Total Sci-Fi’s Guide to the Incredibly Strange and Obscure in Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Movies

The Facts

Written by Jeff Lieberman
Directed by Jeff Lieberman
Produced by George Manasse, Joseph Beruh, Edgar Lansbury
Music: Charles Gross
Cast: Robert Walden, Zalman King, Deborah Winters, Mark Goddard
Running time: 89 minutes

The Plot

Following weird murders at a party, Jerry (Zalman King) goes on the run and tries to discover what causes people to lose their hair and turn psychotic. Could events be connected to would-be Congressman Edward Flemming (Mark Goddard)?

The Lowdown

There’s a weird connection between Jeff Lieberman’s low-budget shocker Blue Sunshine and Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver (1976). Both films see a troubled individual stalking a politician standing for election, hoping to right a wrong done in the past. While Taxi Driver is widely acclaimed, not least due to Robert De Niro’s groundbreaking performance, Blue Sunshine has been forgotten, probably due to the lead performance by soft-porn auteur Zalman King.


Caught up in strange killings by people who’ve suddenly gone bald (the eagle-eyed might spot a nutty Brion James right at the start), King’s Jerry goes on the run. Investigating the killings in conjunction with his old college friend Dr David Blume (Walden), Jerry starts following would-be Congressman Edward Flemming. Turns out Flemming sold experimental LSD named ‘blue sunshine’ to his college friends 10 years previously and they are now suffering delayed psychotic effects.

Much of the movie was shot on location, giving some great historic views of 1970s LA, while the climax takes place in a shopping mall at a political rally, anticipating the setting of George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead (1978). King is weirdly hysterical throughout while Walden and Goddard give good performances. Also suitably over-the-top in his menace is Ray Young as Flemming’s bodyguard/henchman Wayne Mulligan, who took blue sunshine back in the day and is one of the last to suffer the after effects.

The unexpected, delayed effects of drug abuse is a great subject for a low budget thriller, but Blue Sunshine is so weirdly offbeat — whether deliberately or not — it somehow catches the feeling of a bad drug trip in filmic form. It’s disjointed, full of mad characters and weird settings, just like a drug-induced experience…

Cult Cast

Zalman King was an actor before pursing a career as a soft-porn director (Two Moon Junction, Wild Orchid, Red Shoe Diaries). He co-wrote Adrian Lyne’s movie 9½ Weeks (1986). He featured as a youth gang member alongside James Caan and Walter Koenig in a 1963 episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, based on Harlan Ellison’s Memo From Purgatory. Jeff Goldblum was originally cast in the Robert Walden role in Blue Sunshine but director Jeff Lieberman felt he looked too similar to the big-haired King.

Robert Walden is best known for his regular role as undercover reporter Joe Rossi on the Edward Asner TV series Lou Grant (1977-82), about the team on an LA newspaper. Walden received three Emmy Award nominations as Outstanding Supporting Actor for his work on the series. He played atom bomb inventor J. Robert Oppenheimer in the 1980 TV movie Enola Gay. He’s currently an acting teacher at New York City university The New School.

Mark Goddard starred in the TV series Lost in Space (1965-68) as Major Don West confronting such extraterrestrial threats as floating green women, a space circus, space Vikings and (in the infamous penultimate episode The Great Vegetable Rebellion) a giant talking carrot creature!

Director’s Cut

Jeff Lieberman has worked on a strange selection of films in his career, from directing killer worm movie Squirm (1976) to scripting The Never-Ending Story III: Return to Fantasia (1994). He directed slasher movie Just before Dawn (1981) and Remote Control (1988), a science fiction invasion movie that he considers his worst film to date. His most recent film was Satan’s Little Helper (2004).


WTF? Moment

Right from the beginning Blue Sunshine has a weird vibe about it. The opening party scene sees one of the guests go nuts when his hair is pulled off, not in clumps but all in one go! Later, a bald babysitter chases two terrified children around an apartment in an uncomfortable scene to watch.

Behind-the-Scenes

Director Jeff Lieberman combined his own personal LSD experiences with his recollections of a childhood bout of scarlet fever (which can cause complete hair loss) as inspirations for scripting Blue Sunshine. The original negative of Blue Sunshine was either lost or destroyed many years ago, meaning that for the Synapse DVD release, a rather fuzzy and damaged print had to be digitally restored prior to release.

Creators Talk

“I always work very closely with my composers, just like with my cinematographers and editors. Charles Gross is a genius, plain and simple. I'll never forget working on Blue Sunshine with him. After hours and hours of talking theory, it always comes down to me saying ‘come up with something’ and we’ll work from there. If I don’t like it, at least it’s a start. Anyway, Charles sits me down, then mounts up behind his baby grand and plays these simple single five notes: da—da, da, da, da. I got the proverbial goosebumps. How could something that simple be that creepy and that on the money?” — Jeff Lieberman, www.monstersatplay.com/features/interviews/jeff-chat.php


Availability

After a lengthy period of unavailability, Blue Sunshine was finally released on Region 1 (US) DVD.

Online Resources

Newly launched website for Zalman King, star of Blue Sunshine and creator of 9½ Weeks [http://www.zalmanking.com]

Official Mark Goddard Lost in Space web site [http://mark-goddard.com]

Remake

There is an opportunity for a great UK-set updating of Blue Sunshine dealing with the fallout of rave culture as middle-aged ravers cope with the delayed effects of a bad batch of Es.

The Bottom Line

Blue Sunshine is a genuine oddity, a film that’s worth watching for its strange atmosphere and weird happenings rather than any sensible attempt at a coherent story…

By Brian J. Robb