Blue Sunshine is a little ray of cosmic cinematic sunshine from 1977. A great year for horror, with films such as Suspiria and The Hills Have Eyes. Blue Sunshine is neither gritty like Hills Have Eyes, nor is it a masterpiece of cinematography like Suspiria, but it is fantastic nevertheless.
Blue Sunshine is quite a surreal movie, a movie that amuses whilst at the same time there is a creepiness that makes it essential viewing. Sometime during the 1960s when flower power and LSD were being explored someone made up a bad batch of acid. The drug was called Blue Sunshine and the side effect was that 10 years later you will at some point go bald instantly, but by far the worst side effect is an uncontrollable blood lust. The drug is basically a manchurian candidate without the need for all that time consuming brain washing.
The movie begins with our hero, Jerry Zipkin, enjoying a pleasant Christmas party gathering with friends. All is well until one of the party goers attempts to sing. He instantly goes bald, his eyes become crazy, and he runs from the house. Jerry attempts to track him down, meanwhile the bald crazy man has returned to the house. He promptly starts to put three females in the fire place. Jerry hears the screams, but arrives too late. The crazy bald man attacks Jerry, they end up in the middle of a road. Jerry pushes the crazy man in front of a truck. From there on Jerry is pursued by the police, in order to clear his name he must unravel the mystery of blue sunshine.
The movie has an interesting plot, and despite its surreal premise it has a casual logical narrative. The acting at times is so over the top, Jerry sometimes is in danger of chewing the scenery. The scene where he gets into the house where an entire family has been murdered is ridiculously over the top. At times the movie is subtle comedy, other times it is nothing short of creepy. The special effects are adequate , that said, how difficult is it to make people look bald?
The film has a message, at least I thought it had deeper meaning. The film is an attack upon hippy culture. I am fine with that, the hippy movement was akin to mass masturbation, an exercise in saying a great deal but doing very little. Feel free to cry me a river if you disagree. In the film it is no coincidence that one of the side effects, in direct contrast to the long greasy unkempt look of the hippy, is baldness. Ten years after flower power a great many of that generation were middle aged men in 9-5 jobs. The film makes its message explicit when one of the ex hippies, now a thug in the service of a politician, goes crazy because the disco music is too loud. Balding hippy vs awful disco culture, hopefully mutual destruction will result.
This movie will be one of those movies, you will either love it or hate it. Personally I thoroughly enjoyed it.
8 out of 10. (Yes I liked it that much)