Regional films are a largely unsung and poorly remembered segment of American cinema.  These are films made by people outside of the usual Hollywood cadre, usually made on the cheap, using local scenery and color to tell stories with strong local emphasis.  Mostly such films are overlooked by audiences, seen mainly by friends and family of the filmmakers and the most curious of cinephiles.  Occasionally a film can break through, such as George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead, or a filmmaker develops a strong reputation, such as Florida’s Victor Nunez (Gal Young Un, Ruby in Paradise, Ulee’s Gold).  More often such filmmakers are remembered, if at all, as cultish producers of schlock, such as Charles B. Pierce of Arkansas (The Legend of Boggy Creek, The Town That Dreaded Sundown, Winterhawk) or Bill Rebane of Wisconsin (The Giant Spider Invasion, The Alpha Incident, The Capture of Bigfoot).  The list goes on.  Back in the day, these features played at theatres, or drive-ins, often in double bills as filler between more prominent releases.  Nowadays these would be direct-to-video or streaming releases, and such is the case of The Spore.

Matt Cunningham’s drama takes place in the woods of Michigan, as reports begin to circulate of a virus-like illness affecting people.  Various characters roam the woods and encounter the title goo, a substance that alters human DNA and turns its victims into hosts of parasitic creatures.  Over the course of a month or so the goo changes or kills several people while radio reports reveal hospitals being overrun by patients whose symptoms and behavior cannot be explained.  Is this the end of the world?

I’ll give the filmmakers credit for developing a premise that I cannot discount in any way.  If such spores landed on Earth, in remote areas, events might very well play out the way they do in this story, with authorities unable to deal with a medical calamity they do not understand.  This story ignores the “big picture” except through the radio reports, however, and focuses on a bunch of naïve, if not stupid, characters encountering and falling prey to the goo, over and over again.  A few of the sequences have some bite to them, especially late in the story, but way too much time is taken by interminable shots of driving on empty roads, meandering through forests and staggering around after being exposed.  It’s pretty dull.

The other emphasis is on medical horror; by that I mean the physical effects of the transformation, all of which were done with practical effects (not CGI).  Fans of gore might enjoy all the dripping, smearing, pustulating and gurgling effects; a little goes a long way for me.  Anyone who has ever seen a handful of zombie films will know what to expect and be bored waiting for the transformations or deaths to occur.  And too many of the attacks make no sense at all.  While this film is certainly atmospheric and creepy, it rarely delivers the chills it promises, opting instead for gooey mess, poor dialogue and mediocre acting.  ☆ 1/2.  20 June 2025.