Mr_Ectoplasma
Welcome to Los Angeles, where a series of Stanford graduates and ex-acid users are inexplicably losing their hair, going mad, and committing the most gruesome of murders. Jerry Zipkin (Zalman King) happens to be attending a party where one of the incidents takes place, and has to evade police and try to solve the cause in order to exonerate himself from blame.Jeff Lieberman ("Squirm"; "Just Before Dawn") writes and directs this spunky and surreptitiously bizarre thriller, and as usual, his own unique flair pervades every scene. At times the film plays out like a corky 1960s European detective thriller, while at others it is surprisingly macabre and unsettling. Other unusual touches make the film stand out prominently, such as the drawn out opening credits: we are given introductory snippets of the characters affected with the hair loss/mania which are interspersed throughout the opening credit roll. After each appearance, the camera reorients itself on an ominous blue moon over which the credits continue to be played. It is idiosyncrasies such as this that "Blue Sunshine" is riddled with, and that's part of its appeal. The film has an episodic feel as well, but the unsettling tone is continuously revived through a jarring and memorably creepy score, as well as the wonderfully executed psychotic breaks of the affected characters (a mad bald woman chasing children with a kitchen knife? Count me in).The acting in the film is a mishmash of solid performances with less-than stellar ones; Zalman King somehow works for the leading part, and Deborah Winters is also memorable as the feisty yet peripheral girlfriend character. The film's prescient disco death blowout is the icing on the cake here, and while it may be a bit anticlimactic overall, the film still holds its ground.Overall, "Blue Sunshine" is one of Lieberman's stranger offerings, but if nothing else, it's an original. There are some seriously creepy scenes that accent the ominous atmosphere, and there is a persistent L.A. noir-ish feel to the proceedings that leave you never quite knowing what to make of any of it at any given moment. Not a film for everyone, and not profoundly terrifying, unless you're an ex-LSD user from Stanford, but it is definitely a one of a kind. 8/10.
TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews
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
TheExpatriate700
I picked this up from GreenCine on a whim, and found it to be interesting, if not particularly suspenseful. It is a combination of violent horror and 70s era paranoia films (e. g. All the President's Men). The plot, in short, follows a young man wrongfully accused of murder who is trying to find out what is causing people in their early thirties to go bald and engage in killing sprees. (Early onset midlife crises???)The performances are nothing to write home about, and the attempt to tack an anti-drug message onto this piece is mainly symptomatic of the anti- drug hysteria that would characterize the Reagan era. Nevertheless, it is a worthwhile watch for a slow night.
