Strong and Moving!

Let's be realistic.

Excellent adaptation.

Brilliant and touching

Wanted by the police in connection with several murders, Jerry Zipkin (Zalman King) attempts to clear his name, his investigation leading him to politician Edward Flemming (Mark Goddard), who helped fund his university tuition by selling a form of LSD called Blue Sunshine. Now, ten years later, those who took the drug are losing their hair and losing their minds, becoming uncontrollable, hairless homicidal maniacs.If there's one thing that can be said about all of Jeff Lieberman's movies, it's that they're quirky. His debut, nature amok movie Squirm, was about killer worms—not giant worms… just regular sized worms with an appetite for flesh. Backwoods slasher Just Before Dawn boasted an original and unexpected twist that made it stand out from its many contemporaries. '80s oddity Remote Control saw aliens trying to take over the world through VHS tapes. And 2004's Satan's Little Helper featured a kid teaming up with a serial killer to teach people how to do Halloween in style.Blue Sunshine, Lieberman's follow up to Squirm, is no exception: it's totally bonkers and utterly unique, with a frantic Zipkin tracking down the bat-s**t baldies, but only making matters worse for himself by being on the scene every time someone turns up dead. It's all very silly, but hugely entertaining, highlights being Flemming's ex-wife Wendy wigging out and whipping off her wig to chase a couple of brats with a carving knife, and bald brute Wayne Mulligan (Ray Young) going crazy on the dance-floor. There's not much in the way of gore to speak of, and even scares are few and far between, but a smart script, a rollicking pace and solid performances all go to make this one a lot of fun.7.5 out of 10, rounded up to 8 for IMDb.

Ragged around the edges, this little indie production is still pretty effective. Seems an LSD derivative has long-term effect of turning ordinary people into hairless raging killers. These episodes are truly jarring and the movie's highlight, especially when Mom turns from Donna Reed into a baldie Jack the Ripper. Director Lieberman lightens the mood with an amusing jape at disco music, which turns out to be ultimate protection against these marauding psychopaths. Plus, King looks and acts nothing like the usual movie hero as he plows glumly through his monster hunting mission. However, the pacing's uneven, while the various narrative threads sometimes dangle. Also, suspense doesn't really build despite the pregnant premise, maybe because the threads too often meander rather than build. Then too, I agree with others that the climax is too tame and fails to top the intensity of what's gone before as it should. It's like they were running out of film and had to wrap quickly.Nonetheless, the movie's highly original with a number of good touches (the real department store, the undercover narc) and real shockers when the hairpieces come off. So even if the film is one of parts rather than a polished whole, the highlights are still worth it.

"Blue Sunshine" is a frustrating film. While it's main idea is really neat, the execution just seems amateurish and, at times, pretty dumb. It's all about a weird form of LSD called 'Blue Sunshine'. If folks took it, ten years later their hair begins to fall out, they have horrible headaches and they eventually go nuts and start killing people! Sounds a bit like a horror film of the 1980s, huh? The problems with this film are many but the worst is the writing. Again and again, the main character (Zalman King) does things that leave the viewer baffled--wondering why he did what he did. The examples are plenty but would include running from the police when it's very clear he did NOT murder the folks at the beginning of the show as well as running after he kills one of them that is trying to murder kid--why not stick around and have the kids give you an alibi?! And, when the folks become bald nut-cases, why does EVERYONE run away instead of stopping them?! Near the end, one baldy runs amok at a disco. There are about 50 people there. Together they EASILY could have stopped the guy's rampage--but they don't. In fact, EVERY TIME one goes crazy, folks fail to react rationally--such as when the stupid hero jumps on the back of one--instead of using his tranquilizer gun!! The other problem is the direction. Too often the acting and scenes that were poorly done weren't re-shot. Overall, a cheap and crappy film that easily could have been better had the folks making it cared.

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.