Tweet
Released by: Synapse Films
Released on: March 11th, 2025.
Director: Jeff Lieberman
Cast: Zalman King, Richard Crystal, Mark Goddard, Deborah Winters, Robert Walden
Year: 1977
Purchase From Amazon
Blue Sunshine – Movie Review:
Blue Sunshine, directed by Jeff Lieberman (the man behind Squirm and Just Before Dawn) is one of those odd films that just can’t seem to figure out where it really belongs – and that’s a big part of what makes it so entertaining. You could classify it as a sort of pseudo-political horror film making an attempt at something socially relevant to the time it was made. The movie makes jabs at the political elite, it has an anti-drug message to it (though the director says otherwise – it all depends on how you look at it!), and some have read the film as an attack on the disco movement of the day. But really, overthinking things like this, it can take some of the fun out of it. Blue Sunshine is what it is – an odd cinematic beast that works in elements of violent exploitation and strange anti-hippy undertones presented through Lieberman’s unique take on the era.
The story revolves around Jerry Zipkin, played with no small amount of sweaty overacting by Zalman King. Yes, the same Zalman King who was the creator of such cheesy sex films as 9 ½ Weeks and a whole whack of Red Shoe Diaries episodes. Jerry, while at a party, witnesses an old friend named Frannie Scott (played by Billy Crystal's brother Richard) murder three of the party guests by" pushing them into a roaring fireplace when his toupee is ripped of his head. Jerry ends up in a brawl with Frannie and the two of them end up duking it out in the middle of a road. In a fight to save his own skin, Jerry kills him by pushing him into the path of a tractor-trailer. One of the men in said truck figures Jerry is the real maniac here. He gives chase and finds him back at the cabin where the bodies are. Figuring Jerry did it, the guy puts a bullet into him.
Jerry makes his escape and gets some much-needed medical treatment from an old friend, David Blume (Robert Walden). Of course, it comes to pass that Jerry is on the line for not only the death of his friend, but also those killed at the party as well. With the help of a few Hitchcockian plot devices, Jerry ends up on the run and having to clear his name for the crime he didn't commit. But of course, he’s not on his own – a girl named Alicia Sweeney (Deborah Winters) was at the party too and she saw what happened.
After doing some detective work, Jerry and Alicia find out that his friend was one of the unlucky few who dosed on ‘Blue Sunshine’ ten years prior. This was a batch of bad LSD sold by a pusher named Edward Flemming (Mark Goddard). He has since cleaned up his act and is now a politician running for Congress. It turns out that ‘Blue Sunshine’ was far from a harmless little narcotic. In fact, those who took it are starting to lose their hair and turn into raving homicidal maniacs exactly ten years later from the date they ingested the drug. Ten years is now coming up for most of the former hippie types… and there seem to be quite a few bald headed killers is now starting to go insane all over the city. And hey, that former line-backer named Wayne Mulligan (Ray Young), now a bodyguard for the aforementioned congressman, seems to be acting a little odd lately…
Things only get more complicated from here on in, and any more information would be spoiling it for those who haven’t seen it.
There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it – Blue Sunshine is a weird movie, but for some, that will (and should!) be seen as high praise. Lieberman's direction is quite solid and there’s just enough plot coherence mixed in with ample amounts of delirious insanity to make the movie work. This is quick in its pace and never dull and the story unfolds at a good clip. As such, this film will keep your attention and entertain you from start to finish. It’s also quite creepy in a few spots, particularly the opening half hour or so where we, like Jerry, are trying to figure out just what exactly is going on here. These freaky scenes are only enhanced by the genuinely bizarre musical score from Charles Gross (which thankfully has been released on CD, as an extra in this package) and by the ‘bald head’ effects used in the movie. We don’t just see clean cue-balls here, no, those that are affected by the drug tend to leave grungy strings of hair stuck to their scalps that just gives the whole thing a beautifully seedy vibe.
As to the performances, they’re pretty much all over the top. King is at his peak here – he plays his character to the hilt, really putting his whole body into it and contorting that instantly recognizable face of his into some seriously insane expressions. He may not have been the world’s greatest actor but the guy did bug eyed and crazy really well – which makes him perfect for the part. Deborah Winters is just plain likeable as Alicia. She’s pretty and well intentioned and she is convincing in her concern for Jerry. Her character could have been fleshed out a little more but the actress does a very fine job in the part. Robert Walden, the instantly recognizable character actor who has popped up in everything from All The President’s Men to a few episodes of Melrose Place is a fine choice for Jerry’s doctor pal. He makes us questions his character early on, which is important to the building of suspense in the film, and a lot of the reason that aspect of the story works as well as it does is because of his turn in front of the camera. Mark Goddard plays the slimy politician perfectly. We know from the start that this guy is up to something, that aspect of the story comes as no surprise to anyone familiar with the more paranoid side of seventies cinema. But he’s good. The real star of the show, however, is Ray Young as ‘Big Wayne Mulligan.’ The film builds to a completely over the top finale that the actor, who also popped up in Coffy and a few Al Adamson films like Five Bloody Graves and Blood Of Dracula’s Castle, really does not hold back. Look for a few other recognizable faces to pop up here too - Alice Ghostley and the late, great Brion James both appear here in small but noteworthy supporting roles.
Blue Sunshine – UHD/Blu-ray Review:
Blue Sunshine arrives on UHD from Synapse Films in HEVC encoded 2160p ultra-high definition 4k transfer framed at 1.85.1 widescreen, taken from a 4K restoration of the original 35mm camera negative mastered in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible) and it looks fantastic. The film’s natural grain is completely intact, there’s no noticeable DNR or edge enhancement here at all and compression artifacts never factor into the equation at all. Detail is very noticeably stronger here than on the older Blu-ray edition, as is depth and texture as well. Colors look gorgeous, never overly boosted or artificial looking but very much in keeping with the film’s intended color scheme. Really, it’s hard to find anything to complain about here, this is a reference quality picture.
Synapse gives you the option to watch the film in the original 2.0 Mono mix or a newly created 5.1 mix, both in 24-bit DTS-HD format with optional subtitles provided in English. The 5.1 mix sounds good, it has decent channel separation and good range. The original mix sounded better to this reviewer's ears, but your opinion may vary of course. Either way, both tracks feature very clear dialogue and properly balanced levels. There isn't a trace of hiss or distortion to note and the soundtrack sounds great. Purists will definitely opt for the old school mix, while remix fans get their fix too - it's the best of both worlds.
Extras are plentiful, and include two audio commentaries featuring director Jeff Lieberman. The first, which is moderated by Howard S. Berger, opens with a talk where the moon in the opening credits is discussed before then going on to talk about the shooting locations, how the moon links different scenes and ideas in the film, the use of music in the film and Charlie Gross' work on the film, how Lieberman stood in for the voice of the bird in the movie, working with the different cast and crew members on the film, where the director feels some wrong decisions were made, recollections of shooting specific scenes including the car chase, thoughts on the different characters in the film, working with the child actors in the picture and quite a bit more.
The second track, which is moderated by Elijah Drenner, is a great talk. This is a reasonably scene-specific dissection of the movie, with Lieberman starting things off by talking about where and when that iconic opening shot featuring the full moon was captured. From there, he covers pretty much all the bases – casting the film, working with King and the rest of the cast on the movie, bringing this in on a modest budget, how some of the effects set pieces were done, having to work with children in a key scene and some of the difficulties involved in that and more. He also covers the famous discotheque scene, shares some of his thoughts on different readings of the film, covers what it was like working with Brion James on the film after being warned about his heroin problems – and loads more!
From there, dig into the archival 2003 interview with director Jeff Lieberman taken from the Synapse DVD release. This forty-minute talk goes overs the inspiration for the movie, his appreciation for horror films as a kid, the influence of growing up in an era where you had to do atomic bomb drills in school, what it was like working on the picture, the film’s distribution and budget, his thoughts on horror remakes, his own experiences with drugs and thoughts on LSD versus designer drugs and more. It’s a pretty solid piece and worth watching
Channel Z “Fantasy Film Festival” is an interview with Mick Garris and Jeff Lieberman that runs twelve minutes and is a segment from Garris’ old television show in which he interviews Jeff Lieberman and the two discuss the director’s work in the horror film industry as well as Blue Sunshine specifically. Leiberman spends a good bit of time talking about the similarities between comedy and horror, how he got the worms to come out of the mud in Squirm, what the audience will and will not accept, and a fair bit more. This is taken from an old analogue source but it’s very cool to see it included here.
Lieberman On Lieberman is a thirty-minute interview with Jeff, also carried over from the old Synapse Films DVD release, that sees the director talking about his career in low budget horror films and what he has been doing for the last few years. His comments on filmmaking are very enlightening and very humorous -- wait till you hear about his meeting with King Features to discuss making Flash Gordon!
The Fantasia Film Festival 4K Premiere Q&A with moderator Michael Gingold and director Jeff Lieberman is a thirty-six-minute piece where the director takes questions from an enthusiastic crowd about his experiences making the film. He tells some interesting stories here about the movie, it's legacy, the restraints he had to deal with based on the film's low budget, memories from making this film and some of his other films like Just Before Dawn, the post production process on Blue Sunshine and its connection to a certain porno movie, the 'bald makeup' effects in the movie and plenty of other details related to Blue Sunshine's history.
Also worth checking out are twenty minutes of Vintage Classroom LSD Scare Films (courtesy of AGFA) – LSD-25 from 1967 and LSD: Insight or Insanity? from 1968 - don’t do drugs kids! No matter what unique ways you may find to express yourselves, as these movies demonstrate, using drugs to do it (or highly feminized slacks) will only lead to your downfall! Short skirts on girls and long hair on guys are also signs of trouble. If you need to be ‘in’ you can always drop a tab of acid – it’s very, very groovy, and very, very dangerous! This material is pretty insane. The inevitable freak out scenes are completely overplayed – guys in suits who look very serious warn us about the dangers of drugs, we see that you might wind up getting all shaggy looking and reading comic books, while various scientist types hook up electrodes to your brain to figure out what’s wrong with you. This stuff is gold!
Also included here is The Ringer, remastered in 4k from the original negative, in two versions – the original uncut version which runs twenty minutes, and the final release edit which runs just under nineteen minutes. This is a short film made by Lieberman back in the early '70s that got him noticed by the film industry. The film is a spoof of all the anti-drug films that were shown in schools to prevent youngsters from taking drugs. The result is a darkly humorous look at dark side of corporate America. Look for Superfly's Charles McGregor in a small role. You can watch the film with or without commentary from Lieberman, moderated by Howard S. Berger, that covers how the short was originally meant to be an anti-drug film and how a lot of corporations were getting behind the anti-drug movement at the time. He talks about how he came to make the short from a different perspective and how he wasn't really anti-drug himself but against profiting off of coercing kids into making bad choices. He then goes over the low budget, rushed schedule, locations and shooting with a crew that were used to making documentary and newsreel projects and more.
Finishing up the extra features are two theatrical trailers, a still gallery, a quick introduction to the film from its director (“4k, baby!”), menus and chapter selection options.
In addition to the UHD and Blu-ray discs included in the set, we also get a full color booklet of liner notes from Lieberman, which features a chapter on the making of Blue Sunshine from his book ‘Day Of The Living Me: Adventures Of A Subversive Cult Filmmaker From The Golden Age,’ a limited edition fold-out poster and a limited edition remastered CD soundtrack that contains all thirteen tracks composed for the film. The two discs fit inside a clear keepcase along with the booklet. This, in turn, fits inside a slipcover that slides into a hard, side-loading case. It’s a really great looking package.
Blue Sunshine – The Final Word:
Blue Sunshine is a one-of-a-kind cinematic oddity, the kind that could only have been made in the seventies. It's paranoid, it's over the top, it's scary, it's funny - and it is wickedly entertaining. Synapse has done an excellent job bringing this cult classic to UHD with a gorgeous presentation, loads of extras and some really impressive packaging. Highly recommended!
Click on images below for full sized Blue Sunshine screen caps taken from the Blu-ray release and intended only to illustrate the film and not the quality of the UHD transfer.
