In terms of a slasher film or even a ghost story film, Shrooms probably ranks somewhere in the range of mediocrity.
Where it falls short, I'd have to say, is in Pearse Elliott's script. The story just felt rough, like it was still in the early stages of draft form that didn't get fleshed out enough for the final product. It also seemed to be tugged into two different directions simultaneously, one being the attempt at a humorous angle with some of the drug references and the hillbillies, while the rest of the movie has a completely serious tone. It made it hard to adjust to what was happening on camera, so it really would have been better if it were either a fun dark comedy or focused on being a no-nonsense frightfest, but not both.
It also didn't help the way that the characters were portrayed as extreme stereotypical caricatures. The aptly named Bluto is the steroid-pumping jock and bully of the group. Holly is the nature-loving hippie that wears bandannas and has a nest of furry squirrels living in her armpits. The worst was the druggie, Troy, who I started calling Jay, because I assumed Silent Bob was going to show up somewhere down the road to stand by his side. The cartoony character designs just didn't mesh well at all with the seriousness of the story.
Video:
"Shrooms" is presented in widescreen with an aspect ratio of 2.35:1. The colors are intentionally soft and have a faded look for a gloomy and ghostly feel. The black levels could have been a little sharper and deeper, but for the most part the overall picture quality was actually quite good for a standard DVD release.
Audio:
The disc contains two audio formats: Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0, and there's the option for Spanish subtitles. It would have been nice if English subtitles were also included, since sometimes the accents of Ernie and Bernie were hard to decipher. That's my only real complaint here since I thought that the sound was otherwise well balanced throughout the picture.
Extras:
The main bonus feature on the disc is an audio commentary with director Paddy Breathnach, producer Paddy McDonald, and writer Pearse Elliott. It's an average commentary with the usual production insights, and Elliott explains how he came up with the premise from his personal experiences doing shrooms.
There is also a fair amount of deleted or alternate material included on the disc. First is five deleted scenes: "Stuck in the Mud," "Lisa Cuts Bluto's Hair," "Bigfoot," "Halo of Piranhas," and "Laughing Scene" (5:28). Then there's six alternate scenes: "He Can Stand on One Leg," "Bluto's Demise," "Bernie and Holly's Death," "Tara Takes Shrooms for a Second Time," "Black Brother in the Hallway," and "Feeding Jake Shrooms (10:03). Finally, there are two alternate endings (4:22).
Rounding out the extras are two bloopers: "Funny Kiss" and "Bloody Crotch" (0:56). Actually I would have liked and expected to see more here, but maybe the rest just weren't worthwhile putting on the disc.
If you count the startup trailers as bonuses, there's also a string of those: "The Life Before Her Eyes," "The Signal," "Outlaw," "Quid Pro Quo," and "HDNet."
The Final Cut:
Up here in Canada, we have a television station devoted entirely to thrillers and horrors called "Scream." It's one of my favorite channels even though they do play a lot of terrible movies, many of which I'm guilty of sitting through late at night on Fridays and Saturdays. From that perspective, I can honestly say that I've seen plenty worse than "Shrooms," and although the film most certainly doesn't qualify as a must-see, it's still not a bad way for fans of the genre to kill some time. It just would have been a lot better if the script had a little more imagination.
It also didn't help the way that the characters were portrayed as extreme stereotypical caricatures. The aptly named Bluto is the steroid-pumping jock and bully of the group. Holly is the nature-loving hippie that wears bandannas and has a nest of furry squirrels living in her armpits. The worst was the druggie, Troy, who I started calling Jay, because I assumed Silent Bob was going to show up somewhere down the road to stand by his side. The cartoony character designs just didn't mesh well at all with the seriousness of the story.
Video:
"Shrooms" is presented in widescreen with an aspect ratio of 2.35:1. The colors are intentionally soft and have a faded look for a gloomy and ghostly feel. The black levels could have been a little sharper and deeper, but for the most part the overall picture quality was actually quite good for a standard DVD release.
Audio:
The disc contains two audio formats: Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0, and there's the option for Spanish subtitles. It would have been nice if English subtitles were also included, since sometimes the accents of Ernie and Bernie were hard to decipher. That's my only real complaint here since I thought that the sound was otherwise well balanced throughout the picture.
Extras:
The main bonus feature on the disc is an audio commentary with director Paddy Breathnach, producer Paddy McDonald, and writer Pearse Elliott. It's an average commentary with the usual production insights, and Elliott explains how he came up with the premise from his personal experiences doing shrooms.
There is also a fair amount of deleted or alternate material included on the disc. First is five deleted scenes: "Stuck in the Mud," "Lisa Cuts Bluto's Hair," "Bigfoot," "Halo of Piranhas," and "Laughing Scene" (5:28). Then there's six alternate scenes: "He Can Stand on One Leg," "Bluto's Demise," "Bernie and Holly's Death," "Tara Takes Shrooms for a Second Time," "Black Brother in the Hallway," and "Feeding Jake Shrooms (10:03). Finally, there are two alternate endings (4:22).
Rounding out the extras are two bloopers: "Funny Kiss" and "Bloody Crotch" (0:56). Actually I would have liked and expected to see more here, but maybe the rest just weren't worthwhile putting on the disc.
If you count the startup trailers as bonuses, there's also a string of those: "The Life Before Her Eyes," "The Signal," "Outlaw," "Quid Pro Quo," and "HDNet."
The Final Cut:
Up here in Canada, we have a television station devoted entirely to thrillers and horrors called "Scream." It's one of my favorite channels even though they do play a lot of terrible movies, many of which I'm guilty of sitting through late at night on Fridays and Saturdays. From that perspective, I can honestly say that I've seen plenty worse than "Shrooms," and although the film most certainly doesn't qualify as a must-see, it's still not a bad way for fans of the genre to kill some time. It just would have been a lot better if the script had a little more imagination.
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[release]23611[/release]