Pyramid (film, 2014)

A pseudo-documentary film about archaeologists , which has many scenes in the style of "first-person".

A group of American archaeologists discovers in 2013 in Egypt a trihedral pyramid buried deep in the sand. She is much older than other pyramids. Having dug up the entrance to it, scientists unexpectedly received an order to immediately leave the country due to a military coup . Group leader Dr. Miles Holden and his daughter Nora argue about whether they should come back. In the end, they decide to continue the study.

They sent a robot inside the pyramid - a planet rover rented from NASA . Soon, communication with him broke and scientists decided to pull out the robot, but found only its fragments and got lost in the labyrinth of the pyramid. Entering another room, they discover that the floor in it is unstable. But too late. Paul falls through with group members. Zahira nails to the floor with a huge piece of stone, while Sunny is trying to get out through the hole in the ceiling, but she is attacked by an unknown creature. Deciding to go further, the team leaves Zahira alone with a lantern, promising to bring help. After some time, they hear the cries of Corporal Shadid, as well as the hysterical cries of Zahir, but when they return, they find only a bloody trail leading to the same hole.

Scientists realized that they were not just trapped - someone was hunting them. Paving the way through a narrow tunnel, the team notices the pursuit of them. Corporal Shadid tried to save them, but something dragged him into the tunnel, from which scientists have just climbed out. Scientists continue the path and accidentally activate a sand trap. In the confusion, Sunny accidentally falls into a hole with stakes, where she is tormented by cat-like creatures. While Miles is trying to pull his daughter out, cameraman Fitzi tries in vain to drive the creatures away. In the end, he manages to do this by throwing a raised fire into the pit. Scientists descend into the pit and try to help the girl, but she dies in agony. Forced to move on, archaeologists discover a burial chamber where someone had already visited before. It turns out to be the corpse of a Mason, lying there since the XIX century. Nora reads his notes and finds out that somewhere there must be an exit to the surface. At that moment, the creature pierces Miles' chest and retrieves his heart. Nora and Fitzi run away in horror, but after getting into a dead end, the operator decides to meet the creature in order to film him before his death. In infrared radiation, he sees a tall thin creature that looks like a man, but with the head of a wolf, not yet realizing that this is Anubis. He weighs the heart of the still alive Miles on the scales, whose counterweight is the feather of truth. Without going through trial, Miles dies after Anubis devours his heart.

Nora understands that the pyramid is the earthly prison of the Egyptian god of embalming. And in order to join his father Osiris, the lord of the afterlife, he needs a man with a pure soul. One way or another, the two surviving people are trying to leave the pyramid. They return to the burial chamber, where they study the map of the night sky. Having found the shaft where Shadid went down to them, they climb up the rope ladder. Halfway Anubis grabs Fitzi and takes him, and then Nora, who managed to get to the very top.

Nora wakes up and notices the corpses of people, as well as the living Fitzi, whose head Anubis presses with his foot. He is ready to perform the ritual, but the girl manages to free herself and even injure Anubis. Cat-like creatures block her path, and they suddenly attack not God, but her. While Anubis deals with the creatures, Nora is desperate to escape. A haggard girl gets to the surface and faints. Recovering, she notices an Egyptian boy studying her camera. With a trembling voice, she asks him for help, but he obviously does not understand her language.

The film ends with a view from the camera, where Anubis attacks a boy. The camera turns off.

On July 7, 2014, 20th Century Fox acquired the rights to distribute the film, and set a release date on December 5, 2014. ^[1]

The film received extremely negative reviews from critics. The average rating on the Rotten Tomatoes aggregator for 40 professional reviews was 2.9 (on a 10-point scale) with the general verdict rotten ^[2] , on the Metacritic aggregator - 24 (on a 100-point scale, generally unfavorable reviews ) for 16 professional reviews ^{[ 3]} .

Reviews

• Tara Brady . The Pyramid review: half-hearted tropes executed in a half-arsed manner . The Irish Times (December 5, 2014). Date of treatment August 7, 2016.  
• . 'The Pyramid' Review: It's a Little 'Indiana Jones' and a Little 'Mummy' - But Mostly Dopey . The Wrap (December 5, 2014). Date of treatment August 7, 2016.
• Movie Review at Variety
• Movie Review at The Hollywood Reporter