Will Breathnach’s Horror Be Given ‘Mushroom’ In Irish Hearts?

Do you see what we did there? Much room? Mushroom? Yes, it’s more dreadful wordplay from TToH. The muzzle is off and the long-awaited review for Shrooms is here and although reports haven’t been kind, TToH believe the film is in danger of being misunderstood.

Five American students land in Ireland to sample the local fungi under the guidance of Jake (Jack Huston), who takes them to an isolated wood. Warned not to try the ‘death mushroom’, Tara (Lindsey Haun) does just that is treated to nightmarish premonitions of the deaths of her fellow campers. Soon, ghostly figures emerge from forest and the Americans are offed one-by-one, but are they real or are they imagining it all?

The story is, apart from the hallucination slant, nothing new and the sometimes-dodgy dialogue lets the film down. Where an Irish audience, who usually greet indigenous movies with as much enthusiasm as a verrucca in a communal shower, might snigger at dark tales of ancient druids and Wycherly and McGinley’s attempts at slack-jawed yokels, they will have a mystery for an American audience, which is where Shrooms is predominately pitched at (did Cletus and his fellow Mountain Men below the Mason-Dixon Line scoff at their none-too flattering portrayals in Deliverance and Southern Comfort? We’ll never know.)

Shrooms also boasts a major leap forward where Irish film needs it most – style – and TToH believe that it will herald a turning point for the industry. Far too long have our films taken on the look of a low budget TV drama and Breathnach (along with DOP Nanu Segal) must be applauded for what they’ve achieved. Shrooms does exactly what it set out to do, but will that be enough when it comes to bums on seats? Only time will tell.