The Pyramid is a creepy horror film from producer Alexandre Aja, director of The Hills Have Eyes.

In August 2013, a team of American archaeologists, Dr. Miles Holden (Denis O’Hare) and his daughter Nora (Ashley Hinshaw), discover what they believe to be the lost pyramid of Ahkenaten in Egypt. They have invited filmmaker Sunni (Christa Nicola) and her cameraman Fitzie (James Buckley) to document the unearthing of the mysterious 3-sided pyramid.

Political protests in Cairo threaten to shut down their dig site, so the group’s robotics engineer Michael Zahir (Amir Kamyab) sends a drone into the pyramid to get a glimpse of what’s inside. However, shortly into its journey, the drone is attacked by some sort of creature. Zahir dismisses it as some sort of wild dog that wandered in when the tomb was first opened. However, worried about losing the multi-million dollar borrowed equipment, Zahir enters the pyramid to look for the drone. The Holdens use this as an excuse to explore their discovery, despite the military’s orders to evacuate the site.

The group quickly discovers that they are not dealing with a wild dog, but rather a much bigger, ancient god-like evil. They soon find themselves lost in a dark labyrinth as some mysterious and dangerous creature hunts them down one-by-one. Will any of them make it back out alive?!

The Pyramid is a partial found-footage horror film. Much of the film is seen through the eyes of Fitzie’s documentary camera, but the filmmakers also make use of the drone footage and traditional filming techniques.

The film starts off a bit slow as it introduces all of the characters and their relationships, and sets up the generic political protests in the city. However, once the gang enters the pyramid, that is when the pulse-pounding horror really begins. Over the course of the movie, the tension and creepiness builds, leading to a thoroughly-exciting final act, with lots of cover-your-eyes, scream or jump out of your seat moments. You will only need the edge of your seat by the end of this film!

The vast, winding maze of tunnels, booby-traps and creatures look excellent on this Blu-ray, even in the really dark scenes, and the CGI blends in naturally with the practical sets and effects. These combine to create one really creepy, horrifying and suspenseful setting. There is a green static technique used to signify the losing of the drone signal at times that didn’t really work for me, but this seemed to be a stylistic choice by the filmmakers rather than a limitation of the Blu-ray.

I had one main issue with the Blu-ray audio presentation. At times I found the dialogue to be too soft—unless the goal of the filmmakers is to have you blast the sound to make you jump even further out of your seat when you hear the shrills or monster attacks. I found myself adjusting the volume for dialogue versus effects several times during the film.

The Blu-ray’s bonus features were also a bit underwhelming. There is a short, unnecessary extended ending, a production gallery and four short promotional featurettes that total about 8 minutes. It would have been nice to have a more-detailed behind-the-scenes featurette, deleted scenes or an audio commentary.

That said, the film is definitely worth checking out for some thrills.

What’s Included:

Film: (1:28:52)

Blu-ray:
• 1080p / Widescreen 2.35:1
• Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, English Descriptive Audio 5.1, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1, French Dolby Digital 5.1
• Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish

Digital Copy (Redemption Deadline 5/5/2018):

• Digital HD Copy redeemable via Flixster (UltraViolet), Google Play or Vudu (UltraViolet)

Extras:

• Extended Ending (1:06)
  This short extra sequence doesn’t really add anything to or improve the film’s original ending.
• Promotional Featurettes
  These short featurettes were used to promote the film’s theatrical release and include lots of clips from the movie.
  • Fear” (0:58)
    Short promo for the film that includes viewer reactions and infra-red footage of film audiences covering their eyes and screaming in their seats.
  • Space Archaeology (2:11)
    Producer Alexandre Aja talks about the real satellite technology that inspired the film.
  • Egyptian Myth (2:14)
    Producers Alexandre Aja and Scott C. Silver, director Grégory Levasseur and star Denis O’Hare (“Dr. Miles Holden”) talk about the Egyptian mythology and setting of the film.
  • Partners (1:28)
    Producer Alexandre Aja and director Grégory Levasseur discuss their long friendship while star Ashley Hinshaw (“Nora Holden”) talks about working with the director. Also includes some behind-the-scenes footage.
• Gallery (2:25)
  This collection of 28 production stills gives viewers a look behind-the-scenes at the building of the sets and creatures as well as some of the film’s concept artwork. Manually advance through the gallery using your remote, or let it auto-advance every five seconds.
• Theatrical Trailer (2:19)
• Sneak Peek (6:38)
  Play All or select from trailers for Discover Digital HD, The Lazarus Effect, Wrong Turn 6: Last Resort, American Horror Story: Freak Show and The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death.

Final Thoughts:

The Pyramid starts off slow, but builds to a heart-pumping, edge-of-your-seat horror film that is sure to make you jump, scream, cover your eyes, or whatever you need to do to get through a horror film. The Blu-ray presentation looks great, but the dialogue is a bit too soft at times, and the bonus features are a little underwhelming. That said, it’s worth checking out if you’re looking for a new thriller to get your heart pumping.