Blue Sunshine scared theater audiences with the fear that the generation that turned on in the ’60s with LSD could be ticking bombs ready to explode as homicidal maniacs. Quite a few people are losing their hair and turning into killers. What could be causing this condition? Turns out they were all tripping on the same drugs at a certain ACC college. Only Zalman King seems able to stop this mayhem. The movie stars Zalman King who became a master of cable erotica in the ’90s with his Red Shoes Diary series. The movie also features Mark Goddard after he spent all those years Lost In Space. Blue Sunshine is even more vivid in 4K UHD. Here’s the press release from Synapse Films:
| Synapse Films Offers Up Flashbacks and Fugitives in Jeff Leiberman’s Cult Favorite Blue Sunshine LSD Horror Classic Makes its North American Debut on 4K UHD [4K UHD] 4/15/25 |
On April 15th, Synapse Films will release Jeff Lieberman’s notorious LSD horror film Blue Sunshine in a limited edition 4K UHD 3-Disc set.
At a house party in the countryside, Frannie Scott (Richard Crystal, Fun With Dick And Jane) is singing when he gets a little frisky and tries to kiss a friend’s date. When the friend pulls him off the woman, he unexpectedly yanks the hair off Frannie’s head. This leads to a psychotic outburst from Frannie that turns into fiery mayhem. Frannie chases after partygoer Jerry Zipkin (Zalman King, Red Shoes Diaries) and in a twist of fate, Jerry is suspected as the killer by the investigating police detectives and goes into hiding while he tries to clear his name.
He soon discovers that Frannie isn’t the only person in the area who has gone bald and turned into a homicidal maniac. Wendy (Ann Cooper, Seems Like Old Times), a divorced mother of two, notices her hair falling out and attributes it to the stress of raising her rambunctious kids. Is she going to end up like the others? She gets no help from her ex-husband (Mark Goddard, Roller Boogie, Lost In Space), who is busy running for Congress.
Eventually Jerry and his friend Alicia (Deborah Winters, Tarantula: Deadly Cargo) link the murderous behavior and baldness to a Stanford University experiment in the mid-60s that involved a version of LSD called Blue Sunshine. Is the hallucinogenic drug responsible for the deadly mayhem all these years later? Who else is a ticking time bomb?
Director Jeff Lieberman (Squirm, Satan’s Little Helper) elevates the horrors of LSD as presented in government-produced anti-drug films that declared users would suffer genetic damage and violent acid flashbacks. Blue Sunshine features appearances from Robert Walden (Audrey Rose, Lou Grant), Bill Adler (Switchblade Sisters, Van Nuys Blvd.) and Alice Ghostley (Grease, Bewitched).
The bonus materials for Blue Sunshine include a Blu-ray (1080p), a remastered CD soundtrack, two audio commentaries featuring director Jeff Lieberman, a new introduction to the film by director Jeff Lieberman, an archival 2003 interview with director Jeff Lieberman, a Lieberman on Lieberman video interview, a Channel Z “Fantasy Film Festival” interview with Mick Garris (The Stand) and Jeff Lieberman, the Fantasia Film Festival 4K Premiere Q&A with moderator Michael Gingold and director Jeff Lieberman, anti-drug “scare films” LSD-25 (1967) and LSD Insight or Insanity? (1968), Jeff Lieberman’s first film The Ringer, theatrical trailers, a still gallery, a liner notes booklet by Jeff Lieberman, featuring a chapter on the making of Blue Sunshine from his book Day of the Living Me: Adventures of a Subversive Cult Filmmaker from the Golden Age, and a fold-out poster.
Watch the trailer here:
