In a unique attempt to jump right into the action, the first half of the movie jumps between the kids finding themselves in the hospital to how they wound up at a party where they were chosen to take part in this event. This is an interesting way to take out the slow start and set up that most horror movies suffer from. Instead of spending a lot of time developing the characters and making me like them (and care if they live or die), we get really brief introductions to their stereotypes.
Consequently, when I should have been hoping for a character to live when he or she was being stalked, I just kept thinking "get on with it". By the way, that lack of development is also the reason why I'm not sure if the kids are in high school or college.
Not only is there very little character development, and the events of the movie skip around more than a Tarantino flick (and are by no means as cohesive), but in the end, when the big surprise (read obvious plot twist) is revealed, you are left asking even more questions.
As far as the DVD's special features are concerned, this product doesn't have much. There are two short featurettes, one showing off the typical behind the scenes information and a somewhat uninspiring featurette called "Death is in Fashion". Quite frankly, I was shocked to see that this movie didn't even come with commentary -- I would really have liked to hear what the cast and crew had to say about this film. Maybe it could have cleared up some of my confusion.
With cheap "twists" that try to gain some of the shock of films like the 1999 release of House on Haunted Hill, Death Tunnel will leave you confused, uneasy and saying "what the hell". Unless you are looking to throw away some money for a few cheap jump-scares, pass this movie up.
