A group of archaeologists unearth ancient cliches in this horror film from Grégory Levasseur. A new, three-sided pyramid has been discovered, but when Cairo shuts down the dig, lithe Nora (Ashley Hinshaw) and her stuffy old dad (Denis O’Hare, the only watchable actor) team up with a couple of other victims to venture into the pyramid on the sly. What could go wrong? After a truly terrible start, featuring some not-so-faintly racist portrayals of Egyptians as shouty mobs and bumbling servants who must be told, the film picks up pace. Levasseur understands the claustrophobia of being locked inside a stuffy pyramid with collapsing floors and sand traps. Unfortunately for him, Indiana Jones turns out to be incompatible with Alien, and the bad acting and atrocious script don’t help. Lines like “Are you sure this is the way?” and “Stop being an archaeologist for one minute and start being a human being!” are good for a few laughs. But the cod Egyptology is irritating, the CGI-and-rubber monsters are silly, and the creeping onset of what you assume is Undead Mummy Virus is simply abandoned, as if the producers ran out of money after 89 minutes.
