Monday, July 02, 2012

Blue Sunshine (1978) - Movie Review


A string of brutal slayings may be connected to a batch of LSD called Blue Sunshine taken by a group of friends ten years earlier. After accidentally causing the death of a deranged friend who began murdering party guests, Jerry Zipkin is blamed for all of the killings and is running for his life, trying to clear his name.

Blue Sunshine is an ultra-sensory murder mystery. The highlights of the film are the violent outbursts. Some are filmed really well while others have issues with timing and sensibility. There is only so much stalling a psychopath can do when someone is trying to crawl away on the floor, especially when these psychopaths possess heightened strength and speed.

The acting wasn't awful, but worthy of a TV movie at best with no standout names that ring any bells. Jeff Lieberman wrote and directed the movie after doing the same with the killer worm movie Squirm. He would go on to write and directed Satan's Little Helper. He separately directed and wrote variety of other TV projects and movies.

I first saw Blue Sunshine when I was a kid on a warped, static VHS version I rented from the local owned video store. Not even Blockbuster carried it. I had no idea what propaganda meant but was quite aware of LSD. I didn't care, all I was interested in was insanity. After watching it again, in no way does it intentionally seem like a propaganda film, but the viewer can draw their own conclusion. It's a psychotic mystery that plays heavily on the violence but not on the gore and worth a watch if you want something out of the ordinary. At the time of its initial release it may have shocked some audiences, but time and desensitized viewers wanting blood and guts wouldn't find it here, but if you appreciate some weirdness and a decent story, Blue Sunshine delivers it well.


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