If you’ve ever gone down a late-night Wikipedia rabbit hole about the Catacombs of Paris, you’ve likely stumbled upon As Above, So Below. It’s that 2014 found footage flick that shouldn't have worked but somehow became a cult staple. Honestly, at the time, critics kind of trashed it. They saw another shaky-cam movie and checked out. But years later? The internet won't stop talking about it.
There is something visceral about being trapped 300 feet underground.
The movie follows Scarlett Marlowe, a young alchemy scholar who is obsessed with finding the Philosopher’s Stone. She’s basically a gritty, more stressed-out Lara Croft. She drags a crew into the off-limits sections of the Paris Catacombs, and things go south fast. It’s not just about getting lost in the dark. It’s about the fact that the further they descend, the more the environment starts reflecting their own personal traumas.
Why the As Above, So Below movie feels so claustrophobic
Director John Erick Dowdle didn't just build a set in a studio in Atlanta and call it a day. He actually got permission to film in the real Paris Catacombs. That matters. You can feel the dampness. You can see the genuine discomfort on the actors' faces because they were actually squeezing through tight, bone-filled tunnels.
Most horror movies use jump scares as a crutch. This movie uses geography. It plays on that universal fear of being stuck. There’s a scene where a character named Benji gets stuck in a narrow crawlspace filled with old bones. It is genuinely hard to watch if you have even a hint of claustrophobia.
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The movie taps into the "liminal space" aesthetic before that was even a trendy term on TikTok. It’s that feeling of being in a place where you shouldn't be. The Catacombs are a city of the dead beneath a city of the light. When the crew finds a piano that shouldn't be there, or a telephone ringing in a stone corridor, it triggers a specific kind of psychological dread. It's weird. It's wrong.
The Alchemical Symbolism You Probably Missed
The title isn't just a cool-sounding phrase. "As Above, So Below" is a core tenet of Hermeticism. It basically means that what happens on a cosmic or spiritual level is reflected in the physical world.
Scarlett’s journey is a literal descent into hell, but it’s also a journey into her own subconscious. The movie uses the seven layers of hell as a structural guide. As they go deeper, they aren't just moving down; they are moving inward. The "Philosopher's Stone" they are looking for isn't just a rock that turns lead into gold. In alchemical traditions, it represents the perfection of the soul.
To survive, Scarlett has to face the fact that she didn't help her father before he committed suicide. It's heavy stuff for a found footage movie. Most films in this genre involve teenagers getting chased by a guy with a machete. This one wants to talk about the rectification of the spirit.
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Real-World Facts About the Paris Catacombs
The movie leans heavily on real history. The Catacombs were created in the late 18th century because Paris graveyards were literally overflowing. We’re talking corpses falling through cellar walls of nearby houses. It was a public health nightmare.
- The Scale: There are over 200 miles of tunnels, but only a tiny fraction is open to the public.
- The Cataphiles: There is a real subculture of people in Paris who illegally explore the restricted sections. They hold parties, build cinemas, and even have their own maps.
- The Danger: People actually do get lost down there. In 2017, two teenagers were rescued after being lost for three days in the pitch black.
The film captures that "Cataphile" energy perfectly. The characters feel like people who would actually break the law to see something secret. They aren't victims; they are explorers who bit off more than they could chew.
The Ending That Still Divides People
Without spoiling the beat-by-beat, the ending of the As Above, So Below movie is polarizing because it chooses a "logical" escape over a purely supernatural one. Some people wanted a more traditional "everyone dies" found footage ending. But the movie's logic dictates that if you face your "demons" (the literal manifestations of your guilt), the hellscape loses its power over you.
It turns the genre on its head. Usually, in horror, the more you know, the more danger you're in. Here, knowledge and self-reflection are the only way out. It’s almost optimistic, in a very dark, bloody way.
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How to watch it today and what to look for
If you’re going to rewatch it, pay attention to the background. Dowdle hides things in the shadows that you won't see the first time. The cultists singing in the distance? The way the graffiti changes? It’s all intentional.
The sound design is also incredible. Use headphones. The echoes, the dripping water, and the subtle whispers make the experience way more immersive. It’s a movie that rewards people who pay attention to detail rather than just waiting for the next loud noise.
Actionable Steps for Horror Fans
If this movie scratched an itch for you, here is how to dive deeper into the lore and the genre:
- Read up on the Emerald Tablet. This is the real-world source of the "As Above, So Below" phrase. It’s a short, cryptic text that influenced Newton and Jung. Understanding it makes the movie's plot feel much more cohesive.
- Check out "The Tunnel" (2011). If you liked the "lost in the dark" vibe, this Australian mockumentary is a hidden gem that hits many of the same notes.
- Explore the "Lost Man" video. There is a famous, real-life video found in the Paris Catacombs in the 90s of a man dropping his camera and running into the dark. Many people believe this video was a direct inspiration for the film's tone.
- Look into Dante’s Inferno. If you map the movie’s plot points against the circles of hell, you’ll find that the "errors" the characters make match up almost perfectly with Dante's descriptions.
The As Above, So Below movie works because it treats its audience like they're smart. It assumes you can keep up with Latin translations and alchemical puzzles while people are being dragged into stone walls. It’s a rare blend of high-brow occultism and low-brow jump scares that has earned its place in the horror canon.
Stop looking for a traditional sequel. The story is a closed loop, much like the tunnels themselves. Instead, focus on the details of the descent; that's where the real horror lives.