As Above, So Below

There are some places we know that we should never venture to, but As Above So Below goes to the extreme and beyond to unravel the nerves, get your heart racing at the speed of lightning, and challenge your mindset.

Without spoiling too much of the story, on the surface it deals with a team of explorers who venture into the uncharted maze of bones where they uncover the dark secret that lies within this city of the dead. This journey into madness and terror reaches deep into the human psyche to reveal the personal demons that come back to haunt us all.

As for what awaits below, its best to experience it magnified 10 times on the big screen, with writer/director John Erick Dowdle and writer/producer Drew Dowdle lensed in the off-limits sections of the catacombs-the first production ever to receive that permission-bringing a credible sense of history and claustrophobia to a story that taps into real-world archaeological mysteries.

If you don't know who the Dowdle brothers are, make sure to see their contemporary horror-thrillers Devil and Quarantine, and one of cinema's most notorious found-footage movies, The Poughkeepsie Tapes.

Horrific fiction

In As Above So Below they effectively use the style of found-footage movies (in the tradition of The Paranormal series) to such an extent that you find yourself fully immersed in the horrific fiction that unfolds with such realism, that it feels as if you are a member of the on screen team exploring the abyss of terror.

Fascinatingly, there are more corpses buried underneath the streets of Paris than there are people living above it-forming a vast labyrinth of skeletal remains, claustrophobic tunnels and seemingly endless darkness.

The catacombs of Paris confront our most primal and deep-seated phobias: fear of the dark, fear of being alone, fear of enclosed spaces, and fear of being trapped. This largely unexplored tunnel system has fascinated historians, explorers and storytellers for centuries, with a timeless mystery-what treasures and terrors lie within?

The empire of death

Nearly five storeys underground lies the remains of more than six million people-more than double the population of Paris-who have been forever entombed in the catacombs of Paris. When visitors enter the catacombs, they are greeted with the written verse "Arrête! C'est ici l'empire de la mort," which means "Stop! This is the empire of death."

Historians believe that the catacombs serve as a link between the history of Paris and the geological evolution of our planet. It has been reported that 45 million years ago, Paris was covered by sea, which caused sediment to accumulate and form the limestone deposits seen in the catacombs today.

It was important to the Dowdles to push themselves out of their comfort zone with this production. That proved to be a bigger-than-expected undertaking when taking a guerrilla-style film crew and a handful of eager actors multiple stories below ground.

Lensed on a lean-and-mean shooting schedule, As Above So Below took less than two months to complete principal photography. Whether the Dowdles and their crew were leopard-crawling through the catacombs or racing behind actors wearing head-mounted Panasonic cameras-which occasionally served as the scenes' only light source-it was a labour of love for the Dowdle brothers and cinematographer Léo Hinstin to get the moods and shots just right.

The core cast in As Above So Below consists of six characters who become trapped by their most intimate fears inside the catacombs, an astonishing 220 feet below ground. For the Dowdle brothers, it was important to find just the right actors to create the story they were looking to tell - and getting the performers to trust them with an unorthodox process.

A game team

Whether it was asking them to strap on headlamps and serve as a scene's primary light source or forgo the tradition of hitting marks on the ground-and work with experimental techniques and reaction-only shots-the entire team was game. Drew Dowdle commends the film's performers: "Fortunately, we had the freedom to pick the best actor for each role. Casting is so important in these movies and we chose wisely and got lucky; they were all even better than advertised.

"This movie was intended to be a personalised experience for each character," the writer/producer continues. "In doing so, we want audiences to have that experience as well. We don't feel the need to go into great detail about each character's personal demons and all of the back story. Sometimes it's just one image and from that image you can extrapolate what's weighing on their soul."

With no cellphones or electricity down below, the cast and the crew were forced to rely upon one another for support. And that meant a great deal of help when it came to navigating the low ceilings that were dug so many centuries ago. The writer/director shares: "You'd think that you should shine the light on the floor so you wouldn't trip, but the number-one rule was to keep your light on the ceiling so you didn't hit yourself in the head with those low ceilings."

With the cinematographer's main camera, a Red Epic, in tow all other cameras were mounted on the helmets of the actors. Drew Dowdle shares: "We like to shoot a lot of long, single shots so you can allow the actors to really get into the performance and play it more like theatre than a film."

Eerie signature sounds

To heighten the drama and multiply the horror the eerie signature sounds for As Above So Below were up to composer Keefus Ciancia, supervising sound editor Kelly Oxford and supervising sound designer Karen Triest to create the haunting soundtrack and make us deeply worry about what is just around the corner.

From the eerie sounds that carry across the catacombs to the lack of echoes inherent in this space, the Dowdles wanted to make sure that the audience hears everything the characters hear when they are transported to a place like nowhere on Earth - and that's exactly what was achieved.

As Above So Below guarantees to reach cult status in no time as it is one of those rare creations that you simply want to see, no matter how much you want to avoid it, and once you have survived the ordeal and started breathing normally again, the chances are that will most probably buckle up for another journey into hell at its most entertaining.

Read more about As Above So Below and other new films opening this week at www.writingstudio.co.za