Review: “As Above, So Below”

You’re all going to like this…

When this movie started and I saw it was ANOTHER found footage movie I just yawned and thought I won’t make it through this movie. I very nearly didn’t but after the first 20 minutes this film seriously starts to take off.

Let’s just get this out the way so you can all have a laugh at my expense…

I was sitting on the sofa up against the cushions with my legs bent and my knees by my face, there’s a certain jump scare… I jumped so badly and lifted my knees up so much I nearly knocked my top front tooth out.  Then I raised my fist to the TV and shouted, “Fucking cunts!” about 3 times in a furious rage. No I don’t normally jump to anything and yes I nearly shit myself.

This movie has some of the best jump scares I have seen in a long time and they scared me more than anything I have seen since Insidious. The jump scares do start to become a bit of a drag later on as they are over used but the first few work very well, I just think the director relies upon the jump scare a little too much and it kind of loses the magic after the millionth time.

Like I said, the movie starts off pretty boring and *yawn*. But after the initial set up of the movie which is a bit stupid they then go and explore something and things start to slowly happen and you’re eased into something very different from our normal reality.

I think the pace and timeline of the movie is well balanced and after the first 20 minutes it does reel you in. I would say the filming is done very well and has good direction but the movie is edited terribly. Let me explain…

The movie is edited perfectly if this was meant to be a Hollywood movie but this is meant to be a ‘found footage’ movie. Cast your mind back to the first Paranormal Activity movie. The movie felt like a found footage film because there was no CGI, no professional editing or over the top sound effects which gave it realism as a found footage movie…

Unfortunately you can’t expect an audience to buy into a movie being a ‘found footage’ if you have professional editing, visuals and sound effects. These thing just took me completely out the movie because I didn’t know whether I was meant to be perceiving it as a found footage or a Hollywood movie. Combining the 2 movie styles just didn’t work for me at all.

Having said that I actually enjoyed this movie, I thought the acting was good and apart from the over-use of the jump scare and the professional editing, visuals and sound effects I don’t really have any negatives with this movie.

The rewatchability isn’t really there for me personally but I would definitely recommend this movie to any horror fans. There’s some very good shots and some great jump scares. The ending of the movie may really really put people off but I think leaving a little to the audiences’s imagination is actually a perfect ending. It doesn’t leave the entire movie unanswered but it leaves enough for you to think about it and give it some memorability.

My score: 6.8/10

Get it: HERE