As Above So Below

Today's horror fun time (I'm already running out of creative ways to do my opening line, sorry) was the spelunking adventure to hell, As Above So Below. I've seen many a claustrophobic cave-exploring horror film (yeah, that's a genre): The Cave, The Descent, etc. The idea of being lost underground with no means of escape is scary as all hell, let's be honest here. Being lost with no chance of survival or rescue deep in a subterranean world is horror gold. When movies in the spelunking horror genre™ commit to this as the core of the scares they shine; The Descent ruined it with mutant ground dwellers instead of sticking to the horror of claustrophobia and inescapable confinement. Luckily, As Above So Below (mostly) avoids this pitfall and thus proves to be among the best of the, albeit small, genre.

The characters of As Above So Below delve deep under Paris in search of the Philosopher's Stone (shoulda just called up J.K. Rowling, amirite? AMIRITE?). Along the way they seem to stumble into other movies, namely Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (apparently after the Nazis chose poorly the knight packed up his bags and headed to France to protect another mystical item. Man, dude has a type) and National Treasure (yeah, the first half of the movie is a pretty damn close remake right down to secret writing on the back of the Declaration of Independence. Ok, fine, Rosetta Stone-esque thingy. Close enough) as well as, ya know, Hell. 

Aw, shucks, ended up in Hell. I knew I shoulda taken that left turn at Albuquerque. (sidenote: I think I've hit my quota of Looney Toons references for the horror binge. Never thought I'd say that sentence)

As Above So Below accomplishes true claustrophobia and genuinely gets under your skin. The descent into Hell is horrifying and delves into the minds and fears of the characters. It manages to use the hell angle organically and weave it pretty seamlessly into the inherent fear of being captured underground. I genuinely jumped and felt trapped with the characters numerous times throughout the movie; after over 150 of these suckers over 6 years, scaring me is saying something. 

Despite being pretty (intentionally?) unoriginal in it's overall story structure, As Above So Below injects enough original and scary elements to make it stand out. It is really one of the most well-put together and horrifying of spelunking horror and remains committed to the true horror of the entrapment of the underground. That's a pretty sweet band name.

8/10