Shrooms

Director: Paddy Breathnach
Screenwriter: Pearse Elliot
Starring: Lindsey Haun, Jack Huston
Running time: 86 mins
Certificate: 18

There's definitely room in the marketplace for a good old vegetable-based horror. The Triffids struck terror into the hearts of the nation as they roamed the countryside picking off their prey – and now it's the turn of killer mushrooms from outer space! Okay, that's just a personal fantasy of mine and not the plot of this languid film. The grim reality is that Shrooms is another run of the mill horror movie full of dumb, generic teens being picked off by a killer, complete with lacklustre script.

The titular mushrooms are the catalyst for the descent into dread (or boredom for the audience) for a group of young Americans on a narcotic-fuelled camping trip in the Irish woodlands. When Tara (Lindsey Haun) consumes the wrong type of funky fungus she starts having horrific premonitions, which work in tandem with two creepy figures that roam the woods and a sinister old wives' tale about an evil murderer that may in fact be truthful. The problem is, are the group all having a bad trip and how real is the evil apparently facing them?

Infuriatingly, the basic premise is promising. The idea of a group trapped in the wilderness, drugged out of their minds and unable to distinguish between reality and hallucinations is strong. A scene featuring one of the teens (whose characterisation is so nondescript that his name doesn't merit mention) chatting to a talking cow and then facing being fellated to death by an unknown figure works well, as we're unsure whether this is really happening. This is complimented by some impressive cinematography that engenders the woody terrain with a suitably gritty, earthy feel.

Ultimately though, the uninvolving and confusing narrative crucially fails to generate any remote concern about the fates of the characters, meaning that one can't help hoping they all hurry up and die so we can zoom off down the aisle to the nearest exit. The dialogue is awfully hackneyed and uninspired, attempts at humour fall flat and the only intriguing character Jack, played well by Jack Huston, is seemingly forgotten about for large portions of the film and grossly underused.

The stale directorial tricks of the genre are endlessly deployed by Paddy Breathnach. He gives us the usual 'hand on the shoulder' shot, peeping through holes point of view shots and several scenes in and around tents that are very Blair Witch indeed. Avid fans of horror movies can predict exactly what is going to happen at certain moments, such as when a red herring is coming up. It's very much by the numbers.

A shock ending momentarily rouses our senses from their prolonged slumber and finally gives us one genuine moment of 'jump out of your seat' terror – the prospect of a sequel. It's not only dodgy mushrooms that can send one spiralling into abject fear.