The basis for this 'found footage' film is a quest led by a posh English Archaelogist Indiana Jane?) to find Nicolas Flamel's mythical Philosopher's Stone within the catacombs beneath the streets of Paris.
I don't know where she has got her information from because everyone knows that the Philosopher's Stone can be found at Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft.
The trailer sells it as a horror but the majority of the film is more akin to Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade meets The Descent as the first person footage is used to ramp up the sense of claustrophobia once the group become trapped and lost within the catacombs.
As they descend further into the tombs and towards "the gates of hell", the film descends into the camcorder horror cliches of "what's that? Whip camera round, nothing there. Whip camera around again, there's something there!" jump scares.
Beyond the main character of Scarlett there is not much back story or characterisation for the others, with some just there to function as recording devices due to their head cameras thus the emotional impact is negligible when the merde hits the fan.
The quest becomes a Last Crusade for many of them and there was real potential with this story but in terms of creative filmmaking decisions, the writer-directors "choose poorly" resulting in an As Above, So Below score of 2 stars.
2 stars
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