may not even be real given the amount of hallucinations in the movie.
Which by the way, can I say they're kinda genius in context?
The catacombs turn into a scenario for these characters to face their deep inner fears, and either choose to lose themselves in them, or "rectify" and move on from them (see what I did there?).
It's fascinating how much media there is that can be described as "It's about trauma".
Also, goddamn, the way Scarlet realized she *is* the philosopher's stone?!?!?
I'm sure there's more symbology I didn't get that leads into this resolution. Very likely it'd also be tied to the "trauma" aspect of the story.
As a fun thing to point out, the latin american localized title of the movie translates into english as "On earth, as it is in Hell", which at first I thought it was cool and communicated properly the mood of the movie and the english title. After watching the movie, however, I think keeping the original title albeit translated into spanish, "Como es Arriba es Abajo", would've done a much better job as it's a direct quote and concept from the movie. Although I understand it would've affected sales negatively.
Would watch again, but I gotta be in the mood for it.
Thanks for coming to my TED talk.