The Pyramid
- Review Date: December 5, 2014
- Rated: R
- Genre: Horror
- Release Year: 2014
- Running Time: 89 minutes
The Pyramid gallery
What parents need to know
Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that The Pyramid is a found-footage monster horror film that's similar to (but not nearly as good as) As Above/So Below. Expect a lot of blood and gore and scary monster violence. Guns are briefly fired, and, near the end, a boy is in danger. Language is fairly strong, with several uses of "s--t" and one or two uses of "f--k," "a--hole," and more. There's some brief innuendo, and a woman changes clothes in front of a mirror; she's shown from behind, and nothing sensitive is seen, but a robot cam spies on her and zooms in on various body parts. Because the cast includes some secondary actors from TV's True Blood, teen horror hounds may be briefly interested, but it's quite forgettable.
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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?
After working as a writer and in various other capacities on Alexandre Aja's horror films, 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.
Families can talk 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
| Theatrical release date: | December 5, 2014 |
| DVD release date: | May 5, 2015 |
| Cast: | Denis O'Hare, James Buckley, Ashley Hinshaw |
| Director: | Gregory Levasseur |
| Studio: | Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation |
| Genre: | Horror |
| Topics: | Monsters, ghosts, and vampires |
| Run time: | 89 minutes |
| MPAA rating: | R |
| MPAA explanation: | some horror violence and bloody images |
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