Pyramid (2014)

An archaeological team attempts to unlock the secrets of a lost pyramid only to find themselves hunted by an insidious creature.

Review

This is a funny one. Found footage and big production companies rarely go hand in hand, and yet here we are, with Fox making this one. Huh. Anyway. The funny one thought goes beyond production company and into casting and direction so there's that.

The basic setup is simple enough, a group of archaeologists find a pyramid with three sides buried in the desert and make the usual horror movie bad decisions before becoming lost in said pyramid. There really is little else to say about the premise. It's serviceable if not predictable, but so many horror movies are - so is it any good?

Actually, for the most part it is.

It is a good horror movie. But that's not to say it's a bit odd in places. I mean, I did some digging with this one. Firstly it is "Found footage with a third person perspective". What the hell does that mean? Well, apart from the obvious suddenly-not-found-footage shots that are incredibly distracting? For this, I blame director, Grégory Levasseur (debut feature) who has written some fantastic movies: High Tension, P2, Mirrors etc. For the most part the direction is fine, but some of the perspective changes are a bit bonko. Then there is the cast.

They're all good, Ashley Hinshaw (True Blood) and Denis O'Hare (True Blood) shoulder the film with ease, but the casting of James Buckley was off-putting for me, because I like James Buckley so much. You know in Zapped, or The Inbetweeners. He's good here, but personally I found it a little distracting.

Then there is the villain of the piece. The effects are ropey. Which is a problem being the third act big-bad.

But none of this detracts from the film, and the fact it is worth seeing. Sadly, it bombed on release, and has appalling reviews, most undeservedly. So it never got a proper physical release (at least not from Fox), and has been relegated to the bargain bin and streaming services.

But I say give it a chance. It's a solid horror film in the dying found footage genre (that I personally am not a fan of) which works. While it's not terribly scary, it will have you on the edge of your seat, and the gore effects, while not plentiful, are pretty decent. Good stuff.