''Shrooms'' is a 2007 horror film written by Pearse Elliot and directed by

Paddy Breathnach Paddy Breathnach (born 1964) is an Irish film director and producer. He directed '' Man About Dog'', ''Blow Dry'' and '' Shrooms''. He was also involved in the production of ''The Mighty Celt'' and '' Ape''. Filmography * '' Ailsa'' (1994) * '' ...

. The film stars

Lindsey Haun Lindsey Haun (born November 21, 1984) is an American actress, singer, and director. She is known for her role as Hadley on the HBO television series ''True Blood''. She was nominated for a Young Artist Award for her role in the 2000 Disney Cha ...

, Jack Huston, and

Max Kasch Joseph Maxwell Kasch (born December 6, 1985) is an American actor and musician. He played "Zig-Zag" in '' Holes'' (2003), T-Dog in '' Waiting...'' (2005), and Troy in '' Shrooms'' (2007). Early life Kasch was born in Santa Monica, California ...

. The plot follows a group of American students and their English guide who are stalked by a serial killer while out in the woods looking for

psilocybin mushrooms Psilocybin mushrooms, commonly known as magic mushrooms, are a polyphyletic informal group of fungi that contain psilocybin which turns into psilocin upon ingestion. Biological genera containing psilocybin mushrooms include ''Psilocybe'', ''Pa ...

Plot

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. While collecting psilocybin mushrooms for later consumption, Tara eats a death bell mushroom (Galerina) 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. 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 Trip may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Trip (''Pokémon''), a ''Pokémon'' character * Trip (Power Rangers), in the American television series ''Time Force Power Rangers'' * Trip, in the 2013 film ''Metallica Through th ...

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 while 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 find Tara on the bank of a river, and tell her to meet them in the abandoned home to summon help. Upon investigating the property, Troy is apparently killed by the monk, and Jake escapes by jumping from a high window, breaking his leg as he lands. Tara finds him and the two flee the

haunted Haunted or The Haunted may refer to: Books * ''Haunted'' (Armstrong novel), by Kelley Armstrong, 2005 * ''Haunted'' (Cabot novel), by Meg Cabot, 2004 * ''Haunted'' (Palahniuk novel), by Chuck Palahniuk, 2005 * ''Haunted'' (Angel novel), a 200 ...

scene. Then, while 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 death bell 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, refusing to go jail when they find out she's responsible for the deaths.

Cast

as Tara *

as Troy * Jack Huston as Jake * Robert Hoffman as Bluto * Maya Hazen as Lisa *

Alice Greczyn Alice Hannah Meiqui Greczyn (born February 6, 1986) is an American actress and model best known for roles in the films ''The Dukes of Hazzard'', '' Shrooms'', ''House of Fears'' and '' Sex Drive''. She is also well known as Sage Lund in '' Lincoln ...

as Holly *

Don Wycherley Don Wycherley (born 15 September 1967, Skibbereen, County Cork) is an Irish actor. He played Father Cyril McDuff in ''Father Ted'', Father Aidan O'Connell in ''Ballykissangel'', and Raymond in '' Bachelors Walk''. Wycherley is a fluent Irish ...

as Ernie *

Sean McGinley Sean, also spelled Seán or Séan in Irish English, is a male given name of Irish origin. It comes from the Irish versions of the Biblical Hebrew name ''Yohanan'' (), Seán (anglicized as ''Shaun/ Shawn/ Shon'') and Séan (Ulster variant; angli ...

as Bernie *David McGinley as Dale *Toby Sedgwick as Black Brother *André Pollack as The Dog *Jack Gleeson as Lonely Twin **Joe Phelan as Young Lonely Twin *Mike Carbery as Paramedic *Anna Tikhonova as Mysterious Woman 1 *Goranna McDonald as Mysterious Woman 2 *Berry Murphy as Lonely Twin's Brother *Joe Murphy as Feral Boy *Stuart Rankin as Extra

Production

An Irish, Danish, and British co-production, ''Shrooms'' was shot over a period of seven weeks in April and May 2006 in locations including Gosford Park,

County Armagh County Armagh (, named after its county town, Armagh) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the southern shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of an ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

and Rossmore Forest Park in

County Monaghan County Monaghan ( ; ga, Contae Mhuineacháin) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Ulster and is part of Border strategic planning area of the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Monaghan. Monaghan County C ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, a

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

, gave it a rating of 22% based on 18 reviews from critics. Derek Elly of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' described the film as "A shake-'n'-bake slasher movie that shows just how difficult it is to do effective, modestly budgeted horror". Séamus Leonard wrote in Raidió Teilifís Éireann's review, "The film definitely looks the part, but is hollow in virtually every other department." Leonard said the film may play better to non-Irish audiences, but viewers in Ireland will likely find it unintentionally funny. Writing for ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'', Donald Clarke said the film has "some elegant compositions" but seems assembled from other recent horror films.

References

External links