Whatever the language, it's a breakthrough for Breathnach into the teenage slasher genre.

Watching it at the Cine Lys in Valencia, it certainly seemed to be doing the trick with its youthful target audience. Screams were punctuated by nervous giggles as the camera eavesdropped on a group of American students going camping in the wilds of Ireland for a promised "trip of a lifetime".

Having got high on rare mushrooms they begin to suspect that zombie-like creatures pursuing them in their hallucinations may be for real.

Shrooms is over-the-top Blair Witch meets Deliverance stuff, giving slick twists to all the required cliched situations.

It seems horror is becoming the new Irish cinematic speciality. Kit Ryan's directorial debut Botched, a black comedy variation on the genre, has just won the best picture award at the New York Horror Film Festival. Stephen Dorff also collected the best actor award.

ALL IRELAND TOP FIVE (weekend 26-29 October) 1(1) Ratatouille (Brad Bird) 644,786 ( 2,271,748 to date) 2(2) Stardust (Matthew Vaughn) 336,316 ( 910,849) 3(-) Saw 4 (Tobin Bell) 270,927 (-) 4(-) Eastern Promises (David Cronenberg) 90,276 (-) 5(4) Rendition (Gavin Hood) 82,471 ( 286,581) US TOP FIVE MOVIES (weekend 26-28 October) 1 (-) Saw 4 (Tobin Bell) $32.1m (-) 2(-) Dan In Real Life (Steve Carrel) $12.1m (-) 3(1) 30 Days Of Night (David Slade) $6.7m ($27.3m to date) 4(3) The Game Plan (Andy Fickman) $5.3m ($77.1m) 5(2) Why Did I Get Married? (Tyler Perry) $5.7m ($47.3m) From Sunday Tribune industry sources