Found footage movies usually die a quick death. They pop up in theaters, make a modest profit because they cost about five dollars to film, and then vanish into the depths of streaming services. But The Pyramid, released in late 2014, is a weird case. It wasn't a critical darling. Honestly, critics basically shredded it. Yet, here we are, and people are still arguing about that ending and whether the creature design was genius or just plain goofy.
If you haven't seen it in a while, let's refresh.
Gregory Levasseur, who worked on The Hills Have Eyes and P2, stepped into the director's chair for this one. It’s got a pretty simple hook: a father-daughter archaeology team discovers a unique, three-sided pyramid buried under the Egyptian desert. This happens right in the middle of the 2013 Egyptian protests, which adds a layer of "we really shouldn't be here" tension that the movie actually handles okay. Then, naturally, they go inside. Bad idea.
What People Get Wrong About the Found Footage Style
The biggest complaint you’ll see on Reddit or Letterboxd is that The Pyramid "cheats." It starts as a mockumentary—complete with a camera crew played by James Buckley (yes, Jay from The Inbetweeners) and Christa Nicola. But about halfway through, the movie just gives up on the gimmick. It switches to traditional cinematic shots because, frankly, it’s hard to film a chase scene with a giant monster using only a GoPro.
Some people hate this. They call it lazy.
I’d argue it’s actually a pragmatic choice. If Levasseur had stuck strictly to the "found footage" rules, we wouldn't have seen the scale of the environment. The movie uses a lot of tight, claustrophobic spaces, but when it opens up into the burial chambers, the shift in perspective helps you realize just how trapped these characters are. It’s a hybrid. It’s messy. But it works if you stop worrying about who is holding the camera and start worrying about the thing breathing down their necks.
The Anubis Reveal: CGI vs. Mythology
Let's talk about the cat. Or the dog. Or the god.
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Most Egyptian horror movies stick to mummies. We’ve seen enough toilet paper-wrapped corpses to last a lifetime. The Pyramid went a different route by introducing a physical manifestation of Anubis. This isn't just a guy in a mask; it’s a towering, emaciated, jackal-headed deity that is literally weighing the hearts of the explorers to see if they're "worthy."
The CGI hasn't aged perfectly. In 2014, the budget wasn't exactly Avatar-level. In certain lighting, Anubis looks a bit like a PlayStation 3 character. However, the conceptual horror is top-tier. The idea that an ancient god is trapped in a "space between spaces," starving for centuries and forced to perform a ritual on anyone who wanders in? That’s dark. It's much more interesting than a generic curse.
Dr. Nora Holden (played by Ashley Hinshaw) tries to apply logic to it. She’s the scientist. But the movie does a great job of slowly stripping away her academic armor. By the time they find the "Star of Osiris" and realize the pyramid was built to keep something in rather than keep people out, the tone has shifted from a Discovery Channel special to a cosmic nightmare.
Why the 2013 Setting Matters
Context is everything. The film sets its story against the backdrop of the Egyptian Revolution. This wasn't just a random choice for "flavor." It created a ticking clock. The military orders the archaeologists to leave because the area is no longer safe. This forced urgency explains why they make such stupid decisions—like sending a $3 million NASA rover into a hole it clearly wasn't designed for.
If there was no civil unrest, they would have waited. They would have called for backup. They would have had better lights. The chaos above ground mirrored the chaos below, and that’s a nuance people often overlook when they dismiss this as "just another jump-scare movie."
Survival Horror and the "Blue" Cat
The movie introduces these weird, hairless, mutated cats. They’re supposedly descendants of the ancient Egyptian feline protectors, but they’ve turned into blind, cannibalistic scavengers. They are terrifying. They represent what happens when nature is trapped in the dark for three thousand years.
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There's a specific scene where one of these things eats a character's heart while they're still alive. It’s mean-spirited and visceral. Most PG-13 horror movies (which this was) shy away from that kind of gore, but The Pyramid leaned in. It felt like a throwback to the 80s creature features where the monster actually did damage.
Acknowledging the Flaws
I'm not going to sit here and tell you it’s a masterpiece. It isn't.
The dialogue can be clunky. Sometimes the characters explain things to the audience that they definitely shouldn't know. "Oh, this must be the weighing of the heart ceremony!" Sure, Nora, you recognized that specific mural while being hunted by a 7-foot monster.
Also, the lighting is a mess. It’s a movie set in a tomb, so it’s dark. I get it. But there are sequences where you genuinely cannot tell which character is screaming. That's a common trope of the genre, but it’s still frustrating. Despite that, the practical sets—built at the Nu Boyana Film Studios in Bulgaria—look fantastic. They feel heavy. They feel like they’ve been underground for millennia.
Is it Worth a Rewatch?
If you’re a fan of "expedition horror" like The Descent or As Above, So Below, then yes. It fits perfectly into that sub-genre of people getting lost in places they weren't invited to.
It handles the mythology better than The Mummy (the Tom Cruise one, at least) and it has a genuinely grim ending. There’s no "final girl" triumph here in the traditional sense. The ending is a bleak, "the world is doomed" moment that leaves you feeling a bit cold. It’s bold.
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How to Get the Most Out of The Pyramid
If you’re planning on watching it for the first time or giving it a second chance, do a few things first to set the mood:
- Turn off the lights: Seriously. The movie relies on shadow play. If you have glare on your screen, you'll miss the creature movements in the background.
- Watch the "making of" clips: Look up how they built the sets. Knowing that those stone walls were actual physical structures makes the claustrophobia feel more real.
- Pair it with its "sister" films: Watch it as a double feature with As Above, So Below. Both came out around the same time and both deal with the intersection of archaeology and the supernatural.
- Don't overthink the "Found Footage" aspect: Just accept that the camera perspective shifts. Once you stop looking for the "cameraman," the story flows much better.
The film serves as a reminder that the most terrifying things aren't necessarily ghosts or demons, but the physical remnants of a history we don't fully understand. It takes the "Curse of the Pharaohs" trope and turns it into a biological and theological prison. That’s enough to make it stand out in a crowded field of mediocre 2010s horror.
Go into it expecting a B-movie creature feature with some high-concept mythology, and you'll likely have a much better time than the critics did back in 2014. It’s a fun, dark, and occasionally gross trip into the sand that deserves a bit more credit than it usually gets.
Next Steps for the Horror Fan:
Start by looking into the real-world history of the "Great Labyrinth" of Egypt mentioned by Herodotus. While the movie is fictional, the idea of a massive, underground complex with thousands of rooms actually has roots in ancient historical accounts. Then, check out the 2014 film As Above, So Below to see how another director handled similar "archaeological horror" themes in the Paris Catacombs. Compare how both films use the concept of "as above, so below" to bridge the gap between our world and a darker, ancient one.