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BLUE SUNSHINE

(1976)

Written and Directed by:
Jeff Lieberman

Cast:
only:
Zalman King .... Jerry Zipkin
Deborah Winters .... Alicia Sweeney
Mark Goddard .... Edward Flemming
Robert Walden .... David Blume
Charles Siebert .... Detective Clay
Ann Cooper .... Wendy Flemming
Ray Young .... Wayne Mulligan
Alice Ghostley .... O'Malley's Neighbor
Stefan Gierasch .... Lt. Jennings
Richard Crystal .... Frannie Scott
Bill Adler .... Ralphie
Barbara Quinn .... Stephanie
Adriana Shaw .... Barbara O'Malley
Bill Sorrells .... Ritchie Grazzo

PLOT:
A small group of people seem to be losing their hair in large clumps, and suffering from massive headaches. They have nightmares and seem to be on the edge of cracking under pressure of their everyday lives. After some time, these usually normal people go mad and kill anyone around them. One witness if falsely blamed for the murders, and he goes on a mission to find out what is causing such a violent and deadly occurance. Soon, he begins to wonder about a prime cut of LSD from the 60's called BLUE SUNSHINE. Is it possible that this experiemental cut is causing people to become raving lunatics, so many years later?

Review:
THis is a great little film. Simple, and freaky. If you enjoy psychological horror, then this one is for you. This is not a film of darkened rooms and spooky music, this is a movie of people with their hair rapidly falling out, who become violent and murderous lunatics.

Pros:
Good acting on all counts. Zalman King is perfect as the paranoid hero who doesn't trust cops and tries to figure out the clues to the mystery. Deborah Winters, Mark Goddard, and Robert Walden were also perfect in their supporting roles. I loved the ambiguity of some of these characters. Who is affected by the drug..and who is not? Who knows?!!!! YOu have to wait to see who becomes psychotic!
You never know when someone is going to crack and start killing people.
Perhaps the greatest effect in the writing of this film is the sense of inevidable madness by some of the nicest people, who just tried out a drug in their youth, and now they are psychopaths because of it.
The directing is great. Some of the moments as you await the killings are just so tense you could cut it with a knife. (no pun intended)
The madness is portrayed so effectively, that the affected characters look far more scary than any zombie or monster. EXAMPLE: a knife whelding, bald woman, chasing around children with a kitchen knife, set to sound of a child's screams....now THERE IS A VISUAL!!!!! AWESOME!!!!!

Cons:
Definate amount of CAMP here.
Some dated feelings concerning the overall movie. It looks old, because it is old....but still good.
The ending is the main flaw. Just when it seems to be winding down, the movie simply ends abruptly. There is no closing....just a simple cut off.
The closing attempts to give this movie a TRUE STORY feel to it.

Pros rebuttal: Actually, this film is fairly believable, in the sense that it is done to look like everyday life.

Cons continued:
However, there are still minor annoying aspects to this film. The hero constantly refusing to go to the police and making himself look very guilty...gets you mad as he seems to be creating his own problem.

Overall:
I haven't written a review in a while, and I wanted to wait until I saw something very special. That very special movie is BLUE SUNSHINE. Finally we have an example of a film that isn't particularly violent, or gory...just has some really good ideas and really good directing. Sure, it falls short in a few parts, but is still an impressive little horror movie, and SOOO much better than most of the garbage that comes out nowadays. I am very glad I saw it. I know I will watch this again, and I heavily suggest it to anyone who is fans of the horror genre.

Overall grade:
B+