Blue Sunshine (1978)

Absolutely brilliant

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

*Spoiler/plot- Blue Sunshine, 1978. A large group of tightly connected university friends get caught up in Govt experiences with some powerful drugs without their knowledge or approval. Ten years latter, a serial killer is murdering people. Drama ensues.*Special Stars- Zalman King, Deborah Winters, Mark Goddard, Alice Ghostley.*Theme- Don't take oral drug of any sort while in university.*Trivia/location/goofs- Color. Hardly worth listing here. Alice (Bewitched) Ghostley plays her usual comedic role. Mark (Lost in Space) Goddard plays his tough-guy role.*Emotion- A boring period film of the era and the plot is trite and pedestrian. I have seen the same theme and script in several other better made films. Utterlly forgettable.*Based On- The drug worries of the 60's.

"Blue Sunshine" is a frustrating film. While it's main idea is really neat, the execution just seems amateurish and, at times, pretty dumb. It's all about a weird form of LSD called 'Blue Sunshine'. If folks took it, ten years later their hair begins to fall out, they have horrible headaches and they eventually go nuts and start killing people! Sounds a bit like a horror film of the 1980s, huh? The problems with this film are many but the worst is the writing. Again and again, the main character (Zalman King) does things that leave the viewer baffled--wondering why he did what he did. The examples are plenty but would include running from the police when it's very clear he did NOT murder the folks at the beginning of the show as well as running after he kills one of them that is trying to murder kid--why not stick around and have the kids give you an alibi?! And, when the folks become bald nut-cases, why does EVERYONE run away instead of stopping them?! Near the end, one baldy runs amok at a disco. There are about 50 people there. Together they EASILY could have stopped the guy's rampage--but they don't. In fact, EVERY TIME one goes crazy, folks fail to react rationally--such as when the stupid hero jumps on the back of one--instead of using his tranquilizer gun!! The other problem is the direction. Too often the acting and scenes that were poorly done weren't re-shot. Overall, a cheap and crappy film that easily could have been better had the folks making it cared.

At a party, one of the people is suddenly revealed to be wearing a wig, and starts committing brutal murders. Jerry(King, conveying a multitude of emotions fairly well; in general, the acting isn't half bad, and everyone comes off as credible) tries to help his aforementioned friend, and ends up framed for the crimes. As he tries to clear his name and discover what made it happen, he learns that it might be linked to the man's past... and worse, he may not be the only one to lose all his hair, gain tremendous physical strength, and suddenly succumb to psychotic rage.The central concept(which I won't detail further here) and its core image, that of the "cue ball" bald head and the accompanying mad stare, are rather haunting. This is a strange film, to be sure, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. I can't think of anything with the same plot. Part of this unique quality is in the score - while string instruments are common in this type of music, the arrangement are discordant in a manner that I haven't seen in much else(perhaps Nolan's Batman trilogy), and it reflects the insanity of the killers in this.This is tense throughout, with very sudden bursts of energy, highly exciting and always keeping you on edge. There's also some creepy bits(and yes, one or two cheap jumpscares, sadly). The script comes off as carefully done. Sure, not every question along the way is answered - still, it's done without making one think of crying foul, or, rather, "plot hole". At the same time, once or twice one wonders why someone did what they did and the like.The opening sequence sets up three different situations in the big city where this is set, that seem as though they are connected, albeit we aren't certain how or why - they don't contain any of the same characters, after all. Once we begin to piece it all together, our perception of these changes drastically. Identity, the past, politics and the warping of the quaint and comfortable are all themes touched upon in this. There is a bit of a moral, and it isn't preached to us.The pacing is solid, I couldn't take my eyes off this for the 89 minute running time(91 minutes if you count the end credits). Sure, the conclusion doesn't have quite the same punch today that it had at the time - that's entirely forgivable, and I can't tell you how relieved I am to not have been a teenager in '78, walking home in a dark night, from the cinema having watched this! While this is low budget, it tends to hide it pretty well - it does, unfortunately, lack some "connecting shots", which can make it kind of obvious when it goes from "reality captured via camera" to "FX". In fact, the latter are only really decent, with the terror coming more from what we are seeing happen, not how convincing it looks, and at times from what we aren't shown, at all. It does come dangerously close to being tasteless a few times, but it always avoids crossing that line.The Special Edition DVD comes with an interesting, amusing commentary track(with Lieberman(and his ironic tone), and... someone else...well, it's not stated who), an informational 30 minute interview with the director, the 19 minute short The Ringer(also helmed by Jeff; I will review it on its own separate page here on the site), 2 slideshows(behind the scenes, and stills) totalling at 1 minute when put together, and trailers for the following: The New York Ripper, Puzzle, House on the Edge of the Park, New Barbarians, Keoma, The Beyond, Mountain of the cannibal God, Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals, Torso and this(note that it contains spoilers).There is a lot of deeply disturbing content and a little violence(mostly its gruesome, somewhat bloody aftermath) in this. I recommend this to any fan of horror and mystery, who's willing to give something a chance - even if they haven't heard of it before, and if it seems odd. 6/10

This movie would be primarily of interest to those who grew up in the late sixties and early seventies and knew what LSD was. I remember a friend who was using the stuff and he warned us that it had different effects on different people. I stayed away from it.Well, maybe it wasn't the people that were the factor, but it was bad LSD like the batch in the movie.I watched it primarily because I remembered Zalmon King from the Red Shoe Diaries and Delta of Venus. Other than that, I can't imagine why I watched this DVD. He did a good job in a mediocre movie. Deborah Winters, who played his girlfriend was also good.No gore; it was people going crazy 10 years later. I guess you better be careful or your past will come back to haunt you.