Country: U.S.
Subgenre: Slasher
Runtime: 94 minutes
Director: Jeff Liebermann
Released only a year before John Carpenter's Halloween, this indie horror is often categorized as a "proto slasher," ostensibly because it was released before Carpenter's groundbreaking film. Again, here's my favorite word that I seem to keep repeating this year: balderdash! This is straight up a slasher film; and this is not the only slasher to predate Halloween, there are quite a few (Bob Clark's scary as heck Black Christmas come immediately to mind). Blue Sunshine was written and directed by Jeff Lieberman, the man who gave us the corn fried Squirm the year before (complete with on location shooting in Georgia--the state--not the country). It stars Zalman King, who would go on to be a director in his own right, as man on the lam and out to solve the crimes that he has been accused of (think The Fugitive--series or movie). At first blush, the film looks as if it belongs in the same category of films such as 10 To Midnight or Brian De Palma's Blow Out, but that doesn't last long. This film gets strange and bloody quickly! It doesn't take long before you realize you are watching a rather unconventional exploitation slasher flick. I won't try to explain much of the plot given that it would be a spoiler, but I can say that it starts out with a series of murders that resemble a series of murders that occurred a decade earlier. And the title? That's is the name of a street drug. It is a strange and violently satirical affair with some very eccentric performances. Granted, not all the acting in this one is stellar, though some of that may be down to unconventional direction from Lieberman. There is also a political subtext; there is a political campaign going on throughout the film that the viewer is informed of via newspaper articles & campaign ads, it's important because the person running as a conservative for a major office is a formeer 1960's drug dealer. Think what you want about what Lieberman may be trying to say with this, it has always struck me as interesting that he seemed to be commenting on the "turn coat" nature of boomers: from hippies to yuppies, a number of years before this was a cultural mainstream trope (see Ghostbusters II). But do listen for a particular political slogan at the very end of the film, it WILL sound familiar! I would say that this is a classic, but it's too independent and a bit too rare to go in that category. Still it is an 70's slasher with a twist...and OMG, a lot of disco music and one really crazy puppet number!
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