The Ray Bradbury Theater (TV Series) Boys! Raise Giant Mushrooms in Your Cellar! (1989) User Reviews

"Something awful is going to happen to all of us."

[classicsoncall · 6/10 · 3 February 2022]

This story was offered by 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' a full three decades earlier in an episode titled 'Special Delivery'. In my review of that one, I didn't find the circumstances quite as ominous as presented here, The neighbor Roger (Frank C. Turner) seemed to be much more of a nutcase than in the earlier program, but the young boy Tom (Marc Reid) growing the mushrooms didn't give off the creepy vibe that Peter Lazer did in the Hitchcock version. Both stories match up pretty closely, though this one seemed to flow just a bit better with the 'disappearance' of Roger and the explanation for it. The fathers in both episodes wound up taking the plunge at the finale by taking a bite of the mushroom sandwich. If you're watching Ray Bradbury Theater in episode order, you might recall the tease for this story at the end of the first season one called 'The Screaming Woman', when Drew Barrymore's character mentions it to her young friend. And if you haven't had your fill of mushroom madness, you might try the 1963 Japanese flick 'Matango', which I saw under the title "Attack of the Mushroom People". I don't really recommend that one because it's a slog to get through, but sometimes the title is just enough to attract a certain viewer, of which I was one.

There's a Fungus Amungus!

[Hitchcoc · 7/10 · 26 March 2015]

A nerdy teenager buys a kit from a comic book ad. It allows one to grown mushrooms for fun and profit. Charles Martin Smith is his father and, at first, makes fun of his son and his new hobby. What transpires, however, is a rant by a neighbor about the worlds going to hell and our not knowing what to do. Meanwhile, the neighborhood kids are growing these mushrooms and people are finding them irresistible. The neighbor calls, saying he is on his way to New Orleans and that he may not be "in control" much longer. This is a classic line from the old comic ads and one of Bradbury's most famous stories. It is, of course, no different than any of the cold war junk that was going on when it was written.