The Pyramid (film)

The Pyramid

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Grégory Levasseur
Produced by Alexandre Aja
Mark Canton
Chady Eli Mattar
Scott C. Silver
Written by Daniel Meersand
Nick Simon
Starring Ashley Hinshaw
Denis O'Hare
James Buckley
Daniel Amerman
Music by Nima Fakhrara
Edited by Scott C. Silver
Production
company
Silvatar Media
Fox International Productions
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Release dates
  • December 5, 2014 (2014-12-05)
Running time
 89 minutes[1]
Country United States
Language English
Box office $16.9 million[2]

The Pyramid is a 2014 American horror film directed by Grégory Levasseur, produced by Alexandre Aja, and distributed by 20th Century Fox. It is presented as found footage documenting the exploration of a recently discovered pyramid by a team of archaeologists. Written by Daniel Meersand and Nick Simon, the film stars Ashley Hinshaw, Denis O'Hare, James Buckley and Daniel Amerman. The Pyramid was released on December 5, 2014, and was negatively received by critics.

Plot

During the 2012–13 uprisings in Egypt, an archaeological team discovers a vast pyramid buried 600 feet (180 m) below the surface. Further examinations of the pyramid's apex reveals that the structure is three-sided, unlike any pyramid previously discovered. They locate a tunnel leading into the apex of the pyramid. While breaking into the opening, toxic air is released poisoning a worker. Soon after, Egyptian authorities order the team to leave the site because of a violent uprising in nearby Giza. Team leader Dr. Miles Holden (O'Hare) and his daughter Nora argue over whether to obey the order. They eventually agree to send in a remotely-controlled rover vehicle – named Shorty – to enter the pyramid and document its interior.

While examining a small portion of the structure, Shorty is attacked by an unknown creature and goes offline. The portion of the team that has remained at the site decide to enter the pyramid to recover Shorty. After finding only a piece of the rover, they discover the wire tracing their way back out was cut. Realizing they may be lost, they enter a room with an unstable floor that collapses beneath them. Team member Zahir (Amir K) is wounded by the falling debris which pins his leg to the floor. Sunni (Nicola), another team member, attempts to climb up a small opening but is attacked by a creature hidden at the top and falls back down. Forced to leave Zahir behind, they look for another way out. Within moments, they hear Zahir scream and return to find only a bloody trail leading up the wall.

They are pursued through a narrow tunnel by a pack of the creatures Sunni encountered, which have a cat-like appearance. An Egyptian soldier who found another way into the pyramid finds and rescues them in time pulling them out of the tunnel. After killing a few of the creatures, he peers into the tunnel and is suddenly seized, being pulled inside snapping his back in the process, while the others watch in horror. Left to fend on their own, the team stumbles into a sand trap but manages to escape. During the chaos, however, Sunni falls into a spike pit and dies shortly after landing on a spike.

Forced to keep moving, the team finds a burial chamber which contains the corpse of a Freemason explorer who had been trapped in the pyramid in the late 19th century. A journal he left behind details a possible escape route from the burial chamber. Dr. Holden suddenly has his heart torn out from behind by a large creature. Nora and the team's cameraman Fitzie (Buckley) flee, but after realizing they're trapped, they return to find Dr. Holden still alive tied to a scale. They learn the creature is the Egyptian god Anubis, who is seen weighing Dr. Holden's heart in an ancient ritual to determine his worthiness to enter the afterlife. Miles is deemed unworthy and dies when Anubis eats his heart.

After Anubis leaves, Nora and Fitzie decipher hieroglyphs in the chamber that indicate the pyramid was constructed to imprison Anubis, who is seeking to reunite with his creator, Osiris. They find an air shaft with a ladder left behind by the soldier Shadid, but Anubis sees and pursues them. Nora climbs first and Fitzie follows, but midway up the ladder he is grabbed from below and dragged to his death. Now alone, Nora continues to scramble up the crumbling ladder and reaches the top but is captured by Anubis. Tied to an obelisk, she uses a blade hidden in her hand to slowly cut through her bonds before Anubis can finish his ritual. Once free, she slashes and wounds Anubis, who is then attacked by a horde of scavenger cats allowing Nora to escape. Exhausted and traumatized, she finally climbs her way to freedom and collapses just before clearing the pyramid's exit. She awakens sunburned and injured, only to discover an Egyptian child playing with her camera. As she pleas for his help, Anubis suddenly appears from the dark lunging at them both as the picture goes black.

Cast

Release

On July 7, 2014, 20th Century Fox picked up the distribution rights to the film, and was set for a release date for December 5, 2014.[3] The release date it was then released on May 5, 2015 on DVD and Blu-ray as well on video on demand on April 17, 2015.[4]

Box office

North America

Released on December 5, 2014, in 589 theatres,[5] the film underperformed, earning only $1.3 million.[6] Although investors originally expected the film to make more than $20 million domestically, it made less than $2.8 million.[2][7]

Other territories

Outside North America, the film was released on the same day in 18 markets including the U.K., Russia and Vietnam.[5] It earned $3.8 million from 16 international markets.[8]

Reception

The Pyramid received overwhelmingly negative reviews from critics, with Moviefone and CraveOnline both naming it one of the worst films of 2014.[9][10] On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 13%, based on 38 reviews, with an average rating of 2.8/10. The site's consensus reads "Poorly lit and thinly writ, The Pyramid houses little more than clunky dialogue, amateurish acting, and dusty found-footage scares."[11] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 24 out of 100 based on 16 reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[12]

Lelsie Felperin of The Hollywood Reporter called it "a stinker in every sense."[13] Drew Taylor of The Playlist wrote, "The Pyramid is cursed. Only, instead of an ancient evil, it's just plagued by inept filmmaking."[14] Alonso Duralde of The Wrap said, "The ultimate moral of The Pyramid, and of almost every other film where an underground mummy or scarab or tomb wreaks havoc, is that some things were never meant to be uncovered. Some movies, too."[15]

References

  1. ↑ "THE PYRAMID (15)". British Board of Film Classification. September 29, 2014. Retrieved November 5, 2014.
  2. 1 2 "The Pyramid (2014)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved November 7, 2015.
  3. ↑ Turek, Ryan (July 7, 2014). "20th Century Fox Takes You into The Pyramid This December". Shock Till You Drop. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
  4. ↑ Turek, Ryan (July 7, 2014). "Did you miss The Pyramid in theatres it on Digital HD April 17th and then online and in stores on Blu-ray and DVD May 5th". Dread Central. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
  5. 1 2 Anthony D'Alessandro (December 4, 2014). "Majors Take A Holiday From New Wide Releases – Weekend Box Office Preview". Deadline.com. Retrieved December 5, 2014.
  6. ↑ Hall, Jacob (December 7, 2014). "Weekend Box Office Report: 'The Pyramid' Gets Buried Upon Arrival". Screencrush.com.
  7. ↑ "HSX.com – MovieStock : The Pyramid". Retrieved January 5, 2015.
  8. ↑ Nancy Tartaglione (December 7, 2014). "'Exodus: Gods And Kings' Commands $23.1M In Overseas Debut: Intl Box Office". Deadline.com. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
  9. ↑ "The Worst Films of 2014". CraveOnline. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
  10. ↑ "The 10 Worst Movies of 2014". The Moviefone Blog. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
  11. ↑ "The Pyramid". Rotten Tomatoes. December 5, 2014. Retrieved November 10, 2015.
  12. ↑ "The Pyramid". Metacritic. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
  13. ↑ Leslie Felperin. "'The Pyramid': Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
  14. ↑ Drew Taylor (December 5, 2014). "Review: Found Footage Horror Movie 'The Pyramid' Starring - The Playlist". The Playlist. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
  15. ↑ Alonso Duralde (December 5, 2014). "'The Pyramid' Review: It's a Little 'Indiana Jones' and a Little 'Mummy' — But Mostly Dopey". The Wrap. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
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