What IS Blue Sunshine? Someone at the party we open with knows, and he’s wearing a toupee! Unfortunately he flies into a rage and murders several party guests. Jerry Zipkin (Zalman King) is forced to go on the run, having been falsely accused of the murders. He must not only uncover a secret buried for ten years but also crack open a political conspiracy that threatens to cover it all up and put the blame on him. Meanwhile more people begin to go crazy and murder folks, and the evidence against Jerry just keeps piling up. Can Jerry discover just what Blue Sunshine really is and what is its significance to all these murders? And why does an important political figure want to bury the whole thing?

Director Jeff Lieberman is a master at perfecting the horrific-but-fun tone. Much like similar director Larry Cohen, Lieberman is able to make genuinely mean-spirited, angry and at times repulsive films that also somehow don’t take themselves too seriously and aren’t afraid to take satirical jabs at a variety of subjects. He brings a freewheeling, anything-goes vibe to his films with Blue Sunshine especially balancing right on the edge between serious and self-parody. Taking jabs at both politics and drug culture, Lieberman creates something really special. While the humor here isn’t as overt as in some of his later pictures like Remote Control and Satan’s Little Helper, scenes like the one where we slowly come to realize that a housewife is afflicted with the Blue Sunshine effects as she grabs a knife while a kid chortles in the next room conjures a dark sense of humor that helps this film maintain a freshness some others from the time don’t. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the frantic and sweaty Zalman King (who would go on to dive headfirst into erotica territory with stuff like the Wild Orchid films and Red Shoe Diaries) who comes across like the lovechild of Sean Penn and Nic Cage, careening wildly from one crazed bald killer to another while being pursued by seemingly everyone in L. A. He’s pure contents-under-pressure, constantly on the verge of exploding.

Synapse has given us a brand new 4K restoration from the original 35 mm negatives mastered in DolbyVision, and it looks very clean and clear of blemishes, dirt and debris and with a very nice depth of detail. The transfer has a very natural, filmic look that preserves the original gritty “political thriller from Hell” tone extremely well. This is definitely the best the film has ever looked which is saying a lot since the previous Distribpix release looked quite good already. On the audio front, we get both 5.1 stereo and 2.0 mono DTS-HD tracks and both sound very nice and free of distortion or hiss. The 5.1 track gets more workout in the attack and chase sequences but both do a great job capturing the sound of the film. Now let’s dig into the extras, of which there are many! Many, but not all, of the extras from the previous Distribpix release have been carried over, including much to my delight the physical CD soundtrack. For audio commentaries, we get two featuring director Jeff Lieberman. One is moderated by film historian Howard s. Berger, taken from the original Synapse DVD release back in 2003, and the other is moderated by documentarian Elijah Drenner, taken from the Distribpix release. There is overlap between the two but Lieberman is so full of info that both tracks also have unique information about the film as well. Next we get a new introduction to the film by Lieberman specifically for this 2025 release. Also taken from the 2003 Synapse DVD release is a 30-minute “Lieberman on Lieberman” interview with the director as well as Lieberman’s 1972 short film “The Ringer”. Additionally we get another 40-minute archival interview with Lieberman from 2003 discussing the film (It’s no surprise that Lieberman mentions several times about how proud he is of this film in particular in his oeuvre), an interview between Mick Garris and Jeff Lieberman from Garris’ Channel Z show from back in the day, and a Q&A with Lieberman moderated by former editor-in-chief of Fangoria Michael Gingold at the 4K premiere of the film at Fantasy Fest. While the previous Distribpix release contained a 20-minute reel of vintage LSD scare films, this release contains two of them totaling nearly 50 minutes. In case you’re curious about what isn’t included on this release that was on the previous Distribpix release, the main piece missing is a series of interviews with actors and crew that worked on the film other than Lieberman. Otherwise, the special features on this Synapse release cover the same ground if not more than the prior release. On the physical side, while the Distribpix release contains some nice essays from film historians and critics as well as some cool ephemera including a replica of the actual Blue Sunshine acid tab stapled to a business card, the new Synapse release comes in a very nice chipboard slipcase box with a fold out poster and a booklet containing an essay from Lieberman on the film.

How has such a niche cult horror film about bald maniacs suffering from belated drug effects taken root in the public consciousness to the point that it has received not one but two excellent physical releases in the US? If you don’t already own this film, this new Synapse release is a no-brainer with the best image quality and a whole host of great extras to dig into. If you already own the Distribpix release, I would say based on image quality alone, it’s worth the upgrade. Plus this new release does include additional extras not found on that previous release. Regardless, Blue Sunshine is an excellent movie well worth having as a permanent part of your home video collection. Highly recommended!