In Case You Missed It: ‘Blue Sunshine’

In the pantheon of strange films, BLUE SUNSHINE (1976) certainly holds a spot, and a high-ranking spot amidst the films of the 70’s. Written and directed by Jeff Lieberman (SQUIRM), this is a movie that appeals on more than one level. To some, the film will be a memorable b-movie experience, but it’s a drug-induced out-of-your-mind crazy experience as well. The film also appeals to those horror fans that enjoyed the early works of David Cronenberg, as it maintains a similar feel as movies like RABID and BROOD.

I saw this movie some years ago, but recently picked it up on DVD off that Internet thing. Sure, I could have purchased the BLUE SUNSHINE DVD on it’s own, but part of the fun for me seeing it the first time was that I discovered it while watching ELVIRA’S MOVIE MACABRE on TV. Yeah, you got me… the original air date was in October of 1983, making me five years old and not likely to have been watching this. No, I saw it later on as a rerun. So, when I found the double feature DVD with this and MONSTROID, I simply couldn’t resist. Plus, it allows two viewing options… with, or without, Elvira’s commentary from the beginning and end of the commercial breaks. Sweet!

The movie is dated in many places, but the effect of watching these scenes today are more awkwardly fascinating than they are cheesy or just plain bad. These scenes hold up, but do so as a social history lesson about an era into which I was late being born into… lucky me! Everything, from the hair styles to the clothes, the grainy visual style and even the pop culture references, including a poster of Uncle Sam flipping us “the bird” are all over BLUE SUNSHINE and make for a fun trip back in time.

BLUE SUNSHINE has a somewhat non-linear beginning, touching base with two characters at their current places in life. Each of them discover they are having strange symptoms, including the loss of their hair. The movie first starts to get fun during a casual party scene with the ladies sitting around gabbing on the couch near the fireplace. This is also going to be the part of the movie where the horror fans start to wake from their slumber. A strange crazy-eyed maniac with only a few remnant patches of hair left on his scalp bursts into the room, attacking one of the women and shoving her into the burning fireplace while the other women futilely attempt to overpower him.

Zalman King (RED SHOE DIARIES) plays Jerry Zipkin, who returns to the house to find the three women’s bodies being barbecued inside the one open fireplace. Gruesome! Obviously, this makes quite an impression on Jerry, but unfortunately he ends up in one of those wrong place at the wrong time scenarios, being accused of the brutal murders. Someone finds Jerry at the scene of the crime, stunned and emotionless and proceeds to shoot him in the arm as he escapes, only to become a falsely accused man on the run.

Mark Goddard (ROLLER BOOGIE) plays politician Edward Flemming, a character who starts off as a separate story arc that eventually curves around to be connected to Blue Sunshine in a way that could jeopardize everything. Deborah Winters (THE PEOPLE NEXT DOOR) plays Jerry’s girlfriend Alicia, who goes out of er way to protect Jerry from Detective Clay while he searches for the truth behind the carnage. Supposedly, the role of Dr. Blume was originally intended for Jeff Goldblum, but Lieberman explains on the DVD commentary that he felt he looked too much like Zalman King, giving the role to Robert Walden.

As Jerry desperately attempts to clear his name while evading Detective Clay’s pursuit, he discovers that there are more murders occurring all over town. He decides to do a little investigating of his own and finds that people are starting to go crazy and kill people, but it’s the cause of the bizarre occurrences that Jerry eventually pinpoints that is the most frightening of all. Each of the murderers had taken a peculiar form of LSD called “Blue Sunshine” at a party some ten years ago, which appears to have a latent effect on the users’ mental state.

BLUE SUNSHINE is just as much a detective mystery as it is a horror film, although much of the “horror” is psychological. Jerry takes it upon himself to go beyond his own interests and makes finding the answers to “Blue Sunshine” and it’s connection to the devastating plague of murders in town his utmost priority. Jerry tracks down various people who were connected ten years ago at Stanford University, all of whom may have taken this potent “recreational” psychotic.

There’s a little bit of everything to be had from BLUE SUNSHINE. There’s a decent car chase with Jerry driving a Bronco, being pursued by a car I couldn’t quite make out. A police lieutenant that becomes a murderous victim of Blue Sunshine early in the film left behind a talking parrot when he died. The parrot’s voice was allegedly provided by the director, Jeff Lieberman himself. The music in the film is actually not bad either, adding a lot to the effectiveness of the film’s suspense.

The soundtrack features music performed by The Humane Society For The Preservation Of Good Music and an original score by Charles Gross (PUNCHLINE, AIR AMERICA). For the serious DVD collectors out there, you’ll want to seek out the limited edition from Synapse films which included a CD of the soundtrack with the movie. The score provides an eerie creepiness throughout the film, especially during the scene when Wendy (Ann Cooper, SEEMS LIKE OLD TIMES) finally succumbs to the effects of her past drug use and nearly commits a terrible atrocity, before Jerry arrives to save the day, leading to a death scene worthy of appearing in Italian horror.

I don’t want to give anything away for those who haven’t discovered this little gem of 1970’s psycho-terror, but the final scene in the discotheque is highly memorable and lots of crazy fun. The disco music, the psychotic, bald maniac being tortured by that music, and the lip-syncing marionettes of famous singers like Barbara Streissand and Frank Sinatra are all examples of this wild ride.

The following scene with the mindless, hairless maniac is pursuing Alicia in the discotheque, and the following that when Jerry tracks down the killer inside the department store, well… the last 20-30 minutes of BLUE SUNSHINE are simply great cinema! I’ll close by sharing the absolute, most very bestest quote from the entire film…

Random Guy Fleeing the Discotheque: “There’s a bald maniac in there, and he’s going bat shit!”