AS ABOVE, SO BELOW // 2014 // Review

Directed by: John Erick Dowdle
Written by: John Erick Dowdle, Drew Dowdle
Starring: Perdita Weeks, Ben Feldman, Edwin Hodge, Francois Civil, Marion Lambert, Ali Marhyar

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 secret of what this city of the dead was meant to contain. 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.

Personally I think that the whole POV / found footage style of horror movie cops a lot more flack than it really deserves. POV isn't inherently bad, it's simply another tool at a filmmaker's disposal and like any tool if used properly it can create some impressive results. The true downside to it is that it's an incredibly cheap way to make a movie. Theoretically I could pull out my mid-range Canon DSLR, get a group of friends together, find some locations and start shooting a feature film. It is a ridiculously cheap and easy way to make a movie and therefore any budding filmmaker can try their hand at it. And more often than not what they end up with is a pile of shit. Thankfully however AS ABOVE, SO BELOW is not a giant mound of stinking fecal matter.

Writer / director John Erick Dowdle already has experience in the realm of POV horror, having conceived 2007's serial killer mockumentary THE POUGHKEEPSIE TAPES and the English language REC remake QUARANTINE in 2008.
I have absolutely no problem with calling out QUARANTINE as the pointless shit sandwich that it is, but POUGHKEPSIE on the other hand was a great film, and is easily one of the better attempts at found footage out there. That's what gave me hope for AS ABOVE, SO BELOW. Plus there's the fact that QUARANTINE was a remake and so at least Dowdle has somewhat of an excuse for just how fucking disappointing it was, in that he was working from somebody else's idea. Thankfully this latest offering is an original story written by John and his brother Drew

An overly simplified way of explaining AS ABOVE, SO BELOW would be to describe it as THE DESCENT meets INDIANA JONES in the Paris underground. Or maybe TOMB RAIDER would be more accurate since the film's protagonist Scarlett (Perdita Weeks) is basically Lara Croft but without the twin pistols on her hips. Scarlett is a twenty-something archaeologist with a posh English accent and more qualifications than you can poke a stick at. Mostly things like Alchemy  and obscure martial arts. You know, the important stuff. She also happens to be continuing on with her dead father's unfinished business. She's on a quest to find the mythical Philosopher's Stone; an ancient artifact capable of - among other things - granting everlasting life. Eventually she stumbles across a lead which points towards the stone possibly being in Paris. Or more accurately; under Paris.

Accompanied by documentary filmmaker Benji (Edwin Hodge) Scarlett ropes in old friend and ancient language expert George (Ben Feldman) to travel with her to Paris. There they find some local urban explorers who can take them below the city. Papillon (Francois Civil), Zed (Ali Marhyar) and Souxie (Marion Lambert) agree to take Scarlett and her friends into the catacombs deep below the city in return for half of whatever treasure they might find down there.
But of course things aren't going to be quite that simple.

With a little help from her friends, her guides and her trusty little book (it's basically Dr Jones' grail diary from THE LAST CRUSADE) Scarlett solves ancient riddles and leads the group to where she thinks the Philosopher's Stone is being hidden. But whenever they think they're getting close they find another corner to turn, another claustrophobic tunnel to crawl through. Before long they are much deeper below ground than they ever expected to be. And they must go deeper still. And then things start to get weird. And what's up with all of the references to the gates of Hell? Shit is getting really creepy.

AS ABOVE, SO BELOW is what I'd tentatively call 'adventure horror' which is not something you come across everyday. It's kind of like THE MUMMY if that film were less action and more atmospheric horror. It's like if NATIONAL TREASURE had been coated with a thick layer of unsettling dread. Blood and gore doesn't get a lot of screen time but atmosphere sure does. This movie was filmed in the actual Parisian catacombs so the locations are authentic in their dark and claustrophobic portrayal. And for the most part the acting is more than decent, the weakest link ironically being the lead actress Perdita Weeks. But even her performance is adequate for what this film is trying to accomplish.

It's also worth mentioning that this movie does tend to get completely ridiculous at times. Suspension of disbelief is a requirement for viewing because a lot of completely way too far out there stuff happens along the way. But ridiculous doesn't always have to be a bad thing when it comes to horror, and in this case it's actually kind of fun. And another thing to be cautious of is the fact that there is quite a bit of shaky-cam throughout, so if you're not a fan you might want to stay away. But other than that AS ABOVE, SO BELOW is plenty entertaining for both people who want to look deeper into it's symbolism (there's plenty of that) or people who just want to sit back and go along for the ride.

ACROSS THE RIVER // 2014 // Review

Directed by: Lorenzo Bianchini
Written by: Lorenzo Bianchini, Michela Bianchini
Starring: Marco Marchese, Renzo Gariup, Lidia Zabrieszach

While working in a remote wooded area of the Italian countryside, wildlife researcher Marco becomes trapped in a shambling, abandoned village due to rapid flooding. His presence in the village unleashes a horrifying evil; an evil that would like nothing better than to see Marco's guts lying in a pool by his feet... once it's had its fun, of course...

Monster Pictures is definitely right up there with my favorite distributors at the moment. Ever since they launched with Tom Six's twisted masterpiece THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE they've been releasing all manner of great genre films from wacky Japanese death-sport flick DEADBALL to classics like MANIAC COP and a whole range of unique modern works like EXCISION and AMERICAN MARY. Lorenzo Bianchini's ACROSS THE RIVER fits neatly into the latter category; it's an unconventional horror movie in most aspects and therefore not for everybody but if you're looking for a creepy, atmospheric slow burner then it definitely delivers.

Ethologist Marco Contrada (Marco Marchese) is out working in the isolated Italian countryside. Just himself, his RV and his scientific equipment. He is researching the nocturnal activity of wildlife, trapping animals and tracking them with GPS and mounted cameras. After releasing a fox equipped with one of these night vision cameras Marco watches remotely as it makes its way to a crumbling structure deep in the woods. Through the footage from the camera Marco sees evidence of animals being uncharacteristically butchered and of course his curiosity gets the better of him. He follows the fox's trail and finds himself in an abandoned village in the heart of the forest. The seemingly constant rain causes the river to swell and Marco is left in the village to wait for either the water level to fall or for help to arrive.

But of course this is a horror movie and so being stranded by a flood is the least of Marco's worries. And of course the village isn't quite as abandoned as it first seems. Who or what is responsible for the animal mutilations? And what's the deal with the young twin girls that Marco sees wandering in the shadows of the trees? And the most important question; will Marco be able to make it out of this ordeal alive?

Water plays a big part in ACROSS THE RIVER. Obviously there's the river mentioned in the title which acts as a barrier preventing Marco's escape. But there's also the constant rain drumming on the roofs, pelting the windows, an inundation which literally saturates the whole movie. The crumbling buildings leak, even the RV leaks and more than once Marco wakes up soaked, on one occasion even awaking to find himself choking on a mouthful of water. There is something eerie about it which is impossible to explain with words alone.

The pneumonic, drenching water is a big reason for the film's atmosphere but it's also accompanied by an evocative, moody score from Stefan Sciascia and the creepy internal and external locations of the village which I found reminiscent of the sprawling yet somehow claustrophobic dwellings in TOMBS OF THE BLIND DEAD. It all combines to create a thick, spooky atmosphere which creeps in like a fog, growing steadily throughout the film, pervading everything. ACROSS THE RIVER doesn't waste any time or momentum on cheap jumps scares, instead it presents a definite feeling of dread. This is helped immensely by the fact that almost the whole movie follows Marco all alone in the wilderness and with minimal dialogue.

I can easily understand how people might consider this movie to be slow, or the payoff to be a little anticlimactic, but I for one loved every minute of this slow burn creepfest. Sure there could have been a few more things explained or added in to make a fuller story, but that's hardly a complaint at all. There may be next to no actual plot or character development but if you appreciate a nice moody, supernatural horror flick then ACROSS THE RIVER may be right up your alley.