Search - Blue Sunshine on DVD

MPAA Rating: R Content Advisory: Violence, Suitable for Children, Adult Language Movie Release: 1978 DVD Release: 04/15/2003 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV SwapaDVD Credits: 2 Number of Discs: 2 Run Time: 1 hrs 30 mins Studio: Synapse Video Members Wishing: 11 Genres: Horror, Psychological Thriller

Several former college students find their former drug experiences catching up with them in an unexpected and terrifying manner in this clever horror outing. Jerry Zipkin (Zalman King) is a bright but troubled man in his late twenties who graduated from Stanford University in 1968 but hasn't had much luck getting his life in order since then. One night Jerry attends a party with a few old college buddies, and is shocked when one of them, Frannie (Richard Crystal), suddenly loses all his hair in a single lump and goes on a bloody rampage. When circumstantial evidence makes Jerry a key suspect in the murders of three women at the party, he sets out to find out what happened, and with the help of another school friend, surgeon David Blume (Robert Walden), he discovers a link between Frannie's bizarre behavior and several similar incidents which recently occurred. In each case, the killers attended Stanford in the late '60s, and all had used Blue Sunshine, a potent but tainted variety of LSD sold by Ed Flemming (Mark Goddard), a bootleg acid chemist who is now a respected mainstream political candidate. Jerry struggles to stay one step ahead of the law as he tries to piece the story together, knowing that another victim of the drug could go insane at any moment. Blue Sunshine was directed by Jeff Lieberman, who has two other cult favorites to his credit, Squirm and Just Before Dawn. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Zalman King - Jerry Zipkin

"Remember Rodan?" one character asks in the first section of Jeff Lieberman's Blue Sunshine (1978). The woman with him says, "The artist?" And his reply is, "No -- the monster." It's that sense of humor that helps hook viewers on this movie. Synapse Films is to be congratulated on this disc -- Jeff Lieberman's Blue Sunshine (1978) has had a very star-crossed history, one that could have precluded a DVD release. After earning huge applause at the Cannes Film Festival, getting a pair of abortive overtures from two broadcast networks, and then disappearing into late-night television oblivion, the movie developed a cult following among punk enthusiasts at the end of the 1970s and later emerged on VHS tape from Vestron Video in the mid-'80s in a pretty poor transfer. By the early '90s, when Blue Sunshine had developed a major cult following, there were no negative or interpositive master materials surviving from which a 35 mm print could be struck; even a showing at New York's Film Forum in 1997 as part of a drug movie series was of a 16 mm TV print.

This DVD isn't perfect by a long shot -- some of the color in the opening pre-credit sequence could still use work, and there is evidence of some slight frame damage in that same segment -- but generally this is about as good as the movie is ever likely to look or sound. The audio is mastered a bit low but is also sharper than the audio on the old VHS. The decision to letterbox the transfer at 1.85:1 was a good one -- the action is framed so tightly that the movie seems even more suspenseful than before. That's always a surprise, when something done to a thriller makes it better the eighth or ninth time you've seen it; cleaned up and the color restored, the visual edits now seem beautifully sharp, and the sound edits have an impact that they've simply lacked in the editions of this movie that most viewers have seen. All of this work also restores to its full impact what is arguably the best performance ever given by the movie's star, Zalman King.

The primary bonus feature is a full-length audio commentary by Jeff Lieberman in which he walks us through the movie, freely admitting his mistakes and also explaining some happy accidents that worked out well, and some near-disasters that were averted, including the loss of the actor who was to have portrayed the lead detective after only a single scene was shot. Lieberman posits, rightfully so, that the primary reason this movie works so well is Zalman King's performance, which projects a very sympathetic, eerily neurotic vulnerability. Lieberman also discusses his inspiration for many of the cleverer shots he uses, which mostly seem to have come from French cinema. We also find out that, at various times, Jeff Goldblum, David Birney, and a handful of other actors were in the running for roles in the picture. Also entertaining is Lieberman's onscreen appearance in the segment "Lieberman on Lieberman," a 30-minute on-camera interview in which he reveals how Antonioni's Blow-Up switched his interest from drawing to film. His account of his various successes of the 1970s and even stranger brushes with success is fascinating, almost as entertaining as the movie itself and as informative as any DVD interview available.

The other major highlight of the DVD is "The Ringer," Lieberman's other anti-drug movie, an early '70s short made for Pepsi at King Features, which includes his commentary. It's difficult to say which is funnier, the film (with a cast that includes a young David Groh) or the reminiscences. The second disc is a CD containing Charles Gross' complete music score. The DVD menu is reasonably straightforward, though the producers have placed the audio commentary under the audio setup, rather than under the special features, but it's simple enough to sort out. The 17 chapters are generous and well-labeled and placed, and the insert, in addition to listing the chapters, also includes a good essay on the movie. The latter is well worth the price, and the extras make this a must-own item for horror movie buffs, fans of psychotronic cinema, and aspiring filmmakers. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide