wes-connors In sun-shiny Southern California, scruffy surgeon Robert Walden (as David Blume) appears to be suffering from headaches and dizziness. Elsewhere, a politician's pretty wife Ann Cooper (as Wendy) appears to be losing her hair. Later, we'll find out which among several characters are hiding red herrings and which are hiding bald heads. Our hero is squirrelly Zalman King (as Jerry Zipkin). He needs to remember young gun clerk Meegan King's advice, "If you jerk, it won't work." Sporting one of the best heads of wavy hair in the cast, Mr. King goes to a party with pretty blonde Deborah Winters (as Alicia Sweeney). There, King sees a friend flip his wig and go berserk. After three attractive women are barbecued in a fireplace, King gets pegged as a "psycho case." King must prove his innocence while evading capture by seemingly toupee-topped Charles Siebert (as Clay)...King's investigation leads him to neatly trimmed "Lost in Space" ex-pilot Mark Goddard (as Edward "Ed" Flemming), who is running for Congress, and his burly bodyguard Ray Young (as Wayne Mulligan). Both sport suspiciously thick heads of hair...Ten years ago, many in the cast attended Stanford University and became acquainted with a strain of LSD known as "Blue Sunshine". One of the drug's side effects was reported to be the "flashback" – or, the unexpected return of an old trip, years after usage. This film makes good use of that fear, along with the fear of Disco and several others (like going bald). The story is more than a little ragged and leaves too many unanswered questions, but it is imaginatively directed by Jeff Lieberman. He is notable in making the non-monsters seem even spookier than the real ones, a highlight being the park bench scene. Also watch for "Dark Shadows" regular James "Jim" Storm in the early party, and "Bewitched" housekeeper Alice Ghostley as an unusually informative neighbor. "Blue Sunshine" is a strange film, but has just enough quirk to make the flaws look irrelevant.******** Blue Sunshine (3/20/78) Jeff Lieberman ~ Zalman King, Deborah Winters, Mark Goddard, Robert Walden

ShadeGrenade In 1967, at the height of the Summer Of Love, a new strain of L.S.D. - Blue Sunshine - became popular among drug-taking students at Stanford University. Edward Flemming ( Mark Goddard, of the 'Lost In Space' television series ) made money selling the stuff but sensibly did not take it himself. Its horrific side-effects only kick in ten years later. The users go bald ( women included ) in the blink of an eye, grow sensitive to loud noises, their eyeballs roll in their sockets, and they get the crazy urge to kill! First victim is Frannie Scott ( Richard Crystal ) who goes berserk at a party in a log cabin, hurling three young women into a blazing fire. Jerry Zipkin ( Zalman King ) is blamed for the killings. To clear his name, he teams up with Alicia Sweeney ( Deborah Winters ). Finding a poster of Flemming in the studio of one of the Blue Sunshine victims, he goes to see the man himself. The ex-drug dealer is now running for Congress! Not wishing to see his seedy past raked up at such a delicate time, he tells Zipkin to keep away from him. But Ed's campaign manager - Wayne Mulligan ( Ray Young ) was also a Blue Sunshine taker, and begins exhibiting the first signs of madness...Written and directed by Jeff Liebermann, also responsible for cult horror movies 'Squirm' ( 1976 ) - not one to see if you've just had a spaghetti lunch - and 'Dead Before Dawn' ( 1981 ). 'Blue Sunshine' has an original idea at its core, and the shocks and scares are well coordinated. Wendy Flemming ( Ann Cooper ) goes nuts while baby sitting two children, and her creeping up on them with a knife is a very Hitchcockian image indeed. How rare to see a horror picture with a strong anti-drugs message. There's an air of melancholia to the story, as it effectively mourns the end of the hippie generation. Hero Zalman King makes a refreshing change from the usual handsome hunks who grace these sorts of pictures, looking as he does like the late comedian Charlie Callas. Goddard is slimy enough to be completely credible as a Senator! Some have commented on the 'rushed' ending. I for one think it better to have an ending like that, rather than one of those protracted 'Friday The 13th' style finales in which the killer won't stay dead. They just are not very believable. I would have liked Flemming to have been creamed by Wayne though.If the idea of bald psychos on the loose strikes you as absurd, well yes it is. But 'Blue Sunshine' is one hell of a scary film. You'll never look at Ross Kemp in quite the same way again.

Coventry Jeff Lieberman is unquestionably one of the most fascinating filmmakers active in the field of horror and peculiar cult. The movies he accomplished are versatile and difficult to categorize, and the man himself is a rather unusual persona as well. I read a couple of interviews in which Lieberman claims not to be a fan of the genre at all and in case his films are reminiscent of others (for example "Just Before Dawn" to "Texas Chainsaw Massacre"), it must be purely coincidental, as he states never to have seen the films. The last thing you could ever say about "Blue Sunshine", however, is that the idea is derived from something else. Its intriguing concept is totally unique and perhaps one of the most original ones ever to feature in a low-budgeted 70's movie. The outstanding – I even daresay brilliant – premise of "Blue Sunshine" actually makes it all the more painful to acknowledge that the overall execution of the film is slightly disappointing and even a bit boring. The opening sequences as well as the climax are sublime, but unfortunately everything in between moves at an incredibly slow tempo and it's very difficult to stay fully focused the entire playtime. The film opens with footage of several different & seemingly unrelated people beginning to suffer from physical ailments, like terrible headaches and the severe loss of hair. Jerry Zipkin even witnesses one of his friends going completely out of his mind and killing three women. Being the prime suspect in the murder investigation, Jerry discovers that his friend experimented with a type of drugs called Blue Sunshine back in college and possible the side effects only begin to show now, more than 10 years later. Jerry confronts the former junkies, who are now respectable people with important jobs, with their past and hopes to prevent further bloodbaths this way. As said, the plot is magnificent and Lieberman manages to continuously sustain an ominous & moody atmosphere, but the entire middle section lacks panache and memorable substance. Zalman King's performance as Jerry is good but his character is overly weird and not exactly likable. His response to the murders and especially his methods of approaching the other Blue Sunshine users are strange and it's actually no wonder the police suspects him of all the crimes. Don't expect any gory situations, neither, but the hairless psychos look genuinely creepy and menacing. The soundtrack is excellently psychedelic and the sequence shot at the disco is already legendary by now. In spite of Synapse's recent transfer to DVD, the picture quality is rather inferior, which gives a good idea of how obscure this film was all these years. Although not being the masterwork I anticipated (or hoped) it to be, I still wouldn't hesitate to recommend "Blue Sunshine" to any other open-minded fans of eccentric 70's cinema. All the other Lieberman films I've seen thus far ("Squirm", "Just Before Dawn" and "Satan's Little Helper") are worth tracking down as well.

HumanoidOfFlesh This surprisingly intriguing horror film has people turning into bald,blue-skinned killers after dropping contaminated LSD ten years before."Blue Sunshine" is more fondly remembered for it's bald,thirty-something,ex-hippie murderers who are easily the most bizarre descendants of the living dead yet to reach the silver screen.This film is not easy to categorize:it's a horror film mixed with drug movie and also features paranoid urban legends and bizarre conspiracy theories.The title of this movie is taken from the name of a bad batch of 60s acid that seems to have some rather unfortunate long-term side effects.The film is badly lit and there are some dull spots,but "Blue Sunshine" is a must-see for experimental cinema enthusiasts.7 out of 10.