THE PYRAMID

 

Publicity poster for The Pyramid (© Grégory Levasseur/Silvatar Media/Fox International Productions/Atmosphere Pictures/20^th Century Fox – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

On 2 November 2023, I watched the sci fi/fantasy-themed horror movie The Pyramid, whose horror quotient was unrelenting, fully explaining – and justifying – its R rating!

Directed by Grégory Levasseur, and released in 2014 by 20^th Century Fox, The Pyramid takes its title from a mysterious, newly-discovered, subterranean pyramid in Egypt that uniquely possesses only three sides and is therefore of immense scientific interest. Father and daughter archaeologists Drs Miles and Nora Holden (Denis 'O Hare and Ashley Hinshaw), accompanied by documentary film makers Sunni Marsh (Christa-Marie Nichola) and Terry 'Fitzie' Fitzsimmons (James Buckley) plus local guide Michael Zahir (Amir K), foolhardily decide to enter this strange pyramid in order to rescue the remote-controlled rover vehicle that they'd sent in earlier to explore and record the interior, despite having been warned off by the authorities.

Shortly after they enter the pyramid, however, the internal floor suddenly collapses beneath them, plunging everyone deep down inside the very bowels of the pyramid, where all manner of horrors await the now well-and-truly imprisoned and imperiled team, hopelessly lost amid the winding, labyrinthine passageways and endless, enshadowed catacombs.

These horrors include a feral pack of voracious hairless feline monsters (recalling the real-life hairless sphynx cat breed, but writ large and ferocious) that swiftly and savagely attack them, killing Zahir when he becomes trapped under falling rocks. Yet these cryptozoological critters from the crypt aren't even the major threat facing the team, a threat that lurks in the shadows, unseen for much of the movie but leaving telling, bloody traces of its presence, before it ultimately makes its shocking, jump-scare entrance.

 

The terrifying visage of Anubis, who is entirely computer-generated in this film, and whose bloodthirstiness here is actually a far cry from the much more benevolent Anubis of traditional ancient Egyptian mythology (© Grégory Levasseur/Silvatar Media/Fox International Productions/Atmosphere Pictures/20^th Century Fox – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

Think canine-headed ancient Egyptian deity of the dead, deliberately entombed alive inside this pyramid many millennia ago... Yes indeed, Anubis himself, still very much active, and still very much intent upon performing his assigned duty of weighing the heart of anyone brought to him against a feather to determine whether they are pure enough to enter the After Life. If they aren't, Anubis consumes their heart (at least in this movie; in traditional ancient Egyptian mythology, conversely, he throws rejected hearts to a crocodile-headed monster called the ammut to devour instead).

And how does he obtain their heart in the first place? By tearing it out of their still-living body's chest with his clawed hand, as poor Miles all too soon discovers! Grim, very grim!

Moreover, as if there weren't already enough unexpected shocks waiting to greet me within this in every sense dark movie: at the precise moment that the team abruptly fell into the pyramid's dark depths when the floor collapsed, my DVD of this movie froze, and refused to progress further, meaning that I had to eject it, then reinsert it, and jump chapter by chapter through the movie till I reached just beyond the scene of the floor collapse and then rewind slowly back to where it had frozen, then press Play – and this time it did.

Nevertheless, the absolutely precise timing of the DVD's unexpected jamming with the screen going black due to the team's plummeting downward into total darkness was nothing if not unnerving!

 

My newly-purchased silver-hued statuette of Anubis, in traditional jackal representation (though recent research has unexpectedly revealed that Egypt's jackals are not jackals at all, but actually a hitherto-unrecognised species of wolf, so Anubis is correctly described not as jackal-headed any longer, but as wolf-headed instead) (© Dr Karl Shuker)

The Pyramid certainly plays to its strengths in terms of fostering an ever-increasing, intensifying, virtually tangible atmosphere of claustrophobic horror, ratcheting up the tension to an almost unbearable level, especially once the truly terrifying to behold and inordinately toothy Anubis appears and makes clear his deadly intentions for the few survivors left. Speaking of whom: don't expect a happy ending, at least not for them. As for Anubis – you'll have to watch the movie and find out for yourself what happens to him…

Finally: is it just me or is the publicity photo-still shown below of Anubis confronting terrified archaeologist Nora in The Pyramid more than a little reminiscent of the iconic much-reproduced publicity photo-still of the Alien confronting Sigourney Weaver's Ellen Ripley in the 1979 space movie Alien? Just coincidence, or an intentional tribute by the former film to the latter one? Compare and contrast them, and decide for yourself.

If you'd like to watch an official trailer for The Pyramid on YouTube, please click here.

And to view a complete chronological listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE; please click HERE to view a complete fully-clickable alphabetical listing of them.

 

(Above) Anubis confronting a terrified Nora Holden in The Pyramid; (Below) The Alien confronting a terrified Ellen Ripley in Alien (© Grégory Levasseur/Silvatar Media/Fox International Productions/Atmosphere Pictures/20^th Century Fox – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only / © Ridley Scott/Brandywine Productions/20^th Century Fox – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

 

PAUL

 

Publicity poster for Paul (© Greg J. Mottola/Relativity Media/Working Title Films/Big Talk Pictures/StudioCanal/Universal Pictures – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

On 13 July 2021, I watched the sci-fi/comedy movie Paul, which is undoubtedly one of the most hilarious films that I've seen in many a long while.

Directed by Greg J. Mottola, and released by Universal Pictures in 2011, Paul stars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (who also wrote this movie together) as best friends Graeme and Clive, a pair of nerdy alien/UFO fans from England who attend a sci-fi/comic convention in the USA and then set off on a road trip across America (much of this being filmed in the New Mexico desert) to visit as many of the most famous alien/UFO-associated sites as possible (Area 51, Roswell, etc). However, they encounter more than they bargained for when they discover a crashed car with a Grey Alien named Paul (long story!) inside, stunned but unharmed.

Paul informs them that his spacecraft crashed on Earth several decades ago, and until recently he had been held at a secret government facility, sharing his advanced technological knowledge with our planet's scientists (and movie makers!). But when the scientists progressed to desiring the secrets of his advanced physical abilities too (such as healing, and rendering himself invisible when he holds his breath), and deciding that the best way of discovering them was to remove his brain and dissect it, Paul understandably decided that it was time to part company with them, and lost no time in escaping. Unfortunately, however, he now has some very determined MIBs on his metaphorical tail (one especially nasty example being played by Jason Bateman), who are intent on recapturing him – alive or otherwise.

Consequently, albeit against their better judgment, Graeme and Clive, aided and abetted by a kooky, initially alien-disbelieving, subsequently Christian Fundamentalist-lapsing young woman named Ruth Buggs (Kristen Wiig), decide to help Paul find his way to the special site where his mother ship can land and rescue him. But in so doing they experience all manner of hysterical mishaps and mayhem en route. Not least of these are the afore-mentioned posse of tenacious MIBs (led by 'The Big Guy', played by none other than Sigourney Weaver) and Ruth's rifle-toting, most definitely non-lapsed CF father, Moses Buggs (John Carroll Lynch).

Voiced hilariously by Seth Rogen, Paul the alien is a triumph of CGI motion-capture animation, Pegg & Frost are delightful as oddball but loyal pals who always have each other's back, Wiig's transformation from ultra-conservative to uber-liberal in outlook as she experiences life outside her hitherto-cloistered existence for the very first time provides long laughs and touching moments aplenty, and the entire movie is a joyous celebration of friendship, quirkiness, and nerd power – plus a sprinkling of twisted humour from the cutting, broken-glass department (one word – 'starling'…). Great fun (unless you're a starling!).

Incidentally, because Pegg & Frost planned Paul as a homage to the classic Steven Spielberg movies Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, it contains a number of subtle references to various of his movies (see how many you can spot) as well as a voice cameo from the great man himself (ditto).

If you'd like to experience a taster of the feel-good, zany experience that Paul provides in ample quantity throughout, be sure to click here to watch an official trailer on YouTube.

To view a complete chronological listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE, and please click HERE to view a complete fully-clickable alphabetical listing of them.