Blue Sunshine

with Zalman King, Deborah Winters, Mark Goddard
Directed and written by Jeff Lieberman
(Synapse Films)
by Chad Van Wagner

The DVD market is a weird thing. Previously, I only knew of Blue Sunshine due to one thing: when Steve Severin (Siouxsie and the Banshees) and Robert Smith (The Cure) recorded their side project, The Glove, they named their one and only album after it. Interest piqued, I sought out the ultra deluxe reissue.

And ultra-deluxe it is. Pristine new transfer, 5.1 digital surround remix, director’s commentary, even a bonus soundtrack CD, all wrapped up in a foil-printed, eye-catching cover. Now all that’s left to do is wonder: Why?

Zalman “Red Shoe Diaries” King stars (!) as a not very bright schmuck whose friends start going bald and killing people. Apparently, they all took hits of an acid called Blue Sunshine, and now, ten years down the road, it’s turning them into cue-balled psychopaths. B movie concept, B movie execution, and while it’s an interesting enough idea for a cheesy ’70s popcorn flick, the whole thing never quite makes it above the standard of a Rockford Files episode gone horribly wrong. It’s not actively bad, as such, but it’s not very good either. (It should be mentioned, however, that the included soundtrack is fantastic. Kind of a Tangerine Dream meets ’70s thriller thing, although no information, from the composer down to the track titles, is available.)

Which begs the question: Why the super deluxe reissue? Blow Up still isn’t on DVD, but this is, with bells on. Ah well…