Blue Sunshine (1976)

43% of users liked it
(1,798 ratings)

Several former college students find their former drug experiences catching up with them in an unexpected and terrifying manner in this clever horror outing. Jerry Zipkin (Zalman King) is a bright but troubled man in his late twenties who graduated from Stanford University in 1968 but hasn't had… More Several former college students find their former drug experiences catching up with them in an unexpected and terrifying manner in this clever horror outing. Jerry Zipkin (Zalman King) is a bright but troubled man in his late twenties who graduated from Stanford University in 1968 but hasn't had much luck getting his life in order since then. One night Jerry attends a party with a few old college buddies, and is shocked when one of them, Frannie (Richard Crystal), suddenly loses all his hair in a single lump and goes on a bloody rampage. When circumstantial evidence makes Jerry a key suspect in the murders of three women at the party, he sets out to find out what happened, and with the help of another school friend, surgeon David Blume (Robert Walden), he discovers a link between Frannie's bizarre behavior and several similar incidents which recently occurred. In each case, the killers attended Stanford in the late '60s, and all had used Blue Sunshine, a potent but tainted variety of LSD sold by Ed Flemming (Mark Goddard), a bootleg acid chemist who is now a respected mainstream political candidate. Jerry struggles to stay one step ahead of the law as he tries to piece the story together, knowing that another victim of the drug could go insane at any moment. Blue Sunshine was directed by Jeff Lieberman, who has two other cult favorites to his credit, Squirm and Just Before Dawn. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 34 min.
Directed By: Jeff Lieberman
Genres: Horror

In Theaters: Jan 1, 1976 Wide
On DVD: Apr 15, 2003

Critic Reviews

Budd Wilkins, Slant Magazine
As Blue Sunshine would have it, all those naked, mud-spattered freakniks at Woodstock might have been better off if they had just eaten the brown acid, after all.
Rob Gonsalves, eFilmCritic.com
Seems to have been made to give former hippies the willies.

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Featured Audience Ratings

El Hombre I

Ten Things You Should Know About LSD 1. If you enjoy orgasms, you might enjoy the effects of LSD 2. LSD is non-toxic. Unlike alcohol and nicotine, LSD doesn't damage your body. 3. Swiss chemist Albert Hoffman describes it as "medicine for the soul". 4. Many… More
Ten Things You Should Know About LSD 1. If you enjoy orgasms, you might enjoy the effects of LSD 2. LSD is non-toxic. Unlike alcohol and nicotine, LSD doesn't damage your body. 3. Swiss chemist Albert Hoffman describes it as "medicine for the soul". 4. Many drugs take a gram or two to be effective. A hit of acid might only contain 100-200 millionths of a gram each. 5. Unlike heroin, nicotine or television, LSD is physically non-addictive. 6. Most of the scientific research done on LSD was sponsored by the US Army and the CIA. 7. Acid is cheap. 8. Acid demands respect. 9. Choose a setting where you're comfortable. 10. Has had a big impact on pop culture because of what it can do for creativity. Blue Sunshine is a horror movie that seems to have been made to scare former hippies. It borders, at times, on the silliness of propaganda that Reefer Madness had towards marijuana use, but not necessarily preachy. Not a terrible film, but does it did test my patience during some sequences that were too kitschy for its' own good. Interesting enought to rent, but wouldn't feel the need to rush out and find a copy. Bad acid will make you go bald, drive you insane, and drastically reduce your appreciation of loud disco music. <a href="http://s273.photobucket.com/albums/jj203/goji9000/?action=view¤t=hippies.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj203/goji9000/hippies.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
Michael G

A generally silly yet entertaining movie and commentary of the 60s generation and the consequences of its actions. It's 70s cinema that didn't age well, but that doesn't mean it's not fun to watch. When the...infected go nuts on their respective killing rampages… More
A generally silly yet entertaining movie and commentary of the 60s generation and the consequences of its actions. It's 70s cinema that didn't age well, but that doesn't mean it's not fun to watch. When the...infected go nuts on their respective killing rampages it's pure gold. Lieberman does a great job of trying to set the audience off as well--namely before said rampages.