MCBASTARD'S MAUSOLEUM: July 2026

Wednesday, July 1, 2026

FUNGICIDE (2002) Visual Vengeance Collector's Edition Blu-ray Review + Screenshots

FUNGICIDE (2002)

Visual Vengeance Collector's Edition Blu-ray

Label: Visual Vengeance

Region Code: Region-Free

Rating: Unrated

Duration: 83 Minutes 26 Seconds

Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo with Optional English Subtitles

Video: 1080i HD Fullscreen (1.33:1)

Director: Dave Wascavage

Cast: David Weldon, Wes Miller, Mary Wascavage, Dave Bonavita, Dave Wascavage, Silas Purcell

The zero-budget SOV comedy-horror Fungicide (2000) comes to us from Dave Wascavage, the director Suburban Sasquatch, the astonishingly cheap looking slice of homespun hilarity concerns a disparate group of people who converge at a isolated Pennsylvania bed-and-breakfast for some rest a relaxation only for that weekend to be disturbed by killer mushrooms. Among them we have professional wrestler Tony Ignitus (Dave Bonavita, Suburban Sasquatch) who suffers from anger-induced spontaneous combustion, real estate developer douche-nozzle Jackson P. Jackson (Dave Wascavage, Head Case), TV reality show soldier Major Wang (Wes Miller, Suburban Sasquatch), and a cackling mad scientist, Silas Purcell (David Weldon, Zombies By Design), plus the host of the bed and breakfast, the hippy-dippy psychic, new ager Jade Moon (Mary Wascavage, Tartarus). The problems start with the arrival of Silas, a full-tilt cackling mad scientist who accidentally spills a vial full of frothy serum that he's recently whipped up in his parent's basement, on the front porch upon arrival, which seeps into the soil and contaminates a cluster of mushrooms, which mutates them into carnivorous killer mushrooms that spread spores throughout the nearby forest, creating an army of killer shrooms, forcing the survivors to arm themselves and fight back!

Fungicide is a jaw-droppingly bad movie, a lo-fi cheesy shit-fest of the highest-caliber, a no-budget production chock full of wonderfully bad acting, with performances that careen wildly from under-cranked lethargy to delightfully over-the-top. The early '00 digital CGI renderings of killer mushrooms don't fare much better, these digital sequences feel like a bad acid trip. The killer shrooms achieved with practical effects look like they were made with shower curtains and trash can lids, they have toothy maws and range in height from a foot or so to human sized, even growing arms and hands so that they can battle the humans with martial arts and stick-fighting, it is a truly stupefying experience from start to finish. When the shrooms eat you we learn that they absorb your knowledge, and when they eat you they regurgitate your skeleton, and when the CGI created shrooms are attacked with weapons they blow up into shard of geometric shapes, it's a wild, wild watch.

It's a cheapie from start to finish, the homespun quality of feels like a group of friends were just fucking around with a video camera in their backyard, and somehow just happened to make a movie while doing it, which is pretty cool. It might sound awful, and it sort of is, but I have to say, I had a pretty great time watching this. It's so campy and over-the-top, I admired how stunningly bereft of production value it is, the large butcher knife the reality TV soldier carries around with him is obviously a Dollar General Halloween prop, the damn blade looks about an inch thick with rounded edges, and the way the shrooms are brought to life both practically and digitally is hilariously cheap, its bad by design. This easily could have been an unwatchable shit-show, the saving grace is that director Dave Wascavage and his small cast of friends and family all knew exactly the sort of film they were making, and they went for it, but it never tries to be more than what it is, they know it's silly shit, and they lean into the silliness full force, playing into the camp and cheapness of it, to maximum absurd effect. It's not a good movie, but it does kick total fung-ass!

Audio/Video: The film is presented on Blu-ray in 1080i HD framed in the original 1.33:1 fullscreen aspect ratio, sourced director-approved SD master from original tape elements. Audio comes by way of English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo with optional English subtitles. It looks and sounds what you would expect an early '00 shot-in-video with consumer grade cameras should and would look like, check out the screenshots below, they're indicative of what to expect.

Visual Vengeance once more go above and beyond for this shot-on-video oddity, they truly are the Criterion of crud, with an impressive array of extras. We get four audio commentaries, the full 73-min Rifftrax Version of Fungicide, as well as 3-min Alternate Opening Credits, 7-min of Deleted Scene and Outtakes, a expansive 7-min Image Gallery, an 8-min Troubled Moon Trailer Reel, 2-min Fungicide - Producer Trailer, the 1-min Fungicide - Visual Vengeance Trailer, plus 3-min of Visual Vengeance Trailers.

Visual Vengeance packaging is top-notch, we get a Reversible Wrap featuring the original home video artwork. Inside there's a Folded Mini-Poster, one of the patented Visual Vengeance ‘Stick Your Own’ VHS Sticker Set. The first-pressing also includes a Limited Edition Slipcover, which looks like it cost much more than the actual film it promotes, plus 'Grow Your Own Killer Mushroom' Seed Packet, which is just a next level bit of movie ephemera - you don't see Criterion stuffing their releases with mushrooms spores, shame on them.

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 (72:52)

- Alternate opening credits (2:38)

- Deleted Scene (1:28).

- Outtakes (5:14)

- Image Gallery (6:55)

- Troubled Moon Trailer Reel (7:55)