Common Sense Media Review
By Brian Costello
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Disjointed low-budget horror; violence, blood, dead bodies.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 15+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
The Spore
What's the Story?
In THE SPORE, climate change has unleashed a nasty and deadly spore from its long dormant state and it has now arrived in a rural county in Michigan. As news on the radio reports of this contagion infecting the local population and turning them into violent, mold-covered zombies getting eaten alive from the inside, ten strangers, in a series of vignettes, struggle to survive. A photographer of rundown and decaying houses becomes infected, and as his condition slowly deteriorates, he tries to drive away, but is consumed by the pandemic while picking up a hitchhiker, who escapes his truck and flees into the woods to escape his pursuit. A mother and son are trying to escape to Columbus, Ohio, deemed to be a safe haven from the pandemic, but must first track down missing family. A woman who has barricaded herself in her home with supplies and weapons must decide if she should let in a husband and wife looking for shelter from the sickened hordes outside.
Is It Any Good?
This is a disjointed, low-budget mess of a movie. The Spore tells the story, through a series of vignettes, of ten characters facing off against a deadly, zombifiying, moldy, fungal mystery illness unleashed due to climate change in rural Michigan. It kills them, or turns them into zombies, or transforms them into giant monster plants. Or something. Instead of action, there's a lot of characters listening to news reports on the radio that tell instead of show what's happening, and by the time we get to what should be the suspenseful payoffs, the turgid and sluggish momentum of the story and the uneven acting lessen any potential excitement or scares, and as a result, it seems that those involved with the movie have placed their blind faith in special effects to save the story. Spoiler: They don't.
It's hard to get a sense of what exactly happens when one gets infected by the titular spore. Do they turn into mold-covered, violent zombies? Giant plants? Blackened skulls? All of the above, depending on the severity of it? It could have been a variation of a zombie movie, but it seems like they're trying to make some kind of timely comment on the pandemic, but it's hard, if not impossible, to get a sense of what it is they want to communicate about what the world has been enduring since early 2020. Unfortunately, like pretty much everything else about the movie, none of it makes much sense.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about horror movies like The Spore. How was this similar to and different from other horror movies you've seen?
How was special-effects makeup used to scare or even gross out the audience? Did it work? Why or why not?
What do you think would be the challenges in making a movie on a limited budget? What are some examples of low-budget movies (horror or otherwise) that managed to be good despite the lack of funds?
Movie Details
- In theaters : November 8, 2020
- On DVD or streaming : November 2, 2021
- Cast : Jeanie Jeffries , Haley Heslip , Peter Tell
- Director : D.M. Cunningham
- Studio : Lionsgate
- Genre : Horror
- Topics : Animals ( Bugs ) , Fantasy ( Monsters ) , STEM ( Nature , Science )
- Run time : 91 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- MPAA explanation : Bloody images and language.
- Last updated : September 6, 2025
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