As Above, So Below is a 2014 American found footage horror set in the catacombs of Paris, France. It has an age rating of 15 and was directed by John Erick Dowdle. It was produced by Legendary Pictures and distributed by Universal Pictures.
The films sees British Scarlett Marlowe, a young alchemy scholar who is searching for the legendary "philosopher's stone", a mythological mineral which can grant eternal life. After finding the rose key in a cave in Iran, she travels to Paris where she enlists the help of her ex-lover who already knew about her work, as well as a crew of cameramen and an underground guide who knows the area well. During their expedition their passage is blocked and they have to work though the caves and tunnels to reach the outside word again, yet on their way they pass through the gates to hell, and unexpected things start to happen as their past comes back to haunt them.
Language - The film uses a lot of low key lighting in order to connote the darkness and the danger of the place that the characters are in. As the characters descend deeper into the catacombs, the lighting of the set becomes darker, with the characters headlamps going off one by one. The use of colour is also very important, as the set starts to take on an orange-red hue, colours which connote danger. Later on in the film, the characters enter Hell. The audience can tell this as there is fire around them, which is associated with the fiery depths of Hell. They also meet a dark hooded figure which chases the character through Hell. This character is very similar to the grim reaper with the costume, connoting death to the characters.
Ideology - The ideology in this film re-enforces Christian values. The film shows a group of people who all travel down into Hell, and in order to escape must repent for the bad things they have done and regret. The film portrays the message that no one is perfect, and all people have done something wrong in life. It also shows that you must show regret and accept the wrong things you have done in order to escape from Hell. The film also carries the message of facing up to past regrets, and moving on from events accepting the past for what it is.
Institution - This film was produced by Legendary Pictures, a major production company. The company usually focuses on actions films rather than horror, however it has produced a diverse range of genres. It was directed by John Erick Dowdle, who also wrote the film. He has written and directed his other 6 films, which were all horror/thriller.
Audience - The film is rated at 15 so people under this age are automatically rejected as part of the target audience. As the main protagonist is a female, this might make the film more appealing to women, however the film is a horror which has a wider audience of men than women.
Representation - The film represents punishment. This is achieved through the characters as they are faced with their past regrets, where they must repent for what they have done in order to escape from Hell. Failing to do this results in a traumatic and violent death, with no hope of escape. This is clear as the emotions of the characters are very exaggerated in order to match the extreme circumstances that they are in. The main protagonist is represented as a strong character as she is the person who commissioned the expedition, and when faced with difficulties she was the only character who wanted to continue, and convinced the other characters to follow her. She is presented as a strong leader as she can convince people who originally did not want to join her on the expedition to come along and help her. Each time a problem occurs during the film she manages to calm the group down and work out what to do next. It is this character who eventually figures out what is happening and how the characters can escape from Hell. The main French character Papion is initially presented as a strong character through his rebellious behavior, coming across as confident as he brags about how he can get into any cave or part of the catacombs. However, later on in the film this changes as he is reluctant to go down a certain part of the tunnel following an incident in the past where he lost his friend down there, saying that people who go in do not come back out. He then proceeds to become more disturbed throughout the events of the film, and he is strongly effected changing from being a strong character to a weaker one. In the film Hell is represented as a place of death where peoples nightmares come alive. During the film the characters are haunted by their memories from the past and forced to suffer, showing Hell as an evil and torturous place.
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