Blue Sunshine

(Jeff Lieberman; 1977)

(Synapse)

A man goes insane at a party and kills three women. Jerry, also at the party is falsely accused and is now on the run. He soon discovers that people all over the city are losing their hair, going insane and murdering people. Jerry discovers that these bizarre murders are a side effect from a certain type of acid called Blue Sunshine they all took while at University ten years ago.

This cult film has been out of print for over ten years and now Synapse has given it the royal treatment. This is a beautiful package that any collector will be proud to have in their collection. Personally, I hadn’t heard of the film, but I’m a sucker for Synapse product, Especially their limited editions. This is one of those flicks that took about a day to sink in on whether I enjoyed it or not. It’s a quirky little Cronenberg-esque film that’s a tad slow, but I think many fans of horror/sci-fi will want to have seen it at least once. There’s no gore or T&A to speak of despite ample opportunity, but it’s got plenty of violence and action. The end is abrupt and anticlimactic but I think it fits the film well. As does the opening credits interspliced between sequences of people going insane and killing. All in all a solid effort. Rent first, though. This isn’t for all tastes.

Excellent as always with Synapse. New Dolby Digital 5.2 remix created and mixed for home video environments.

Flawless. A beautiful transfer and another brilliant job by Synapse. Widescreen 1.75:1. In the special features they do a print comparison between the original negative and the cleaned up version, and you can really appreciate the job they did. I wish more DVD companies were like Synapse.

Gorgeous special edition packaging. Great job.

Sound: 10

Picture: 10

Special Features: 10

Packaging: 10

Film: 7

Overall Rating: 8

(Rating scale is out of 10, with 1 being the worst and 10 the best)