Happy Trailers - The Pyramid (2014)

Another found footage movie...great. Because, the world doesn't have enough films featuring shaky cam, budget-saving cuts from the interesting stuff (like the monsters) in favor of character reaction shots (I'm looking at you Cloverfield), silly "video artifacts" (I've never had a video camera, DSLR or handheld suddenly get digital snow or any other artsy imperfection) and mysterious editing. Who's editing footage that has been found in an abandoned camera? And, who is the audience? Sometimes it is established, sometimes, it isn't. However, since there are some films that use these conceits to good effect (e.g., Blair With Project, Europa Report, Diary of the Dead) I don't reject found footage movies out-of-hand.

The opening of the trailer, a faux-history lesson told with still images, works for me. It sounds ominous, the images are stylishly rendered and presented and it creates a nice background for the film. And then we get...toxic air. I remember this scene from The Mummy. So is this an homage, a rip-off or have we all suddenly forgotten the pinnacle of Brandon Frasier's oeuvre?

I do like the idea of a massive, buried pyramid being found. It is a neat concept and a good jumping off point for a whole host of stories. So, why do we get a retread of The Descent? Monsters and mazes...that's the best the creative team could come up with? I mean, really, there seems to be nothing else to this movie. Also, why the heck are the deaths of most of the characters shown, including, apparently, the finale? Of course, this may not be the case; you can't really tell from a few seconds of footage. However, I have the bad feeling that, like many found footage movie trailers, we just saw a lot of the "money shots" in what will be a long, dull slog through badly lit sets with the occasional CG-monster jump scare.

Not impressed; but, I will watch it at 2 am when it shows up on Netflix in a few months.

Check out the trailer below; maybe you'll see something to like that I missed.