TUNNEL VISION is one of those tasteless sex
parodies from the 1970’s along the lines of THE GROOVE TUBE and the
great KENTUCKY FRIED MOVIE. The movie has no plot whatsoever, rather it’s
a collection of sight gags and sketches. It features early performers
from Saturday Night Live (Chevy Chase, Laraine Newman, Al Franken),
Second City Television (Joe Flaherty, John Candy), and other
comedy institutions from the seventies. The problem is none of the
players are never glimpsed for more than a minute or two. TUNNEL VISION
was seen across the U.S. on the undercard of numerous Drive-In double
and triple features through the years, and along with heavy rotation on
late night Cable TV, it has achieved cult status. Music Video
Distribution, looking to expand their expertise into the world of cult
movies (having already released BLACK CHRISTMAS), presents TUNNEL VISION
on DVD in late 2001.
Even though TUNNEL VISION was filmed in 1976, it
takes place in the decidedly non-futuristic time of 1985 (the past for
us). A rogue TV network called Tunnel Vision has turned society into a
culture of crime committing couch potatoes with their endless barrage of
forceful, perverted, and racist programming. A Senate hearing committee
investigates the chairman of the network as the TV station is put on
trial. As evidence for the Senate’s case, they plop in a tape
containing a typical day of programming on the Tunnel Vision channel.
The individuals at the Senate hearings become audience members for the
sexual deviancy, crude humor, and violence. From here TUNNEL VISION
becomes a collection of some funny and not-so-funny sketches and skits.
Most are racist and crude, but some showing the seedy side of Hollywood
and television executives are right on the money. The aforementioned
talent are seen all so briefly that it’s not even worth watching if,
say, you are a fan of John Candy, because everyone has only a handful of
lines. Some of the humor is rooted in the times and events that shaped
the 1970’s and 1980’s. Unless the youth of today is up on politics
and world history, a lot of humor will go over their heads.
Music Video Distribution presents TUNNEL VISION in
the full frame ratio (1.33.1) matted down from the original 1.66.1. The
slight loss of real estate is not the problem here, however. The
transfer appears to have been mastered from the same old worn video
print that’s been seen of cable TV all these years. It seems Music
Video Distribution did little to clean up the image. It’s hazy, fuzzy,
and often foggy—and the color is washed out. An old episode of I DREAM
OF JEANNIE from the sixties has more color and clarity than this. Black
levels are sloppy and do not conform. Detail is non-existent. The audio
is Dolby Digital Mono 2.0 which gets the job done, but is nothing
special. TUNNLE VISION is a dialog driven film with some great voice
work by actual newscasters and voice artists. The dialog is delivered
without distortion or background noise. From the Special Features menu,
you can select to view the end title sequence. You can view a Photo
Gallery of shots from the movie. There are also five riotous radio
spots. You can listen to the TUNNEL VISION theme song in stereo. By far
the best extra is the original theatrical trailer, which is shown full
frame with mono sound; it runs 2:30. The disc also features colorful
graphics with the themes from the movie in stereo sound.
Though TUNNEL VISION is uneven for a parody based
production, it may please fans of movies like the superior KENTUCKY
FRIED MOVIE, AMERICATHON, or AMAZON WOMEN FROM THE MOON. The comedy
should appeal to fans of National Lampoon or Mad Magazine.
Music Video Distribution’s DVD contains some noteworthy extras, though
if they are to be taken seriously in the crowded cult DVD marketplace,
they must learn to deliver a decent transfer like Image or Anchor Bay.
Hopefully they’ll address these issues on future releases.
