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DEATH TUNNEL (2005) Director: Philip Adrian Booth. Hacktors: Kristin Novak, Steffany Huckaby, Annie Burgstede. Rating/5: The lowdown: This low-budget indie bases its ghosthouse plot on the true story of a sanatorium in Louisville, Kentucky, where around 63,000 people died of the 'white death' in the early 20th century. Their corpses were then shipped out through the lengthy tunnel of the title. In the present, five shapely girls agree to spend the night in the place, as part of some ludicrously elaborate college initiation ritual. Good points: Purely in terms of its look, Death Tunnel excels. Director Booth (who co-wrote the movie with brother Christopher Saint) is clearly a man with an eye for glossy visuals, plus a real enthusiasm for horror. Neither he hold back on the bloodletting at times, even though the choppy editing often makes it hard to see what's happening. Bad points: Death Tunnel is a definite case of 'more is less'. The hospital is haunted to the point where a ghost literally pops up every minute or two, destroying any hope of scares or suspense. It has be the most haunted hospital ever! Death Tunnel's over eagerness to rub allegedly scary stuff in your face makes it feel like an over-eager pup, or a movie turned up to a 11… in a bad way. We're bombarded with imagery, all hacked up in the editing room, perhaps in the hope that a fast-hitting montage of grisly visuals might have some impact. Sadly, it has next to none, rendering Death Tunnel a surprisingly trying experience. Overall: Death Tunnel is a bad movie. Still, I'd certainly watch another Philip Adrian Booth movie, if he either wasn't involved with the script or had learnt from the mistakes so evident here. Release Date: Remarkably, there are reports that Sony is set to release this. Then again, given their bad judgement call on the remake of The Fog, perhaps we shouldn't be so surprised. [Reviews Menu] [Home] © Copyright Slasherama 2002-present