3) The Pyramid
A horror movie released on what’s universally known as the worst opening weekend of the year (December 5th) that’s granted no press screenings, Thursday night openings, or even a midnight release in most markets – what could go wrong? Judging by its instantaneous jump directly into third place, kicking Alien Abduction from the #13 spot, the better question is what DIDN’T go wrong during Gregory Levasseur’s found footage monstrosity. Dimly-lit temple settings, animated eyesores, rotten acting, an unintelligible script – The Pyramid is everything that’s wrong with the found footage genre.
The only instance I can be remotely positive about is the inclusion of James Buckley (The Inbetweeners) as the comedically-inclined cameraman, yet dumbfounding dialogue squashes any hopes of Buckley lightening the mood. Almost every single found-footage-no-no is stumbled over in some way, from ghost cameramen (how are all characters on screen) to a musical score (WHO PUT MUSIC TO THE DEATHS OF INNOCENT ARCHEOLOGISTS!?), resulting in a sackless found footage movie that doesn’t even have the gusto to stick out the selected gimmick.
This was NOT a good year for found footage horror movies based on foreign historical locations, but The Pyramid makes As Above, So Below look like [REC] in comparison.
I think this review excerpt hits the nail on the head:
The Pyramid doesn’t care about its viewers, and Levasseur makes that notion blatantly obvious by finding new ways to reassure found-footage-haters that their wild anti-shaky-cam rants remain valid – so why should we care about such a film? We shouldn’t. It’s that simple.
