An intriguing and intensely creepy premise is sqaundered on this rudimentary found-footage horror film. A young archaeologist enlists a pair of colleagues and a trio of thrill seekers to help search the Catacombs of Paris for the mythical philosopher’s stone; when they wind up lost in a cursed section deep underground, their innermost demons come out to haunt them, the Lovecraftian metaphor being that this labyrinthine ossuary is akin to an ailing subconscious. Similar to Neil Marshall’s zombie chiller The Descent (2005), this deals in claustrophobic dread, and there are some genuinely squirmy scenes that find the actors squeezing through tight spaces. But the banal dialogue and poor performances zap the tension, and the surreal scares quickly lose steam. John Erick Dowdle directed.
As Above/So Below
R • 1 hour 33 min • 2014
