Directed by Gregory Levasseur and released in 2014, The Pyramid follows found footage style cinematography as a father-daughter team of archaeologists investigate a buried pyramid in the midst of Egyptian protests. Starring Denis O’Hare as Holden and Ashley Hinshaw as his daughter Nora, the team ventures down into the depths of the unknown and could very well not make it back out alive, as the trailer shows.
Admittedly, I have lost my fascination with found footage films, especially horror. Having seen a few of the films, I find they follow similar patterns. While I do appreciate some horror films, I enjoy psychological thrills more than jump-and-scare tactics. While the intellectual aspect of this film does have some appeal, it descends into obvious horror thrills in my opinion. I find this approach to film-making a poor version of fear.
Ashley Hinshaw as Nora
The most fascinating aspect of the film is the twisting, complex of the labyrinth of the Egyptian pyramid. What the film lacked was fully delving into this plot device. How much more this film could have been if we’d seen more rooms and death devices! That was the most interesting aspect of the film and it was barely explored. With my basic knowledge of Egyptian gods and goddesses, I surmised who the possible culprit was half way into the film. Which was way longer than it really needed to be. The ending felt barely explained and again relied on cheap jump tactics that could easily have been resolved at least five minutes earlier by the same ending anyway.
The highlight for me is the deeply, psychological idea presented by Fitzie, played by James Buckley. When confronted by almost certain death, do you run to meet and face it or do you continue to run away? There is something to say about hope, and believing you still might have a chance to get away. But when faced with peril, especially in this case which does not seem to have an out, there is something to the idea of facing your death head on, with dignity. If faced with an ancient creature hunting you down in an impossible labyrinth, do you keep running in the hopes of escaping? Or do you face your murderer head-on? What do you do?
Well, you already got the trailer, check out this Halloween flick, the second in a double-header, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31 at 9:45pm.
