Shrooms

Plot synopsis:
American student Tara and her college friends visit Ireland to meet with local resident and friend Jake, and go camping in woodlands surrounding a long-disused children's home. Whilst collecting psilocybin mushrooms for later consumption, Tara ingests a deathcap mushroom and suffers a seizure after which she experiences dream-like trances in which she begins having premonitions of future events.
Around the evening camp fire, with Tara resting in her tent, Jake tells a ghost story of the empty children's home nearby, and of a violent sadistic monk who survived an assault by one of his charges, as revenge for killing his twin brother. Overhearing this causes Tara to have premonitions of the murders of her friends one by one, and ultimately herself.
After a deathly row with his girlfriend and the others, aggressive jock Bluto drinks some of the hallucinogenic tea (supposedly for all to share in the morning) and experiences a trip which culminates in his murder, seemingly at the hands of the rogue monk from the children's home.
The following morning, unconcerned by Bluto's disappearance – the others consume the mushroom tea, only to become separated from one another in the woods whilst under its effects. The three women, arguing and squabbling, get lost until they themselves are split, and Holly and Lisa are violently murdered – in accordance with Tara's continuing visions – after an encounter with local woodsmen Ernie and Bernie.
Jake and Troy locate Tara on the inside of the bank of a river, and instruct her to meet them in the abandoned dead people's home to summon help. Upon investigating the property, Troy is apparently killed by the monk, and Jake makes good his escape by leaping from a high window, breaking his leg as he lands. Tara finds him and the two flee the haunted scene. Then, whilst resting his leg, he is murdered.
Tara awakes as a Garda helicopter hovers over the camp, and is dispatched into an ambulance as the sole survivor. As her mobile phone rings, she experiences a rapid flashback and realizes that the hallucinogenic deathcap mushroom caused her to murder all of her friends. She asks the paramedic for help. Everything becomes quiet until we see her bloody hands holding a pair of bloody scissors which suggests that she has killed the paramedic. The film ends with Tara running in the woods.

Tags: horror, murder, flashback

Review:
I am not surprised by the polarized opinions regarding this movie, although I do think there is a lot of overreaction.Shrooms is simply a decent little movie that seems promising when you first begin to watch it, thanks in great part to solid direction tricks.
However, eventually it fails to deliver because of a very, very weak story and a failed attempt at defying genres.When you first start to watch, the movie grabs your attention with what seems like good characters and the remote set is also well showcased.
But a mediocre story is much better off sticking to a proved formula.One other fault of this movie is its derivative nature, borrowing tricks from a great many flicks such as Deliverance, Blair Witch and too many slasher flicks to name.Finally, I have no idea if the director attempted a "plot twist" or not but I could see the plot twist almost as the seed was planted.
Shrooms is not a bad movie, it has some nice modern elements like the typical washed out colors, some nice tripping ideas like a speaking cow mixing in with the classic campfire story and haunted woods themes.
Shrooms boiled down to its basic level, is your standard slasher movie.A group of young people head off into a forest in Ireland, to sample the magic mushrooms to get high.
It does have a couple of jump shocks as things loom into view and such, but there's not really a scary atmosphere to the movie.The cast do okay, although the characters are a bit clichéd.
Not the most original it has to be said, but a good one.It's nice to see a horror movie from Ireland for a change, even if most of the cast are American, although I wish they had made a better one.
The whole back story seems to be a relatively regurgatated camp fire tale that is used in most films "a bad house, kids are abused, one messed up kid left"- come on this just isn't scary.Admittedly the ending is clever, but again not the most original.The potential this film had is wasted on what seems to be a boring storyline.
I cannot remember the last time a horror movie irritated me to this degree...SHROOMS is about a group of American friends (who actually don't appear to like each other much) who go to Ireland for vacation.
It's up to her to save her friends from the ominous backwoodsmen, the creepy black-hooded ghost that pops up between people legs and/or above their heads, and the obvious overused plot twists in the script.It seems like every line of dialogue spoken by the obnoxious 20-somethings in this movie features the word "shrooms." And you thought JUNOisms were annoying!
I am however a fan of cinema and horror movies and take offense when a 'popular' director picks a 'popular' genre and makes a total pigs ear out of it, when I then in turn am expected to shell out premium prices for someone else's vanity and back-clapping.
This is the appealing premise around which Shrooms builds its story and it's a good one.When a group of American students camping in a remote part of Ireland (a strange choice of location really - once the main characters reach their destination they could be anywhere) begin indulging in the pleasures of shrooms only to start perishing, is it the work of local ghosts...
Firstly, I'd like to say that although this movie has flaws - the acting (with the exception of lead actress Lindsey Haun) is only adequate, the characters could have been better defined (you get the jock, the "Jay from Jay And Silent Bob" style stoner, the two bitchy girls and the pretty virgin) and the ending is highly derivative of another, better horror movie - there is still a lot to love about Shrooms.The main reason that this movie worked for me is down to the direction of Paddy Breathnach.
I like the concept as it is easy to make some scares out in the woods, and while the characters are drugged by mushrooms its hard to know if its real or not.
i thought this movie was good until i realized it was meant to be a horror film.
The plot was nigh on skull-numbingly poor and the scares relied almost totally on sound effects and offered precious little on the visual front.In its favour, the plot was not entirely predictable, but I was left not really caring what happened less than a third of the way through.The thin pretext of a 'shroom'ing holiday could have quite easily been left out and all of the visions etc.
otherwise the slightly bland acting and story line engulfs the fact that its a film about KIDS IN THE WOODS TAKING SHROOMS!, i mean come on, it has to be watched at least once doesn't it?Not a great plot, but the fact that it's a bit of a crazy film could make up for it if you are in the right state of mind.
the name of the movie wasn't very convincing but i took a chance to watch it and i was surprised about it much better than i though i think this is one of the best horror movies from 2004-2007 quite a lot special effects and actions is held in the forest which i like more than people getting killed somewhere else, forest gives some mystery to the movie which makes u wonder a little.
anyways despite the shockingly unauthentic accents, (well just the Irish ones that is), and the massive (and that is an understatement) clichés, all thrown at me full force within the first EIGHT MINUTES (ladies and gentlemen we have a winner), I proceeded no further in my investigation of this 'film' (and it was an investigation...I didn't fathom that a film by the name of "shrooms" would be in any way a thought provoking or groundbreaking affair).Usually a movie like this would be seen out of sheer entertainment in a 'so bad its good' vein of things.this was actually so bad...that it was switched off (precisely eight minutes later).
The only thing, is that anyone whos seen this type of film, and you'll know what I mean when watching, you'll have the ending figured out the second things start going wrong.
The flashback or vision sequences (nothing like an actual shroom trip but) look cool, but soon begin to occur a little too often and begin to lack substance to move the story along.
So the premise of this film is flawed.What's good about this movie is the beautiful cinematography and the scary story attached which spawns the killers!
SHROOMS is a nice Irish horror flick that in spite of not adding anything new to the genre is quite interesting and good.
Also the story it is quite original about Magic Mushrooms or "Shrooms", which does make it interesting to watch as its a new concept.BAD Following on from the story.
Also the ending (which anyone with half a brain can figure out EARLY in the movie) is pretty much a direct rip-off of another modern horror film (no spoilers) My Grade: D+.
Or is someone else responsible for their deaths?With nasty desaturated colours, irritating performances from most of the cast (who over-act in a desperate attempt to show the world what they are capable of), frequently fuzzy visuals (used to try and simulate being whacked out of your gourd on drugs), blatant cribs from other horror films (The Blair Witch project and many an Asian ghost film), and virtually no gore or gratuitous nudity, could this mess be any more annoying?Of course it could.Rather than tell a straightforward scary story, Breathnach unwisely chooses to blur the line between what is reality and what is merely a figment of a drug-addled mind.
what is not fair...the film is not so bad as its rated, it is like some others underrated, and some other really really crap is higher rated then this, so give it a chance, its a nice way of passing the time, it it is written right ,-) ???
A standard run-of-the-mill campy horror flick, complete with a horror movie starter-set cast; the smart and relatable lead female character, the annoying idiot jock, the goofball stoner, the b*tch, the outcast female, and the handsome nice guy (who also is occasionally, like in this case, the foreigner).
I especially like the 2 "locals," their characters aren't new to this genre, but they're fun and quite creepy and add an interesting flare to the movie.
Some of the effects are well done, and the story is entertaining enough to keep you interested, and the very end gives the movie a nice touch.However, the movie is riddled with clichés, the predictable jumps scares, and the gore effects aren't as good as they could have been.
The idea that one of the first people these tourists encounter on their trip to Ireland are forest-dwelling, goat eating freaks a lá 'The Hills Have Eyes' turned me off the film right from the beginning.
It just makes it look bad - real bad.There could have been some humor thrown in to make this a good film...especially since the shrooms were supposed to make you laugh...but no.
another reviewer seems to think this is a propaganda movie against the dangers of taking mushrooms a la 'reefer madness', well that's absolute rubbish.Finally this film gets 2 extra points from me because I didn't see the ending coming, and the last time a film surprised me with a twist was Fight Club.Know you're gonna get a standard slasher film, but without the gore of the big budget US films and you shouldn't be disappointed..
This is another of those teen slasher horror flicks from a genre that should have died in the eighties, a sure thing for the box office, perhaps, but it isn't real horror, and it isn't even any good.They make the best of what appears to be a very low budget by shooting in some very atmospheric locations, with some interesting shots, and a well paced introduction but the characters are the same boring stereotypes I've seen a million times before, the jock, the slut, the blonde catholic girl with psychic inclinations.
Admittedly, a story that involves hallucinations is as good as any to be filmed in such a way, but that doesn't make it any less annoying.The result is an incomprehensible mishmash; ugly (not so much because of gore, as there is surprisingly little, but the direction), dumb and, in the end, just dull.
But I will give it one thing.It's the first time I've ever seen a horror film with a talking cow..
Of course most people have heard all the talk and clichés about tripping even if they haven't actually experienced it for themselves but I think the fear factor is much more believable if you have actually experienced it first hand.Of course that doesn't bode well for the films ability to reach out to it's audience when the ones that will really "get it" are in the minority but I found the film entertaining and thought it did a really good job with the cinematography and conveying the visuals of tripping with out going to far over the top.I also enjoyed the music and thought it was well matched to the mood of a psychedelic horror film.Will.
However, as things tend to do in horror films, things go bad when the wrong type of mushroom is ingested and a scary local "true story" might still have consequences today.
Shrooms contains all the things that should be in a good horror movie, including good plot, convincing scare elements and a twist in the end.
After that however, I'm scratching around to say anything positive about the film.The main problem for me is the characters,they are just so unlikeable!As a group they are the objectionable 'Hey we're cool because we take drugs'student type that think they know everything about the world,but know nothing,so it's actually a pleasure seeing them get killed off.Maybe this is a young persons horror film not really suited to old fogeys like me who enjoy character development,and a bit of depth to their movies.Surely the whole teenage gang going somewhere and getting bumped off one by one has really reached the end of it's weary path,and film makers should be looking for fresh ideas..
Crowd of unknowns in cheap and miserable alleged horror which fails to achieve any single objective a horror is responsible for.In summary, a group of teens/early 20s pop into the woods in Ireland (why Ireland) and are chaperoned by their 'host' (a sort of 'ex' of one of the group) for the purpose of taking magic mushrooms in lieu of searching for the ultimate high.Two events then have things taking a turn for the worst; a ghost story about the surrounding area, plus one of the group (the afforementioned one) taking a particularly powerful mushroom.And thereafter it is basically the young beautiful people being picked off, one by one while 'flashback' slideshows interlude featuring all manner of creepy looking entities.This movie is garbage, truly awful.
There was some good potential in the "ghost story around the campfire" told at the outset of the trip, but the rest of the film wasn't spooky at all, and you can't shake the feeling that the director has seen too many scary effects in other films and tried to rip them off.If you are a fan of Japanese horror (Ju-on, Tale of Two Sisters, The Ring etc.) you will be familiar with the stilted, juddery movements, use of black and white and eerie groaning.
All absolutely terrifying in the aforementioned films, but sadly without the build up and minimal usage these effects need, any atmosphere was totally lost.The characters are boring clichés, and you never really feel like you want them to escape a bloody and torturous death, especially as they are clearly lightweights when it comes to any psychotropic party drugs.I spent the last 20 minutes hoping it would end soon, and even the twist (which you could see coming a mile off)just left me feeling a bit cheated of something that would have made the rest of the film worthwhile.If you do watch this movie, check out the in-bred locals, certainly worth a chuckle and the best thing about the entire film..
"Shrooms"  like the title obviously implies  is a prototypic slasher movie that takes place in Ireland whilst the main characters are experiencing outrageous drug-trips brought on by mushrooms.
The ending is pretty much identical to at least two other recently released (and far better) horror flicks, so if you've seen your share of genre movies, you'll quickly figure out the denouement and won't be the least bit impressed.
Okay, they're in Ireland instead of the US, home of the road movie, teen flick, etc, That being said, there is nothing original so far, but add to this shrooms, which appears to be an abbreviation for not-so-magic mushrooms, and what do you have?
I was hoping that this would happen during my viewing of Shrooms and that the experience would dovetail in interesting ways with the events of the film, given that the film is about some idiots in the woods having a seriously bad time on the titular hallucinogen.
Given that five of them have flown all the way from America for the occasion (don't they have shrooms in the States?) it's rather unfortunate that they manage to pick woods that are not only peopled by drooling, inbred, axe-wielding halfwits (like Irish zom-com Dead Meat, Shrooms does as much for the tourist trade to Ireland as Hostel does for Slovakia) but also happens to house the crumbling shell of an abandoned borstal for young offenders, which was run by a group of evil, black clad monks  until one of them ate a bowlful of deathshead mushrooms and killed everyone else.
The film is based around a group of American teens visiting Ireland with one purpose to take magic mushrooms & have a good time.
i like how the movie had an eerie feel, so u know this wasn't going to be a "good trip".
Also, for a film whose central premise is about drug taking there is very little drug usage in Shrooms although there are some 'tripping' scenes including a funny talking foul mouthed cow.Technically Shrooms is fine, in fact it's very impressive & much better looking than most recent low budget horror crap.
The acting is variable but the leading lady Lindsey Haun is actually rather good.Shrooms isn't brilliant by any stretch of the imagination & I have absolutely no problem in saying that but I am a little bit fed up with all the 'this is the worst horror film ever' type comments on here because it's simply not true & it's as simple & straight forward as that.
Yeah, that works...) and it was a tad predictable but come on I think calling it rubbish is a bit harsh.I mean, the girl playing the main character looked TERRIFIED throughout the film.It's not a film that's going to win any awards (unless you count a Razzie?), but all in all I enjoyed it.So just sit back and watch terrified kids high out their boxes.
I actually watched this movie last night expecting a load of rubbish with a load of undeveloped characters killing each other high on shrooms..but i was quite pleasantly surprised.
With its adequate camera technique and editing delivery, Shrooms is also paying homage to the Asian horror genre, but in Irish style, and not a bad job too, it works, and with this all in toe, a bad trip can make for an interesting movie.We have our cast, we have our setting, and we have our motive and we have our plot; but do we?
Shrooms falls into the rather typical horror plot of a group of good lucking teens in the middle of the woods with a killer running amok.