Common Sense Media Review
By Jeffrey M. Anderson
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Bad characters, cheap monsters in awful found-footage movie.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 17+?
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The Pyramid
What's the Story?
After the discovery of a new three-sided pyramid in Egypt, a two-person documentary crew (Christa Nicola, James Buckley) arrives to film its excavation. But when the project's funding is yanked, archeologists make a last-ditch effort to study it by sending in a small rover mounted with cameras. Something mysterious destroys the rover, and a team of five intrepid souls enters the pyramid to get it back, including father Holden (Denis O'Hare) and daughter Nora (Ashley Hinshaw). It's not long before they're lost in the pryamid's deceptive labyrinths, facing something far more deadly than they ever expected.
Is It Any Good?
Gregory Levasseur makes his directorial debut with this awful, quickie "found footage" horror movie, similar to, but far inferior to, As Above/So Below. THE PYRAMID feels lazy and dashed off, as if getting it into theaters was more important than actually crafting any suspense or creating believable characters. It can't even bother to keep up the found-footage pretense, frequently cheating and cutting to the inside of chambers as they open from the outside, etc.
Characters seem totally unaffected by the deaths of their fellow travelers; they keep on either cracking jokes or spewing factoids about ancient Egyptian burial practices. The scary stuff is entirely stale, relying either on ill-timed, sudden shocks or on cheap-looking computer-generated monsters. As the monster drags its nails on the walls to taunt its prey, he seems more like Freddy Kruger than an ancient Egyptian.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about The Pyramid's violence. What's the difference between the monster attacks and the characters arguing with one another? How did these scenes affect you?
What were the scariest scenes? How or why did they scare you? What's scarier -- what we see, or what we don't see? Why?
Are any of these characters stereotypes? If so, how? Does main character Nora represent an unrealistic body type for women?
Movie Details
- In theaters : December 5, 2014
- On DVD or streaming : May 5, 2015
- Cast : Denis O'Hare , James Buckley , Ashley Hinshaw
- Director : Gregory Levasseur
- Inclusion Information : Female Movie Actor(s)
- Studio : Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
- Genre : Horror
- Topics : Fantasy
- Run time : 89 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- MPAA explanation : some horror violence and bloody images
- Last updated : October 1, 2025
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