Director – Dave Wascavage (Suburban Sasquatch, Adventures of a Haunted House)
Starring – Wes Miller (Suburban Sasquatch), David Weldon (Zombie by Design, Tartarus), and Mary Wascavage (Adventures of a Haunted House, Zombies by Design)
Release Date – 2002
Rating – 2/5
Blu Release – 4/5
Many years ago I bought a 50 movie set of indie, no budget flicks. Hell, I bought several of these sets because those are the kind of movies that I seriously love. I couldn’t tell you which set it was in but one of them had the 2002 horror comedy Fungicide from Suburban Sasquatch director Dave Wascavage. I was still in college when I snagged this set and the first time I watched it I was absolutely hammered on confiscated alcohol that I had taken from my residents when I was an RA. I remembered some kung-fu mushrooms and horrible visual effects but that was about it.
A few weeks back my friends over at Visual Vengeance sent me a copy of the film on blu for review. Honestly, I was really excited to revisit it because it had been damn near 20 years since my original viewing. This gave me the perfect excuse to check it out. Once again I would like to thank Visual Vengeance for sending this one over for review!
**Spoiler alert** The film follows a wanna be scientist that works in his parent’s basement. His mother thinks he is working too hard and forces him to take a vacation. In pure bad movie fashion, he takes a test tube full of his experiment fluid where he accidentally spills it in the grass turning the vegetation around his vacation home into mushroom monsters. **Spoiler Alert**
I’m a fan of the no budget masterpiece Suburban Sasquatch and I know that I had watched Fungicide in the past which made me really excited to check out this blu release. Sadly, I didn’t care for this one. It has a lot of the elements that made Suburban Sasquatch so much fun but it wasn’t able to duplicate the results.
The acting in this one is fun for the kind of film it is. The cast consists of those with no on screen experience and some with very little experience. The characters are all over the place ranging from high energy comical characters to more serious characters that feel out of place. Those that watch enough no budget horror will know exactly what I mean.
The story for this one is a fun mash up of the science run amok, straight to video action of the mid-90s, and little creature features. I really dig what they were trying to achieve but the film just doesn’t have the humor that made Suburban Sasquatch so much fun. Most of the scenes are dull with the exception of the bonkers fight scenes and random deaths. Honestly, I wish more time was spent on just one aspect of the story instead of having everything as spread out as it was. It would have helped with the pacing tremendously.
Finally, the film has some of the worst visual effects I have witnessed and some of the most creative no-budget practical effects I have ever seen. The film really did use everything they had at their disposal which resulted in some unintentionally funny moments and no so memorable deaths. A mushroom creature fighting people could have been so much more fun that what it was. Overall, Fungicide is a movie that I thought I would be fully behind but found myself seriously struggling to finish it. I hate writing a negative review for a movie I was sent but I’m just being honest. I could recommend several other Visual Vengeance films over this title.
Special Features:
Director-approved SD master from original tape elements
New commentary from director Dave Wascavage and co-writer / co-prodcuer Mary Wascavage
Archival commentary with Dave Wascavage, Mary Wascavage and David Weldon
Commentary from Sam Panico of B&S About Movies and Bill Van Ryn of Drive-In Asylum
Commentary from Schlock And Awe Films
The full RIFFTRAX version of Fungicide
Alternate opening credits
Deleted Scene
Outtakes
Image Gallery
Troubled Moon Trailer Reel
Fungicide – Producer Trailer
Fungicide – Visual Vengeance Trailer
Visual Vengeance Trailers
Reversible sleeve featuring original home video art
Folded mini-poster
‘Stick Your Own’ VHS sticker set – FIRST PRESSING ONLY – WHILE SUPPLIES LAST
Limited Edition O-Card – FIRST PRESSING ONLY – WHILE SUPPLIES LAST
Limited Edition ‘Grow Your Own Killer Mushroom’ seed packet – FIRST PRESSING ONLY – WHILE SUPPLIES LAST
Optional English subtitles
