Blue Sunshine

There’s such a thing as ‘imitable behaviour’, which is to say, there are strict rules about what can and should be shown in a film, tv show or other media. So you wouldn’t create a kids story about how shoving a screwdriver into the mains electricity supply might lead you to a Narnia-type world; we don’t want kids thinking that such behaviour might be fun. Back in the mid-70’s, that message hadn’t quite gotten through, and while worries about the influence of the media on young people were becoming tangible, Jeff Lieberman’s shocking sci-fi conspiracy drama is the kind of irresponsible venture which wouldn’t be allowed today.

I used to know a doctor who was rarely sober; never without a cigarette, he was always high on something, and discussed how the effects of the narcotic culture were unknown in the long-term. That’s the notion explored in some detail in Blue Sunshine; a bad batch of LSD in the 60s causes a chromosome shift a decade later. That shift means that those who took a particular bad batch of acid back in the swinging era may now find themselves suddenly bald, and with a penchant for indiscriminate killing. We start, as you might expect, with Billy Crystal’s brother Richard impersonating Frank Sinatra at a log-cabin party; his wig falls off and he goes kill-crazy before being hit by a passing truck. Witnessing this deadly freak-out inspires Jerry Zipkin (Zalman King) to investigate why this and a number of other outbreaks are occurring; the trail leads to a presidential candidate who is running under the slogan ‘Make American Good Again.’…

Blue Sunshine is due a reboot, A24 style; the core idea is horrific, dangerous, and like many other verboten things, somewhat attractive to moralists. Like Larry Cohen’s God Told Me To, this is a daring, downbeat film that offers up a sinister notion; for those who indulged in the past, you’re already on track a generically modified date with death, and nothing is going to stop it. Looking like Sean Penn mixed with Ben Schwartz, King gives an intense performance as Jerry, sometimes monosyllabic, sometimes over-acting like a loon. It’s a performance in tune with a project that feels like Marathon Man on acid; whereas William Goldman’s film was billed as ‘a thriller’ on the poster art, this one is described simply as ‘a shocker’. And a shocker it is; mothers try and murder their children, murderous baldies creep out from between Century City skyscrapers, and the government are making a conscious choice to doing nothing to help or protect the victims.

Complete with a bizarre cameo from Brion James, Blue Sunshine’s credentials as an offbeat, counter-cultural B movie are impeccable; there’s fights, car-chases and a healthy dose of cynicism about the political world a la Taxi Driver; both films are largely set in political campaign offices. Now streamable in HD, Blue Sunshine is a well-scripted, memorable little film that looks back to the past to portray how we got to a pre-ruined future. This is a film that has been hard to see in mainstream media for obvious reasons, but with today’s increased attention to what we put in our bodies and how it affects us, it’s a pertinent watch for those who want to dine off the usual cinematic menu. And if anyone offers you some Blue Sunshine, probably best to just say no…