As Above, So Below (2014) on Netflix
R20141h 33mHorrorMysteryThriller
Archaeologist Scarlett Marlowe takes up her late father's hunt for the philosopher's stone. In Paris she recruits George to translate her find and Papillon to guide her into the catacombs.
- Netflix3.2/5
- IMDb6.3/10134,007 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes26%
Trailer
Plot summary
Scarlett Marlowe's late father hunted the philosopher's stone, the legendary alchemical substance tied to Nicolas Flamel, reportedly able to change base metals into gold and grant eternal life. She recovers the Rose Key from a cave in Iran and brings it to Paris, where her cameraman Benji films her work. The markings on the key need translating, so she looks up George, an Aramaic translator she knows. Together they work out the key's riddle and trace it to the Catacombs of Paris. The tunnel they need is sealed, and a stranger points them toward a club to find Papillon, a cataphile who agrees to guide them, along with Souxie, his girlfriend, and his friend Zed.
Cast
- Hellyette Bessas Strange Old Woman
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about As Above, So Below (2014)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- As Above, So Below was the first film granted permission by French authorities to shoot in the real Catacombs of Paris, in both the public and the off-limits areas. The permission came the night before shooting was scheduled to start there.
- For a scene in which a real car was set on fire in the catacombs with an actor inside, director John Erick Dowdle tested the pyrotechnics on himself first, both to ensure safety and because he was amazed by the effects.
- The filmmakers auditioned about 300 actresses before casting English actress Perdita Weeks as Scarlett. Both Dowdle brothers liked different audition tapes she sent, blonde in one and brunette in the other, and thought they had liked two actresses until they realized it was the same person.
- Actors and crew were screened for claustrophobia with an underground wardrobe test, and when one actor proved uncomfortable down there, the Dowdles made his character claustrophobic; on set he had to take a moment to calm himself down.
- The Dowdles wanted to shoot in a catacombs quarry the Nazis used to hide bombs in World War II, where a sign read "Adolf Hitler Strasse", but allied bombing had damaged it and the film's safety people warned the ceilings could fall.
- The piano that George sees in the catacombs was modeled on one the Dowdle brothers owned and jumped off as kids. They insisted on a real piano rather than the crew's hollow one, so a piano mover carried it into the catacombs and later removed it.
- The only entrance to one of the main catacombs locations was through a hospital parking lot, so Ben Feldman and the cast, covered in fake blood, dust and gore, would stroll past staring doctors and patients.
- The filmmakers brought no lights into the catacombs and shot documentary-style; many scenes were lit by the actors' own head lamps, and John Erick Dowdle said the actors were operating the cameras 90% of the time.
