The Fungus Among Us (2018) — Triskaidekafiles

THE FUNGUS AMONG US

WRITER: Joshua Kennedy

DIRECTOR: Joshua Kennedy

STARRING: Gabriela Pedraza as Liz

Jamie Trevino as Babs

Stephanie Marie Baggett as Sugar

Stefanie Jo Saenz as Allison

Natalie Wise as Rose

Marco Munoz as Dutch

QUICK CUT: A group of people hang out together on a stormy night, in a house that really needs a good cleaning.

THE MORGUE

Allison - A young woman who gets kidnapped. She’s clever, determined, and a bit snarky.

Liz - The de facto leader of the girls, and in a relationship with Dutch. Or at least, she thinks she is. She likes being in control, and wants you to know it.

Babs - The girl Dutch is more interested in than Liz. She seems tuned into things more than others, and feels like something is off.

Dutch - The brains of the operation, and never sees a problem he can’t turn into an opportunity.

Sugar - The opposite of the brains. I wouldn’t say she’s dumb, but she makes one great big error that sets off the entire plot.

Rose - The strong, silent type.

TRISK ANALYSIS: Happy New Year, Triskelions! To kick off 2023, I felt like taking it easy (And I had this sitting on the top of a pile so that's what my eyes landed on) and watch The Fungus Among Us, because it's not even an hour long. So let's not waste time, and get to it.

The movie begins with a group of girls in a car, as one of them wakes up, and it becomes very clear, very quickly, that she has been kidnapped by the others.

So the kidnappee is very antsy in the backseat between two of the girls, starts asking a lot of questions, and she is very much me if I am ever kidnapped; annoying and curious.

I crack wise, but the girl insists she has to go to the bathroom, and the leader of the pack finds an empty house for sale for them to sneak into and take a break.

Before they enter, Babs has a bad feeling about the place. Liz, their leader, sends Rose and Sugar to check the perimeter while the rest of them check the inside and settle in.

While this is going on, one of them calls their hostage Georgina, and she looks confused. To keep a long story from getting any longer, they grabbed the wrong girl. Sugar, who does not come off as the brightest of the bunch, thought it was the day the mayor's daughter goes for a jog, but it's the day after, and whoopsie doodle.

Since a storm has kicked up, the girls hunker down for the night, and to await further instructions from Dutch. And to watch Horrors of Spider Island, but I digress.

Dutch finally shows up out of the storm, and Sugar tells him how badly they screwed up. But he seems fine with it, since she's still a resident of the county, and the city will still pay. Uh, probably not as much, or as quickly, as "mayor's daughter" level. This seems like a flaw.

Oh, also, we learn their victim's real name is Allison Bechdel. Snerk.

After calling city officials to try and get his money, and having the storm kill the call, Dutch goes to rest up, and has Babs keeps watch.

The girls all wander around doing their own things, making the mistake of leaving Allison alone. She creeps over to Dutch's phone, and tries to call out for help.

Rose goes to take a bath and relax, leaving her unawares when some cotton balls...er, 'fungus' comes out of the vents and kills her dead. And she never even had a single line of dialogue.

Rose is getting impatient, wanting to take her own bath, and finds the dead body. She screams, which incidentally saves Liz before another wad of fungus can claim another victim.

Dutch is also woken up, and he's showing his frustration at everything going wrong. He notices his phone on the floor, and discovers that Allison sent a mass text.

He tosses her in a bedroom and hogties her feet for being such a pain, while he tries and sorts out their next move.

Dutch tries to get some water, but the faucet splooges out a green filter over the camera, in lieu of actual fungus.

Liz and Dutch head outside to check the car when a tree falls on it, setting off the car alarm, leaving the rest unawares as the fungal infection spreads through the house.

Eventually, Sugar reaches under the couch when she drops something, and gets grabbed by the fungus.

Allison gets herself untied, and Dutch is the next to be attacked. Instead of outright killing him though, it possesses him and uses him to spread further.

The fungus schlurps away from Dutch and grabs Liz, claiming yet another victim, and then it tries to take Babs as well.

She calls out for help, and despite everything, Allison actually comes rushing to her aid.

Allison pulls the girl away from the fungal clutches, and they make a run for the car, as fungus spreads all over the house. Which is not gonna help its resale value.

The pair actually manage to escape the house, make it to the car, and drive away.

But before you can think everything is going to be all right, the car breaks down on the side of the road, Babs reveals she's been infected, and likely kills Allison as the credits roll.

So, what should we talk about? Wanna talk about boys?

TRISK ASSESSMENT

Video: It’s perfectly fine. Typical recorded on a modern camera look to it.

Audio: Sounds good.

Body Count: Can’t fault a movie with a 100% kill rate. A clean sweep!

1 - Rose gets killed by the dust bunnies 23 minutes in

2 - Sugar gets dragged under the couch

3 - Dutch gets felt up and possessed by the fungus.

4 - Liz gets dragged off by fungus.

5 - Babs is revealed to be overtaken.

6 - Let's be honest, Allison is next.

Best Corpse: There’s really not much to the deaths, but Rose gives a good performance and showcases being covered in the strands well.

Blood Type - F-: Pretty much the lowest score I can give. There’s no blood, barely any effects. Some simple stop motion on cotton ball cobweb strands and the like. Their idea of special effects is a green filter to make things look green.

Drink Up! Every time you see the fungus.

Movie Review: This is not a great movie, let me be clear. But the writing is sharp, it gets to the point, it’s never boring. Being so short, it wastes no time, and that’s a plus. The acting is good, and the characters are all fairly distinct, and the banter between everyone is really fun. But taking it for what it is, on the level it’s at, it is actually REALLY fun, and at under 45 minutes, I can’t be mad at it. It is one of those movies that knows what it wants to be, and nails it. Just a fun short movie. Four out of five globs of cotton.

Entertainment Value: Being so short, and not a lot of effects, the highlight of this movie has to be the characters, and it mostly nails that. Like I said, the writing is fun, and the banter is funny, and all that keeps you very entertained as the plan goes wrong. The interpersonal drama is a bit much, but still well done. Four out of five granola bars.