God bless Synapse Films - beacuse if it weren't for them I may never have had the chance to bear witness to the film Blue Sunshine. As a huge fan of Jeff Lieberman's worm infested horror flick SQUIRM, I had eagerly anticipated the arrival of Blue Sunshine on DVD at Monster Headquarters. Popping the disc in my DVD player, I had no idea what to expect, all I knew is that I was anticipating something spectacular. Luckily, I was not let down. Blue Sunshine is a miraculously brilliant low budget feature that revels in its inability to be classified. It's a prime example of filmmaking simply for the sake of filmmaking...no more and no less. The 70's certainly were a glorious time for cinematic wonders!

At a hipster party a crooning buffoon is thrown for a loop as his hairpiece is inadvertently torn off mid performance - simply in jest. The guy flips out, bald head and all and runs for the hills, only to return moments later just in time to stuff a few of the remaining party goers into the fireplace! He flees again, and now the hunt is on led by our antihero Jerry (Zalman King, famed producer of 9 1/2 weeks and The Red Shoe Diaries). Jerry and the bald headed freak meet up in the middle of the highway and ultimately Jerry winds up pushing the baldheaded goofball in front of a speeding truck.

Catastrophe averted, right? Wrong. Jerry is now a wanted man, as the feds believe that he has committed an unprovoked act of cold-blooded murder. Turns out that there is an epidemic of people suffering from horrible headaches and premature hair loss. Jerry's findings lead him to one Ed Flemming, a congressional candidate who had dealt a trippy form of LSD back in the day called Blue Sunshine. At this point, people are flipping out left and right as the delayed effects of Blue Sunshine begin to take hold. No one that took Blue Sunshine is safe from its effects. Jerry's journey finds him meeting quite a few Blue Sunshine graduates including Wendy, Flemming's ex wife who has just started to feel the side effects that Blue Sunshine is responsible for. Needless to say she's not taking it all to well. One by one Jerry has to try and stop the murderous rampages before it's to late. The police hunt Jerry while Jerry hunts down the source of Blue Sunshine. I won't say any more as to not spoil anything for the uninitiated, but let me just say that this ain't Hollywood here folks and that's all you need to know.

Not knowing what to expect when I initially popped in the disc, I was surprised to discover that we've got a spectacularly executed thriller on our hands. Shot on an obviously very low budget, Blue Sunshine is able to rise above 70's horror cheese and stands as a well-written film with complex and interesting characters. Despite the fact that the film doesn't look timeless (check out the clothes and the discotheque finale) the themes and ideas expressed are just as relevant in society today as they were in the 70's. It's all never handled for laughs and there is absolutely no slow down in the frenetic action. It's a race against time and the brisk 90-minute running time zips by way too quickly.

Blue Sunshine is full of some great set pieces including one in particular that finds Jerry investigating the home of a man that just went insane, killing his family. As Jerry explores the home post murder, he's haunted by the demons that infect the crime scene as well as his mind. It's an exremely effective and creepy moment as is the scene in which Wendy chases the young girl she's babysitting around her apt. while brandishing a butcher knife! Outstanding! Also of note are a few bit performances that include a couple of notable veteran TV actors including Alice Ghostley (Bewitched, Small Wonder) and Mark Goddard (Lost in Space).

Considering its age and rarity, Blue Sunshine looks pretty spectacular here. There are still some tell tale signs of the films age like some specs (film dirt) and grain, but overall Blue Sunshine looks quite slick. Colors are fairly solid for the most part with decent definition. As evidenced by the restoration comparison in the extras section, a lot of work went into this release and the film looks to have been cleaned up as best it could. The effort certainly shows, it's not spotless, but it's still pretty fantastic.

Audio is presented in the films original mono track or a brand new Dolby Digital 5.1 mix. Both tracks feature clear dialogue and absolutely no evidence of hiss or distortion. I'm not usually one for revamped 5.1 mixes, but this one is actually right on the money, with subtle, yet effective use of the surrounds it's never overbearing. It isn't until a few moments near the end of the film in the discotheque scene that the surround track sounds a bit tinny. I really dug the new 5.1 mix it's well done all around. Really big thanks to Synapse for also including a cleaned up mono track as an alternative.

Extras include a feature length audio commentary with writer/director Jeff Lieberman, very informative and entertaining. Also included is a 30-minute segment entitled Lieberman on Lieberman in which Jeff Lieberman talks about a little bit of everything including Squirm, Blue Sunshine, indie filmmaking and John Carpenter. Next up is a still gallery, theatrical trailer (which is very cool by the way), short educational film called The Ringer (with or without commentary) which inspired the production of Blue Sunshine and a restoration comparison that should give anyone a high amount of appreciation for the obvious effort that went into producing this DVD. The final extra comes in the form of a bonus CD with the films entire re-mastered soundtrack score, nice touch becuase the soundtrack is pretty great. Of minor note is the fact that moments from the Friday the 13th theme sound a bit reminiscent of Blue Sunshine's (made years prior), someone from Paramount should write these guys a check! The package is rounded out with brief, but well-written lliner notes provided by Michael Felsher and Edwin Samuelson.

While these discs aren't individually numbered, this release is limited to 50,000 units, so once they are gone they are gone for good. In any event, I enjoyed Blue Sunshine immensely and Synapse has done this flick and its fans a great service by producing such an outstanding DVD presentation. Truly a remarkable and mostly unforgettable film in a neatly packaged special edition, Synapse Film's Blue Sunshine comes with my highest recommendation.

Be sure to check out Synapse Films online here!