Friday 6 July 2012

Review: The Tunnel Movie (2011) Horror Down Under


An investigation into a government cover-up leads a Sydney journalist and her crew into a network of abandoned tunnels and it quickly becomes clear the story is hunting them.

Whereas the likes of Grave Encounters (2011) played out a like an episode of Ghost Hunters, Ghost Adventures or Most Haunted gone awry, The Tunnel takes the Documentary approach with footage and interviews. Director Carlo Ledesma delivers a well made P.O.V and static film. The contrasting interviewee segments are particularly crisp and come across as authentic.

The actors are solid, Andy Rodoreda, Steve Davis as Steve Miller are note worthy, however, as they explore the dark tunnels there are few chills but sadly an atmosphere killer is the jarring inserted interviews (with the people who were there).

The Mocumentary idea dates back to This Is Spinal Tap (1984), A Hard Day's Night (1964) and before. The Tunnel while reminiscent of The Fourth Kind (2009) in structure to its credit does try to be slightly different - removing itself from the Paranormal Activities and REC films to name a few.

By comparison The Tunnel is light-years ahead of Tape 407 (2012) or The Amityville Haunting (2011) and is genuinely eerie at times. Although well made with a standout creepy neck breaking sequence the shock element of who lives or dies is taken away due to the viewer knowing that the interviewees are going to survive. This hampers the film and causes The Tunnel to become redundant. Still it's worth watching if only for camera operator Steve Davis' performance.

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