"Tunnels" on Amazon Prime was apparently known as "Criminal Act" when it was released back in 1989. The movie is listed on IMDB as having an "R" rating, but nothing I noticed would validate that rating today and I think it was a pushed for rating back in `89. I will admit, this one didn't keep my attention much, so maybe there was some adult language or a slip of nudity that I missed while reading updates on my phone, but I never saw or heard anything that would merit an "R". Even the blood and violence was pretty tame.
I only mention this because the movie plays much more like a made for T.V. movie than a theatrical release. It stars Catherine Bach of "Dukes of Hazzard" fame as an investigative reporter with other TV notables such as Vic Tayback (Mel from "Alice") and Luis Avalos ( over 80 acting credits including five seasons on the "Electric Company"). John Saxon, an action and Western star, is wasted here as the wisecracking newspaper editor who never seems to know what his reporters are up to at any given moment.
Charlene Dallas plays Sharon Fields, a sidekick photographer to Bach's Pam Weiss, investigative reporter. The two are the vision of female empowerment as seen through the eyes of 1989 Hollywood. They're capable, smart, self sufficient, but still find time to be romantically manipulated and fight over a man. Nicolas Guest plays their love interest, Ron Bellard. He's rich, charming and the brother of the main villain, a business tycoon with plans for the city's "bums".
The IMDB description mentions giant rats. Reviews mention human rat hybrids. None of these interesting creatures hold any kind of significant role in the film that I was able to notice. If you're watching for monsters, look elsewhere, this movie isn't for you. I guess the "Tunnels" title was supposed to be sort of a horror angle and so they played up the "giant" and "rat man", neither of which is anywhere near as cool as they sound "on paper". (Bit of Scooby-Doo going on there if you ask me.)
Now, look at the cover for when the movie was called "Criminal Act".
I only mention this because the movie plays much more like a made for T.V. movie than a theatrical release. It stars Catherine Bach of "Dukes of Hazzard" fame as an investigative reporter with other TV notables such as Vic Tayback (Mel from "Alice") and Luis Avalos ( over 80 acting credits including five seasons on the "Electric Company"). John Saxon, an action and Western star, is wasted here as the wisecracking newspaper editor who never seems to know what his reporters are up to at any given moment.
Charlene Dallas plays Sharon Fields, a sidekick photographer to Bach's Pam Weiss, investigative reporter. The two are the vision of female empowerment as seen through the eyes of 1989 Hollywood. They're capable, smart, self sufficient, but still find time to be romantically manipulated and fight over a man. Nicolas Guest plays their love interest, Ron Bellard. He's rich, charming and the brother of the main villain, a business tycoon with plans for the city's "bums".
The IMDB description mentions giant rats. Reviews mention human rat hybrids. None of these interesting creatures hold any kind of significant role in the film that I was able to notice. If you're watching for monsters, look elsewhere, this movie isn't for you. I guess the "Tunnels" title was supposed to be sort of a horror angle and so they played up the "giant" and "rat man", neither of which is anywhere near as cool as they sound "on paper". (Bit of Scooby-Doo going on there if you ask me.)
Now, look at the cover for when the movie was called "Criminal Act".
That makes the movie look like a cool, retro, film noir kind of thing. It's not. If you want a great film noir from more recent history look up "Face Down".
The reviews on IMDB are mixed and the reviews on Amazon are largely negative. I think this is mostly due to the deceptive marketing targeting a horror and monster audience, when what you really get is a cutie pie, buddy comedy movie.
The strangest thing is, although this movie obviously had a limited budget, it doesn't suffer from the types of problems many low budgets movies (especially micro budgeted digital movies) do. There are no terribly cheesy monsters or F/X, because there are few F/X and no real monsters. The lighting and cinematography ranges from competent to pretty darn good. The opening and closing are actually pretty impressive. The acting is mostly a bit flat, but again plays to that T.V. movie level. It's like this thing was shot as a pilot for a show that never took off and then released as a direct to video feature instead.
And yet, with none of those technical problems, it still falls flat. The "twist" is predictable, especially if you watched a lot of TV in the 80s. The pacing is often off. Action sequences look like rehearsals instead of performances, although there is a cool crash scene and some nice on screen fighting by Bach. In the end though, the tone is a bit childish and underwhelming, but the late 80s were just like that.
Extra points for featuring a carbon copy of the Escort Wagon I drove in college.
If 80s style monster action is what you're looking for, we've got you covered at Hocus Focus Productions.
No comments:
Post a Comment