The Tunnel is a pretty decent found footage/mockumentary flick. Its setting (the tunnels underneath Sydney, Australia) and its pretty strict adherence to a documentary style make it unique enough to stand out from the rest of the found footage pack.
It's about a news team who goes into the tunnels following what they think is a government cover up. Several years prior, government officials made some promises about refining the giant reservoirs of underground water sitting in the abandoned tunnels, and using it during a long drought. But the project never materialized, and reporter Natasha Warner wants to figure out why. There have long been rumors (denied by the government) that a community of homeless people are living down there. So Natasha and her crew of three (camera man, sound man, and her producer) grab their equipment, break into the tunnels, and start snooping around. And of course, things don't go as planned, and they encounter something much worse than they could have ever expected. The crew only have a limited amount of battery power (light) left, and the maps they have aren't making a lot of sense anymore...
So it sounds pretty par for the course for a found footage film. And The Tunnel does hit all of the beats you expect it to. But it's produced to look much more like a documentary, so the footage from the tunnels is intercut with interviews of the survivors, as well as footage from other sources (security cameras, other news reports, etc). So while the story isn't really anything new or noteworthy, the way it's told is unique enough that it doesn't get boring. I know there are a lot more faux-documentary horror films out there, but I think this may be only the second one I've seen (the other being the pretty good Lake Mungo). So it was refreshing in that respect.
While The Tunnel does have a lot of traditional found footage action, it seems a little more subdued than a lot of its contemporaries. And I mean that in a good way. There are enough scare scenes, but it takes a "less-is-more" approach that I think works well. You never get a really good look at the ----------- that is causing all of the mayhem, but what you see ends up being pretty damned creepy. The restraint that director Carlo Ledesma shows makes the times where the shit *does* goes down all the more effective. Once things start happening, there is a slow and steady build that peaks at the right time. It sounds like a simple thing, but it's kind of amazing how often it doesn't happen.
While the documentary approach helps with spots that are traditionally slow in this type of movie, it does come with a major handicap. Two of the crew is being interviewed talking about their experience in the tunnel that day. So while it adds a kind of interesting perspective, it definitely takes away from some of the tension. You know, without a doubt, that at least these two will survive (and can figure out by omission who doesn't). So it takes the wind out of its sails just a little bit.
The performances really help sell the film as well. All four of the main characters seem very natural as "real" people - the dialogue and their chosen courses of action seem pretty realistic given the circumstances. The film stays true to its found footage roots from what I could tell - other than some cameras conveniently placed on the ground, there weren't any other major fouls I noticed.
There isn't much gore or anything to speak of, other than one bit that seems considerably out of place. You don't see an awful lot of the attacks. And despite taking place underground, it's not a really claustrophobic feeling movie - the threat is much more the ----------- that is out to get them and not the enclosed space. The tunnel works more as (a) a means of isolation and (b) a means of keeping things dark.
Overall, The Tunnel was a good watch. It isn't super-intense or anything like that - sometimes, these things are pretty much just a roller coaster ride, but that's not the case here. The Tunnel is a pretty grounded film, which I think made it all the more effective. As a found footage film on it's own? It'd be okay... but the addition of the interviews and the documentary format really worked for me.
I would recommend this film.
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