On this day, November 4th, just over 100 years ago, the first step of the entrance staircase to King Tutankhamun’s tomb was discovered while workmen were digging beneath the remains of some ancient huts.
If you’re asking “So what?” well it’s only that this discovery, and the opening of the tomb’s burial chamber several months later on February 16th 1923, is still highly regarded as one of the greatest archaeological discoveries ever made.
Some 5,000 items were found in the chamber, the likes of which — a solid gold coffin, a 9×2 foot shrine to the ancient Egyptian god Anubis, and the pharaoh’s death mask (the iconic emblem of Ancient Egypt) — the world had never seen.
I’m not sure that I’ll be commemorating the event every year on this blog, like I’ve done with #DinosaurDay, and #NationalVelociraptorDay, but I’ve long wanted to at least post something which would draw attention to it considering it is certainly an amazing event for any interested in Ancient Egypt.
However, I don’t work in any kind of Egyptology related field, so what could I possibly post that would not just be a copy of what others have already figured out? What might possibly add something to the conversation?
Well, I can I do what I always do, which is review a piece of media tangentially related to the the subject.
In this case, that media would be the 2014 horror film, The Pyramid directed by Gregory Levasseur. At the time of this writing it’s streaming on . . . well everywhere, but I watched it on HBO Max.
The connection between King Tut’s Tomb and The Pyramid has more to with the legacy of events surrounding the tomb than any actual references within the film, namely curses.
The Curse of the Pharaohs is a long running trope in fiction owing much of its continued existence to continual film readaptations of The Mummy (original in 1932, adaptations in 1959, 1999, and 2017).
Some Ancient Egyptian tombs really do have curses inscribed on their facades or above their thresholds such as 6th Dynasty king Khentika Ikhekhi at Saqqara.
Ironically, no curses were found inside King Tut’s tomb but a series of deaths, and the general frenzy of excitement about the tomb’s discovery were enough to stoke the belief that the tomb was cursed anyway.
The first death was George Herbert, the Earl of Carnarvon. He was the financial backer of the excavation and perhaps the death which people most attribute to the curse. He died on April 5th 1923 of an infected mosquito bite. It would seem that the sin he committed which brought down Pharaoh’s wrath, was simply being present at the opening of the tomb.
A.C. Mace was a member of the excavation team, died April 1923. George Jay Gould, visited the tomb and died May 16th 1923. Carter’s secretary, Richard Bethell, died November 15th 1929; suspected smothering.
Howard Carter, credited with the tomb’s discovery and excavation also died . . . Sixteen years later on March 2nd 1939, but obviously Pharaoh’s wrath got him too.
Ok We Got It. How Was The Pyramid?
In a few words . . . Not great.
I’m sort of a casual observer of horror movies in general, so I can’t say I have a wealth of expertise to draw from but I think perhaps it is passable when looked at solely through that lens.
However, there were so many things that were not made clear to the viewer, or very noticeably hand-waved over that it was hard to feel any real tension or foreboding. There are some pretty gruesome deaths, and jump scares aplenty, but I would say we were halfway through the film before we even knew what we were supposed to be afraid of, and when the villain is finally revealed in the flesh, the FX budget unfortunately took a bit of the fright out of it.
If you came to the movie hoping to be awed by the mystery inherent in uncovering an ancient culture, you’ll be pretty disappointed. The movie does incorporate some of the sign posts of the aforementioned “Curse of the Pharaohs” type plot, but in my opinion does not execute well in that area.
For instance, in one of the early scenes, we find a classic warning: aka a vague message written in hieroglyphics above the entrance to a tomb. Unfortunately, the message is extremely vague, really only three words, and we never get a clear shot at of the glyphs. I have some limited recognition of hieroglyphics, and being still a novice, it’s possible that the symbols meant what the characters said they did, but there’s almost no way to know. We can never see the symbols clearly (this happens continuously throughout the film).
However, I don’t think that is the real issue when it comes to Curse of the Pharaoh. I’ve always felt that a good warning/curse is instructive of what not to do. Why we’re ok with all these characters dying is because they ignore that advice and get what’s coming to them. The three words here are just words like “death”, and “slaughter”. Now that I’m thinking about it, I’m not even sure if they say don’t come in.
Then there are the references to Ancient Egyptian cosmology, and some backstory about their gods and goddesses, which are given in such broad strokes that it may not be ‘wrong’, but it also doesn’t feel ‘right’. I do feel like I can stand strongly on some inconsistency in their depiction of the Weighing of the Heart which they use to justify some things later in the film which will be a bit spoiler-y if I go into them.
Anyway, some wall paintings show that famous scene as an excuse to dump backstory. The relief includes what I would consider the accepted role of Ammit, the devourer of souls that fail judgement, but towards the climax of the film, some of those responsibilities get shifted onto other deities. Which is a shame because this is a horror film, and as we know from watching Moon Knight on Disney+, Ammit is plenty terrifying.
Finally, were this movie really loses me is with its fast and loose allusions to conspiracy and other mythologies. There are references to ancient aliens, Aztec mythology (because they also have pyramids I guess), and the Free Masons. I was half expecting a Nazi to appear at any moment, but if those shots were filmed, somebody had the sense to reign it in slightly.
Now in a work of fiction, I’m not opposed some or even all of the plot having to do with one of those conspiracies or mythologies, but to just keep piling them in without really tying them to the plot in any significant way got my eyes rolling.
Give This One a Watch?
Ultimately, I’d it’s one you can miss. If you’re the type of person who enjoys watching bad movies for fun, maybe this will be up your alley? I do understand that kind of appeal (I did after all watch and enjoy Velocipastor), but I’m not even sure this movie succeeds at being that type of movie either.
If you’re hoping to watch something Ancient Egyptian inspired as a way to commemorate the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb a little over a hundred years ago . . . well let’s say this one might incur the wrath of Tut himself, Howard Carter, and any other Egyptologist who happens to open this onto the screen.
You’ve read the warning on the wall . . . do not watch.
For any who ignored the warnings and are risking the curse, what did y’all think? Let me know in the comments. Am I way off base here?
That’s all for now. See you next time!
alligators and aneurysms! 
