The Pyramid

If there's one thing we've learnt from 'The Descent', it's that tight spaces make for good claustrophobic horror. That seems to be the idea behind 'The Pyramid', which sends an archaeological team into the depths of an ancient pyramid which has just been unearthed in the Egyptian desert. Aside from the opening scenes, most of the rest of the movie takes place within the narrow corridors or rooms within the pyramid, which in itself does generate a veritable sense of dread.

Whether it was the intention of screenwriters Daniel Meersand and Nick Simon at the start or that of director Gregory Levasseur later on isn't clear, but 'The Pyramid' follows the recent trend of horror movies in adopting the found-footage format. Largely, that is. The majority of the shots originate from British cameraman Fitzie's (James Buckley) point of view, which also means that the key characters we see on screen most of the time are father-and-daughter pair Holden (Denis O'Hare) and Nora (Ashley Hinshaw) and award- chasing filmmaker Sunni (Christa- Marie Nicola). Only when it seems technically possible to have a first- person p.o.v. shot does Levasseur switch to more traditional modes of shot composition and framing, in particular when all but one of the members of the team is left.

Truth be told, we've never really been a big fan of found-footage horror, in part because most filmmakers use technique as an excuse for poor plotting, thinking that just having their characters run and/or scream down dimly lit hallways and getting surprised by things that jump out at them – and the audience – makes for a movie. To some extent, Levasseur and his writers are guilty of that as well, relying too conveniently on rote jump scares to deliver the thrills, which any seasoned horror fan can probably anticipate when and what is coming at them.

But thankfully, the Egyptology-themed setting isn't completely wasted; the last third of the movie is steeped in religious mythology, in particular the appearance of a part-man part-jackal creature better known in ancient Egyptian history as an "Anubis" and its role in an ancient funerary rite known as the "Weighing of the Heart". This isn't the family-friendly adventure that 'The Mummy' and its sequels ever was; indeed, coming from producer Alexandre Aja of 'The Hills Have Eyes', you should certainly be prepared for some pretty gory shocking scenes, including one that is clearly inspired by an iconic shot from 'Aliens' (you know, the one from the back?).

Not all the movie is that intriguing though; for a good part where the group is making its way through the narrow underground tunnels, the pace drags because none of the characters are particularly interesting in and of themselves. What effort spent introducing some conflict between them also falls flat, as Nora's criticism of Fitzie's obsession to get their ordeal down on camera is over and done with in just one scene – not least for the fact that she becomes the one to hold on to his camera and document the proceedings after something unfortunate befalls him.

You'll probably do well lowering your expectations if you've decided to watch 'The Pyramid', which seems content to revel in B-movie tropes than to be anything truly inspiring by itself. To its credit, it doesn't entirely squander its titular Egyptian theme, though for that matter, it also doesn't fully exploit it as well. What longtime Aja screenwriter Levasseur has managed in his directorial debut is to show he can mount a perfectly credible but mediocre found-footage horror, which is only as memorable as the time it takes for another B-grade horror to come along.

These types of archaeological excavations unleashing an ancient evil tend to be poor in production and equally so in entertainment value. However, this 2014 movie turned out to be a rather nice surprise.

While the storyline offers nothing new to the genre, then it was still entertaining to sit through this movie. Yes, the story was every bit as predictable as you would imagine. But the sense of claustrophobia and an unseen lurking horror was what saved the movie.

Acting-wise then you know what you will get in "The Pyramid", as this is, and we all know it, not award winning movie material. But still, the cast did good jobs with their roles and characters.

The creatures in the movie were one of the highlights throughout the movie. I especially liked the felines, as they just looked very interesting. As for Anubis himself, well he wasn't too shabby. Just a bit hard to buy into that it took so little to outsmart him. One thing I didn't get was how these being would still be alive and kicking after so many hundred of years. Undead? Immortal? The movie offers no explanation.

I liked the part with the wounds becoming quickly infected and starting to physically show that so rapidly. That was an interesting touch to the movie.

All in all, "The Pyramid" deserves a solid six out of ten stars rating as I was genuinely entertained and surprised at how it actually was a good movie. Just goes to prove that you can't judge a movie by its cover.

I was looking forward to this movie, despite it's IMDb score.

I loved the mood & setting, loved the creatures, loved the historical twist. But I'm just sick and tired of the forced character roles, where men are portrayed as dumb cowards or brutes, and women as brave and strong.

It would have been easy enough to balance the roles out, and create a more interesting dynamic. As it stood, the characters were just irritating, and stood in the way of enjoying the movie.

Too bad, because the rest of the movie was pretty good. Especially the sets, props, and creature designs. I just couldn't enjoy it because of the roles the cast had to play. Very disappointing.

A group of archaeologists & film makers enter a recently discovered three-sided pyramid, buried in the Egyptian desert, in order to retrieve a $3m robot when they lose communication with it. They find themselves lost & in a deadly fight for survival. James Buckley (The Inbetweeners) provides some light comic relief but overall this found footage style movie is pretty tense, claustrophobic & does have a view effectively horrific moments. It certainly could have been better but personally I found it to be reasonably good.

The story is just another one of those lost cause adventures. But the horror setting makes it feel very devoid of any character development. All the initial story buildup doesn't even adequately put the relationships between the characters in place.All the characters seem to be doing separate acting for each scenes that the scenes don't really feel continuous, and also the mediocre editing and directing adds up to this too. The story take the sharp turn from being scientific to mythic in a very sudden move for me. The jump-scares were successful in giving shocks at me, but it didn't stir any fear in me, like what a good horror should do. The acting overall is pretty lame. Ashley Hinshaw, Dennis O'Hare and James Buckley should really take more acting lessons, especially in acting for a horror thriller. Their expressions don't really show that they were terrified, so how should we the audience feel afraid?