...the Tunnel's director

Pinoy filmmaker directs viral horror movie The Tunnel

 

KARL R. De MESA

07/08/2011
GMA News

Filipino filmmaker Carlo Ledesma in his element. Photo by Alex Weltlinger

In the vast dark of the abandoned tunnels of Sydney, no one can hear you scream.

The premise behind The Tunnel, like many horror movies, starts out simple and ends with a lot of running, blood and terror-filled moments. Working in the fairly recent subgenre of “found footage" like Hollywood movies Cloverfield, Diary of the Dead and The Blair Witch Project, The Tunnel is set in the miles and miles of underground warrens of the Australian metropolis.

At the directorial helm is multi-awarded Filipino filmmaker Carlo Ledesma, who used to work on the popular local sports show Gameplan. A Bacolod-native, he moved to Sydney around 2005 and has since set up a thriving film making headquarters there.

“I do feel like I’ve hit my stride here, creatively and professionally," says Ledesma. “Sydney is such a film-friendly place- the government is very supportive, the crews are world-class, and it is relatively easy to source out the latest in camera and sound equipment."

What secret creature skulks and hunts in the labyrinthine corridors where the darkness never goes out? Photo by Nicolle Adrichem

The Tunnel follows a team of broadcast journalists as they track down a story regarding a possible government cover-up of Sydney’s water shortage by its own local government. While the documentarists do get the story they were looking for, something else finds them as well.

What secret creature skulks and hunts in the labyrinthine corridors where the darkness never goes out? It’s up to you to make up your own theory. One thing’s for sure, these monsters are fast, strong and can see in the dark. And when you’ve only got a camera light and some flashlights against them, things start to get very interesting very quickly. In an eye blink, The Tunnel becomes a study in survival horror.

“We wanted to put our own spin on the ‘found footage’ genre," says Ledesma on their decision to approach the story with point-of-view cameras. “. . . We thought of incorporating the found footage elements into a pseudo news story, a survivor’s narrative of what exactly happened in the tunnels."

When you’ve only got a camera light and some flashlights against unseen monsters, things start to get very interesting very quickly. Photo by Sam Clark

Unlike most horror movies though, The Tunnel wasn’t crafted to be shown in theaters. It was made to be downloaded by an on-line audience and made to be passed around by virtual word of mouth through social networks and blog posts.

The Tunnel isn't meant to be seen in theaters. Photo by Alex Weltlinger

It was also funded in what the producers and filmmakers are calling “The 135K Project." 135 people buy a single frame of the movie at a dollar each, and in turn the proceeds go into the completion and polishing of the final product.

The Tunnel’s website says: “We figured that movie posters and collectable frames from movies are being sold every day, so what if we could raise the money to make The Tunnel by selling every individual frame of it? We would be able to make a movie unencumbered by a studio’s need for box office."

Looks like it’s worked out very well. The official torrent site has since gotten upwards of a half-million downloads. The unit sales of the physical copies of the DVDs (which includes special features like still galleries and behind-the-scenes) aren’t too shabby either.

With such success, The Tunnel is shaping up to be “the viral movie of the year." It’s also gotten Ledesma entered into “The Internet and Movie Database’s (IMDB) Modern Masters of Horror". A list that includes big name directors Guillermo Del Toro (Hellboy) and Eli Roth (Hostel).

There’s some very expressive images and vignette inserts in this movie that might jar the horror fan expecting only relentless blood and gore. But to me they’re a welcome artistic touch. They’re also effective in heightening the gloom and desolation of the movie’s underworld theme.

The nature of the creatures themselves is an intriguing mystery. Photo by Alex Weltlinger

The nature of the creatures themselves is an intriguing mystery. Much of the suspense centers around not knowing just how powerful they are or what exactly they are or are not capable of.

“I’m a huge cryptozoology fan," explains Ledesma. “So I wanted to put a definite mystery behind the creature lurking in the tunnels, keep its appearance shrouded in the shadows as much as possible. We do have a very specific story for what the creature is, but it’s so much fun hearing people’s theories." — TJD, GMA News