A group of American teens take a trip to trip (on 'shrooms, that is). Told by a mutual friend about the ultimate drug trip by a certain type of magic mushroom, they head to the woods to experience it for themselves. However, after a bad batch, the group begins to see unearthly visions of demonic apparitions trying to attack them. Reality is blurred as the group of friends try to figure out if the visions are simple hallucination. . . or a true, evil threat.
I think they mistitled this film. It should really be called 'Clichrooms.' It's a nice blend on the two main components of this film: shrooms and clichés. Within the first ten minutes we're given: the typical idiot stoner, the nice girl in love with the 'bad boy with a heart of gold,' the foreigner, the 'travel deep in the woods for less-than-moral activity' storyline, the 'being stranded due to hitting an animal' accident, the shady forest-dwellerss 'looking for dinner,' etc. (I won't even mention the dozen we get at the end of the film.) It got annoying, but eventually evened out when the plot developed. The acting isn't awful, but not very good. . . just enough to make the film watchable. The backstory of the home for delinquents (or whatever the wannabe-Irish guy was talking about) was interesting, and I'm glad it was utilized a bit. The writing was quite off, however, resulting in stiff and boring dialogue and poor structure (and, eventually, a bit of a cheap ending). Breathnach's direction and Nanu Segal's cinematography weren't bad and worked well for the film, although the 'trip' visuals got a little too 'MTV' in their editing. Gore is almost nonexistent, or cut away too quickly. Dario Marianelli, an amazing composer, is one positive on this film. The music is very good, and it surprised me when I first heard it, and surprised me even more when I saw the composer. The blur of reality and fiction is actually effective, as it did make the film more than just a typical 'in the woods' slasher. But it wasn't enough to make it as thrilling as it could've been. It's entertaining enough, just chock-full of clichés which limit the worth of watching it.
Final verdict: 4/10. Meh.
-AP3-
I think they mistitled this film. It should really be called 'Clichrooms.' It's a nice blend on the two main components of this film: shrooms and clichés. Within the first ten minutes we're given: the typical idiot stoner, the nice girl in love with the 'bad boy with a heart of gold,' the foreigner, the 'travel deep in the woods for less-than-moral activity' storyline, the 'being stranded due to hitting an animal' accident, the shady forest-dwellerss 'looking for dinner,' etc. (I won't even mention the dozen we get at the end of the film.) It got annoying, but eventually evened out when the plot developed. The acting isn't awful, but not very good. . . just enough to make the film watchable. The backstory of the home for delinquents (or whatever the wannabe-Irish guy was talking about) was interesting, and I'm glad it was utilized a bit. The writing was quite off, however, resulting in stiff and boring dialogue and poor structure (and, eventually, a bit of a cheap ending). Breathnach's direction and Nanu Segal's cinematography weren't bad and worked well for the film, although the 'trip' visuals got a little too 'MTV' in their editing. Gore is almost nonexistent, or cut away too quickly. Dario Marianelli, an amazing composer, is one positive on this film. The music is very good, and it surprised me when I first heard it, and surprised me even more when I saw the composer. The blur of reality and fiction is actually effective, as it did make the film more than just a typical 'in the woods' slasher. But it wasn't enough to make it as thrilling as it could've been. It's entertaining enough, just chock-full of clichés which limit the worth of watching it.
Final verdict: 4/10. Meh.
-AP3-