Rating summary

Movie		1.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		1.0

The Pyramid Blu-ray Movie Review

And you probably thought Rome had a feral cat problem.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 5, 2015

There’s a (distressingly brief) moment early in The Pyramid where those inclined toward hoping for the best might think that finally someone has managed to smartly reinvent the found footage film genre. The iconic pyramids of Giza are seen within the context of Cairo’s unraveling during the political maelstrom that overtook that region as part of the so-called Arab Spring. As smoke billows from the Egyptian metropolis, the collection of pyramids remains resolute in the background, and then what appears to be actual archival footage of the riots sweeping Cairo is smartly intercut with some fictional footage involving a documentary film crew trying to get through the gauntlet to some as yet unidentified dig where they want to cover a (pun probably intended) groundbreaking new discovery. It’s a really riveting, intriguing concept— one which The Pyramid almost immediately jettisons in favor of tired, predictable horror tropes. Haphazard even within the decidedly low bar aesthetic of found footage films, The Pyramid scrapes up a few scattered scares along the way, all of them culled resolutely from such tried and true techniques as jump cuts accompanied by booming low frequency sound effects. Denis O’Hare, an actor who made such an impression in a really scary outing like American Horror Story: The Complete First Season , is most likely not going to be including clips from The Pyramid in his audition reel.

The Pyramid segues to a location hundreds of miles from Cairo, far enough away that the roiling political climate isn’t directly at hand, but close enough so that it can of course create plot mechanics which force a father and daughter archaeologist team to act quickly before they’re forced to move. This team, Miles (Denis O’Hare) and Nora Holden (Ashley Hinshaw) have partially uncovered a rare three sided pyramid, one which satellite technology which Nora favors helped to discover, ironically from space. The already tentative narrative flow of The Pyramid is almost maddeningly put through the editing mill in one of the first scenes involving Miles, Nora and journalist-documentarian Sunni Marsh (Christa Nicola), where the supposed found footage alternates between two incidents taking place in the same staging room, one where Miles petulantly insists Nora cease her “New Age” archaeology ravings, and another where Miles petulantly harangues Nora about a picture of Nora and coworker Zahir (Amir K) which pops up unexpectedly on a computer display.

This is the sort of film where the “found footage” magically offers up characters introducing other characters as they enter the frame, replete not just with names but with little summaries of their jobs and/or places in the plot. Once all of these patently artificial machinations are in place, even more patently artificial machinations mean that Miles, Nora and various hangers on need to explore the inside of the pyramid within just a couple of hours before they’re forced to abandon the dig due to the supposed impending martial chaos. (This set up includes unintentionally laugh out loud hilarious interchanges between a screaming and pointing Egyptian soldier and a bunch of confused archaeologists.)

That finally gets a gaggle of people inside the pyramid, which is where all hell (and/or Duat or Tuat, as the case may be) breaks loose when of course there turn out to be horrifying creatures running amok, because, you know, the Ancient Egyptians thought it would be smart to lock a bunch of monsters up inside a rare three sided pyramid, where they obviously wouldn’t attract attention. (A late in the film revelation about the "real" role of these creatures is admittedly inventive, though the upshot of what's actually the menace is frankly ridiculous and refuses to stand up to even cursory logic.) This whole overly long and melodramatic, section of the film plays out in near darkness, which both helps and hinders the proceedings. Some artful sound design does manage to work up a fair degree of anxiety as various things go bump (rather loudly at times) in the night. On the other hand, supposedly big “reveals” are swathed in such shadows that it’s patently impossible to make anything out, meaning some of the scares don’t quite have the visual impact they really should.

There’s a passing attempt to weave some of this ridiculous hoo-hah into actual Egyptian mythology, though anyone who has studied the actual stories that are referenced will probably have sticking points with various issues. Aside from the lack of any “historical accuracy” (not that one should expect anything like that from a film like this), this biggest issue here is simply the dunderheaded found footage format, which is so far past its expiration date that it’s high time filmmakers stopped relying on it. The Pyramid’s tag line is “the curse is real,” and if that refers to the deplorable output of many recent found footage offerings, it’s a sad but true statement.

The Pyramid Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Pyramid is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. The film can basically be divided into two sections, an opening half or so where almost all of the action takes place out of doors in brightly lit, sun drenched environments, and a second section which is confined to the almost ludicrously dark labyrinthine hallways and cubby holes inside the pyramid. As should probably be expected, the first section is the best looking, with vibrant colors and appealing sharpness, as well as very commendable fine detail which handles elements like wind blown sand with ease. The sequences inside the pyramid are decidedly less pleasurable from a detail perspective, with inadequate and at times nonexistent shadow detail and an at times rather overly murky appearance given the minimal lighting. Interestingly, there's very little of an outright "video" look throughout the proceedings, despite the found footage format. There are occasional quick POV shots from a NASA rover that is sent into the pyramid, and a few supposed shots from the documentary cameraman, but all in all this is a somewhat glossier presentation than is typically the case in this genre. There are occasional slight issues with banding when, for example, a flashlight beam is aimed directly at the camera. Crush is also a recurrent issue throughout the interior pyramid sequences.

The Pyramid Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Pyramid's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix is extremely effective, especially once things segue to inside the pyramid. The opening sections of the film do provide a wealth of ambient environmental sounds as various characters tool around the dig site, but once things get inside the pyramid, there's good, consistent use of the surrounds to generate an impending sense of doom, something that's only accentuated by the fact that so much of this part of the film is so hard to see. Dialogue is presented very cleanly and clearly and is typically well prioritized even in some sequences that include busy sound effects. Some good bursts of LFE will undoubtedly provoke the intended startle response.

The Pyramid Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Extended Ending (1080p; 1:06) prolongs your agony for over a minute--is it really worth it?


• Promotional Featurettes are all short EPK-fests:

  Fear (1080p; 00:58) focuses on an early screening;

  Space Archaeology (1080p; 2:11) looks at new satellite technology;

  Egyptian Myth (1080p; 2:14) contains interviews discussing Egyptology;

  Partners (1080p; 1:28) is actually an interesting if brief look at the long partnership between producer Alexandre Aja and director Gregory Levasseur, who have known each other since they were both kids.

• Gallery (1080p; 2:25) offers both Auto Advance and Manual Advance modes (the timing is for the Auto Advance mode).


• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 2:19)

The Pyramid Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

On a baseline level, there's no doubt that The Pyramid delivers a few scares, but they're cheap, ephemeral ones and not anything that will stick in the subconscious or haunt subsequent dreams. The found footage conceit is just tired beyond belief at this point, and The Pyramid doesn't even totally stick with that at times, with some decidedly odd editing choices which inject consternation rather than energy. Performances are borderline hilarious at times, and The Pyramid probably deserved to stay underground. Technical merits are generally very good to excellent for those considering a purchase.