Blue Sunshine

At a lively party, Frannie Scott croons the jazz standard 'Just in Time' and playfully tries to kiss his friend's date. The moment turns awkward when the friend pulls Frannie's hair, and to everyone's shock, the hair comes off, revealing a bald Frannie. The revelation triggers a sudden, unsettling shift as the party spirals toward violence.

Fueled by the bald shock, Frannie erupts into a psychotic rampage, brutally murdering several party guests. He then gives chase to Jerry Zipkin through the party space and out onto the nearby road, pursuing him in a tense, cat-and-mouse sequence. The scene devolves into a chaotic pursuit that shatters the celebration.

During the pursuit, Frannie is struck and killed by a passing truck, ending his murderous spree. The accident occurs on the road near the party, leaving witnesses stunned and horrified by the rapid turn of events. The neighborhood reels from the sudden violence that disrupted the celebration.

Jerry Zipkin is wrongly accused of the carnage and is forced to flee to avoid arrest. He is aided by his friends Alicia Sweeney and surgeon David Blume as they work to gather evidence that could prove his innocence. The escape unfolds across the city as they search for clues to clear his name.

While on the run, Jerry learns of a similar mass murder carried out by a bald police officer, hinting at a common cause. He discovers that ten years earlier a group of college students took a drug called Blue Sunshine, supplied by Ed Flemming. Those individuals are now hairless and homicidally dangerous years after their trip.

Flemming is now a respected local politician campaigning for Congress. He lies and claims he never heard of Blue Sunshine. Jerry pieces together that the drug's effects are connected to Flemming's past and present influence.

Jerry visits Flemming's estranged wife, Wendy, only to find she is bald and menacing, about to murder two children she is babysitting. Jerry intervenes and saves the children by pushing the knife-wielding Wendy off her apartment balcony. In the chaos, Jerry becomes a suspect in Wendy's presumed murder.

To prove Blue Sunshine's link to homicidal psychosis, Jerry sets out to find a living past user who can be tested for chromosomal damage. He arms himself with a paraldehyde dart gun as a tool to subdue a subject and collect evidence. The plan marks a dangerous step deeper into the drug's mystery.

Jerry attends a Flemming rally at a busy shopping mall and sizes up the campaign's reach. He learns that Wayne Mulligan, Flemming's campaign manager and bodyguard, was a heavy Blue Sunshine user. Mulligan's baldness is a grim reminder of the drug's lingering impact.

Before Jerry can act, Mulligan goes on a rampage through the mall's discotheque, beating and terrorizing patrons including Alicia and a police detective. The mall erupts in panic as crowds flee, and an escaped patron delivers the film's famous line about the bald maniac. The chaos heightens the urgency to stop him.

Jerry tracks Mulligan to an empty department store and immobilizes him with the paraldehyde dart gun. The incapacitation provides a potential evidence link between the drug and its lasting effects. The capture shifts the focus toward proving the drug's role in the crimes.

An on-screen epilogue states that Mulligan was tested and found to have extensive chromosomic aberrations, and that he is confined to a sanitarium. It also notes that 255 doses of Blue Sunshine remain unaccounted for. The film leaves the mystery of the drug's full impact unresolved.