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Blu-ray Review The Pyramid Blu-ray Review (1 Viewer)

Matt Hough

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The Pyramid Blu-ray Review

A couple of genuine shocks combined with the usually surefire scenario featuring a group of people trapped in an enclosed space and being picked off one by one give Gregory Levasseur’s horror film The Pyramid its only credible ingredients. As for the rest, the tiresome use of the overdone “found footage” motif along with some dreadfully substandard CGI effects make The Pyramid a promising horror film on paper but a veritable dud in actuality. It’s more silly than scary.



Studio: Fox

Distributed By: N/A

Video Resolution and Encode: 1080P/AVC

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HDMA, Spanish 5.1 DD, French 5.1 DD

Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish

Rating: R

Run Time: 1 Hr. 29 Min.

Package Includes: Blu-ray, UltraViolet

keep case in a slipcover

Disc Type: BD50 (dual layer)

Region: A

Release Date: 05/05/2015

MSRP: $29.99




The Production Rating: 2/5

A renowned archeological father-daughter team (Denis O'Hare, Ashley Hinshaw) discover a three-sided pyramid 250 miles outside Cairo, but the Egyptian government in the midst of an uprising wants the foreigners gone. However, when a NASA-loaned robot which has been sent at the last minute into the pyramid to capture some quick video before the explorers depart goes missing, the father and daughter, her fiancé (Amir K), and a news team (Christa Nicola, James Buckley) recording their exploits venture in together but become hopelessly lost in the maze of labyrinthine tunnels and chambers. It turns out, this long-buried pyramid is filled with booby traps and contains centuries old creatures who make it their business not to allow anyone to escape from their underground lair.

The screenplay by Nick Simon and Daniel Meersand for some reason makes these the most intellectually challenged pair of archeologists in the history of civilization. Twice they ignore hieroglyphic warnings about entering certain passages even though it’s very clear early on that there is something alive and very dangerous inhabiting this extensive underground crypt for which they have no maps and no technology at all with them to help them out of any predicament into which they stumble. And stumble they do into a series of shocking discoveries which cost members of the search party their lives. The movie spends the first forty minutes using the “found footage” motif so familiar to viewers of The Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield (to name two movies that used the technique the most successfully), but it doesn’t work well here no matter how stubbornly director Gregory Levasseur continues to fall back on it (but only in selected moments which makes its use even more ridiculous). Much more effective are a couple of shots NOT using the video cameras the explorers are toting with them when the camera goes up to the ceiling and peers down below to emphasize the smallness of the captives to their environment or in one specific shock moment, to get a great aerial shot of one unfortunate soul discovering one of the booby traps the hard way. The CGI creatures, however, are pitifully fake even in the low light levels of these underground crypts and are more laughable than scream-worthy. The dialogue is sometimes laughable, too, as the daughter and the videographer take turns whining about the danger they’re in or wasting time thinking they can do something for people who are obviously done for instead of doing whatever they can to escape their rather obvious ultimate fates.

With such a poor script, it’s to their credit that Denis O'Hare, Christa Nicola, James Buckley, and Ashley Hinshaw (especially the first two) are able to retain straight faces to play along with the silliness and contrivance of the narrative and actually make us care about their well-being. Less effective is the nothing boy friend role for Amir K making it obvious he’ll be the first to meet his maker. Faycal Attougui has some good scenes as a fierce soldier who demands the team’s immediate evacuation from the area and then who, naturally, finds something he wasn’t expecting when he goes looking for them after they disappear down the rabbit hole of the pyramid.



Video Rating: 4.5/5  3D Rating: NA

Captured in a variety of video-style quality to reflect the “found footage” motif of the first part of the movie, the picture’s 2.35:1 theatrical aspect ratio is delivered at 1080p resolution using the AVC codec. Sharpness varies but apart from the forced video stuff looks quite impressive, and color is good before going underground. There, of course, everything changes to various shades of rust. Black levels in the dimness aren’t as rich as one might hope but certainly are more than adequate. The movie has been divided into 28 chapters.



Audio Rating: 5/5

The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 sound mix is amped up for maximum impact with impressively sharp screeches and squawks which reverberate through the entire soundfield once our intrepid quintet get underground. Nima Fakhrara’s bass-heavy thumping music gets the heart pumping as the danger levels intensify while dialogue has been masterfully recorded and is mostly in the center channel apart from a few random comments, moans, and groans which get directionalized placements.



Special Features Rating: 2.5/5

Extended Ending (1:06, HD): a brief ironic coda which likely would have been effective remaining in the finished film rather than as an extra.

Promotional Featurettes (HD): very brief snippets of publicity materials for the movie.
  • Fear (0:58): some hidden camera footage of audiences wincing and shrieking through a screening along with testimonials about the film’s effectiveness.
  • Space Archeology (2:11): producer Alexandre Aja discusses the reality-based modern methods of satellites' aiding in archeological finds.
  • Egyptian Myth (2:14) director Gregory Levasseur, producers Alexandre Aja and Mark Canton, and star Denis O'Hare discuss the film’s plot.
  • Partners (1:28) producer Alexandre Aja and director Gregory Levasseur discuss their shared passion for horror films.

Art Gallery: twenty-eight color shots of behind the scenes looks at the production including models of the creatures.

Theatrical Trailer (2:19, HD)

Promo Trailers (HD): The Lazarus Effect, Wrong Turn 6, American Horror Story: Freak Show, among others.

Ultraviolet: code sheet enclosed in the case.



Overall Rating: 2.5/5

For those easily frightened and not too demanding in terms of special effects, there are some worthwhile shocks in The Pyramid, and the high definition presentation for both picture and sound certainly doesn’t let the filmmakers’ vision down at all.


Reviewed By: Matt Hough


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