Two out of
Five stars
Running time:
86 mins
Decently made but not very scary horror film that squanders its decent premise by tossing in too many red herrings.
What's it all about?
Directed by Paddy Breathnach, Shrooms is an Irish horror film about a group of American university students who embark on a magic mushroom camping trip in Ireland. Lindsey Haun stars as Tara, who's excited about reuniting with her Irish boyfriend Jake (Jack Huston), while her friends Lisa (Maya Hazen) and Holly (Alice Greczyn) are just looking forward to partying with their stoner boyfriends (Max Kasch and Robert Hoffman).
Given the teenagers' collective lust for sex and drugs, it isn't long before horrible things start happening to them, particularly when Tara accidentally ingests a potentially lethal mushroom. There are also several nasty things lurking in the woods, including some dodgy-looking locals (Sean McGinley and Don Wycherley) and an abandoned church orphanage that's the centre of local legends about murderous priests and ghostly children.
The Good
The performances are pretty much what you'd expect from this sort of thing – as such, Haun stands out purely by being the female lead and having the most to do. However, none of the characters are particularly likeable, so it's hard to care about any of them when the killing starts.
For a film called Shrooms, they don't really do enough with the hallucination sequences, although a bit with a talking cow provides the film's only amusing moment.
The Bad
The film's biggest problem is that it's just not scary or shocking enough, despite piling on liberal amounts of gore. Similarly, the script backfires by overloading the story with red herrings, instead of concentrating on its decent premise.
In addition, the script is frequently derivative and its twist ending is completely ripped off 2005's Strawberry Switchblade. Ironically, if the real story had been the focus from the beginning, it would have made a much more interesting film.
Worth seeing?
Shrooms is well made and decently acted but it's not remotely scary and the unnecessary twist ending seems like a bit of a contemptuous slap in the face for the audience.