Many people wonder how it all comes together in the end, what it is like in the afterlife, and whether heaven and hell are truly real. These same people rely on their own belief that they will surely end up in heaven. How can someone know what it is like in hell?
That is where the movie As Above, So Below takes us.
Her own father having perished in this pursuit, Scarlett Marlowe, a fearless alchemy scholar, is in desperate need to find answers and is willing to risk anything for the truth. In a city above thousands of catacombs, she decides to investigate these underground caves. As horrendous figures along with chilling truths appear throughout the trip to the underworld, Scarlett soon realizes she has found more than what she needed to as her world is literally turned upside down.
This movie is defined perfectly as a roller coaster, but that is where all the mystery comes in. Like many modern movies, this movie is fabricated to resemble a documentary, an act I find unoriginal since there are boundless movies using the same strategy. The film would have received more critical success had it been more clearly shot.
The fascination I have for the Dante’s Inferno led me to realizing that this movie might have just been inspired by this book. The book examines an expedition that takes Dante to nine different stages of hell that become worse by the minute. Although the film does not describe every stage as the book does; it does show the deep, dark secrets that people hide to try to save themselves from hell manifested in massive underground caverns.
This movie was perfect in its storyline, its distinguished characters, and its overall message, but all of its qualities went to waste because of its tedious camera work.
I cannot stress enough how badly the camera work in this film is. In fact, the film's camera work prevents me from including it in my precious collection of my favorite horror movies.
Overall, the movie excites the viewer as it portray the mysteries and questions of the idea of afterlife. The confusions of it all comes together at the end, giving the film a bit more meaning to it. We quickly come to realize that accepting our own truths is what really matters.
Confusion, roller-coasters, hell—all of that excites me, so I can easily recommend watching this movie, even though it had a poor choice of camera work.
The film leaves me wondering: Who knows exactly what lies beneath us.