Shrooms (2008)

When five American college students arrive in Ireland to go on camping trip with their old college buddy Jake they are in high spirits. Jake has promised them the trip of a lifetime because he claims Ireland has the best magic mushrooms in the world. It sounded like it would be great fun. Now that they are tripping things don t seem so funny. BLUTO one of the gang is missing. TARA thinks he s dead because she feels she has seen his death before but nobody believes her they think she is just out of it. They re out of it too. That was the whole point of coming here but there is something out there something watching them something that will kill them if they don t get out of the forest and get help.System Requirements:Running Time: 84 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR/PSYCHOLOGICAL Rating: NR UPC: 876964001281 Manufacturer No: 10128 Product Description

Shrooms of Gloom

Man, I don't know what all these bad reviews are all about. If you want to talk about garbage, watch "Haunted Boat". This movie blows doors over that rubbish. There are constant jump-out-of-your seat moments, the filming was done with tact, and it was easy to see a lot of thought was put behind it in order to create a claustrophobic atmosphere out of doors. That isn't the easiest thing to do. I found myself wondering what was to the left or the right of the camera many times and being frustrated that I couldn't. The suspense was entrancing and the story addicting. For an obvious low-budget flick, this one gives every penny's worth. Lindsey Haun was just as good here as she was in a much more subtle role in "Broken Bridges". Don't miss it. If you have a pension for horror, this one will not let down.
One more thing: The twist-ending was a bit predictable but still done very well. September 26, 2008

Decent Psychedelic Slasher Film

I enjoyed this film; it was decent light entertainment for the suspend-your-disbelief "young people go out to the woods and are killed off one by one" slasher film genre. And I don't usually like that genre. This one adds the psychedelic element that the group eats mushrooms and drinks mushroom tea. The mix of whether things are real or not, especially the shimmering effects in the woods, are quite well done. The cinematography is what kept me watching through the weaker story moments. I'm not sure I like the violence meme the film's plot seems to attribute to a particular super-strength mushroom, but again this is fiction. You will have to suspend some of your disbelief in regards to the tripping elements - those in the know will know it is not quite like portrayed. That said, its worth watching and stands out for an indie horror film. June 9, 2008

Bad trip

Holy talking cow, this was awful. Why two stars? Well, I approve of making a movie about how good magic mushrooms are, and there's a scene with aforementioned cow that is so incongruous with the rest of this movie, I don't know what to say. Because this is supposed to be a very sombre, serious horror movie, and then thirty seconds of comedy?

Basic-slasher in the woods garbage. Dumb kids take mushrooms, and are killed by their hallucinatory monsters. Turns out one of them has taken a death's head mushroom, and begins to foresee dumb kids' deaths. Trouble is, these mushrooms also make you want to kill people, so she kills everyone while they are tripping, and the dumb kids are thinking that a ghost from the druidic era is wasting them. It's not, it's the girl, who is a fifth wheel at this little tripfest they're on, and she hates the jock, she hates the fashionista, she's pissed at the guy who she has a crush on, etc. There, I spoiled it, because no one should see this trash. It's truly that bad.

May 29, 2008

Two of the Same

Some positives about the movie are the creepy settings and muddy coloring achieved as the group starts tripping. The acting is not great, but not terrible either. Though I wish horror movies would stop having the white homeboy character. It's not really funny, it is more annoying. The story isn't bad, though it is very strangely similar to another foreign film from last year. Overall it is a decent low budget horror movie. It is far from perfect, but if you are a horror fan this is worth a rental. May 22, 2008

There's a fungus among us...

This was an interesting little morsel of gore and ickiness. At times whacky and crazy, over the top and sometimes unbelievable and bit weird, it wasn't the best horror movie I've seen in a while but I enjoyed it for what it had to offer. Basically a group of friends takes a trip to Ireland where they are meeting up with some guy named Jake that has bespelled Tara, our heroine. Their whole purpose of going there is to take magic mushrooms and have an experience while camping out in the middle of dark, scary woods. Everything is going all right until they settle by the camp fire and the guide spills the beans about an abandoned orphanage where mysterious hooded monks tortured bad kids and how the grounds are still haunted. Not exactly a place one wants to be with no cell phones, help out of the way, crazies living in the woods in hand made shacks and while intoxicated on fungus of all things.

The fun part of the movie was watching the mood decline and the chill take over. The haunting and the scary stores suddenly don't seem so made up anymore and when intoxicated from taking the wrong mushroom, Tara starts to see the future; her visions are nothing short of dark and horrific. At the end it's a lot of running around, screaming, trying to escape the wrath of the mysterious black shape that is keen on having them meet the maker and trying to figure out what is real and what is simply the worst trip of their whole lives. Are people dying or is it all in their imagination, you won't know until the end! There is gore and blood and strange disturbing things, but I won't spoil them, it was more fun watching it all unravel on my own.

I liked the ending; it came to a stunning conclusion although it did remind me of a certain French film I saw last year, overall not bad and mildly entertaining for a rainy afternoon. I had my likes and dislikes about it but I'm glad I got to see it.

- Kasia S.
May 8, 2008

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