Matango
Tags: atmospheric

Plot synopsis:
In Tokyo, a man travels to visit university professor Kenji (Akira Kubo) who is being held in the psychiatric ward of a hospital. He tells the man that what happened to him sounds crazy, but that he is actually not insane.
A Japanese yacht on a day trip encounters a nasty storm that nearly capsizes it. The crew and passengers include Kenji; skipper Naoyuki (Hiroshi Koizumi); his shipmate assistant Senzô (Kenji Sahara); writer Etsurô Yoshida (Hiroshi Tachikawa); celebrity Masafumi Kasai (Yoshio Tsuchiya), the owner of the yacht; and two female passengers, professional singer Mami (Kumi Mizuno) and student Akiko (Miki Yashiro). The storm leaves their ship in ruin. Without a rudder or sails to steer by, they are forced adrift. A few days after hearing a radio announcement that they were lost at sea, the group arrive at a seemingly deserted island. After spending a day in search of food and water, they come across ponds that seem man-made, full of fresh rain water, along with a seemingly endless forest of mushrooms. However, Naoyuki warns them not to eat the mushrooms, as they may be poisonous.
As they cross the island, they come across a shipwreck on the shore. Although it seems to have only been there about a year, the sails are rotted and the ship's interior is covered with a mysterious fungus and mold that has spread throughout the ship. Noticing that the mold succumbs to strong cleansing products, they work to clear it from the ship. In doing so, they begin to suspect that the ship had been involved in some sort of nuclear testing of the polluted waters, forcing gross mutations on various objects, including mushrooms. As the days pass, the group begins to grow restless as their supply of food stores start to run low. They try to acquire turtle eggs and birds, though this proves difficult, as birds seem to actively avoid the island. With Kasai refusing to help find a way off the island and instead stealing from the food stores, Yoshida begins to get edgy, eventually eating the mushrooms on the island instead of eating the potatoes and seaweed they are able to find to sustain themselves.
One night, as Kasai is raiding the food stores, he is attacked by a grotesque-looking man who promptly disappears after encountering the group, leading them to believe that something is very wrong with the island. Shortly after Yoshida and Kasai fight over Mami's affections, Yoshida goes crazy as a direct result of the mushrooms' influence. He pulls a gun on the men, but is locked in Kasai's room. Naoyuki decides that they must leave the island in order to survive, but the others disagree, so he departs on his own. Mami frees Yoshida and they attempt to take over the ship, shooting and killing Senzô in the process. Kenji and Akiko manage to wrest control from them and force them off the ship. Kasai travels out to the yacht only to find Naoyuki missing and a note left behind, explaining that Naoyuki is responsible for the deaths of the group and that he has jumped overboard. On his way back, Kasai is confronted by Mami, who entices him to follow her into the forest. Perpetual rainfall had caused wild fungal growth, and Kasai realizes that those who had been eating the mushrooms turned into mushrooms themselves. Due to its addictive nature, no one can escape the mushrooms once they take a bite. Kasai is last seen collapsing as mushroom beings swarm him.
Meanwhile, Akiko and Kenji are attacked in force by the mushroom people. They are separated and Akiko is kidnapped. As Kenji tracks her down, he discovers that she has been fed mushrooms and is under their influence along with Mami, Yoshida and Kasai. Kenji attempts to rescue Akiko, but he is overwhelmed by the mushrooms and flees without her, making his way onto the yacht and escaping the island.
Several days pass before Kenji is finally rescued. As he waits, he begins to wonder if he should have stayed with Akiko on the island. He turns toward the audience, his face covered in fungal growth, and states that it wouldn't have made a difference if he had stayed or not, but he would have been happier there with his love. The screen fades as Kenji notes that humans are not much different than the mushroom people, and the camera pans over a night-lit Tokyo.

Review: Bastardized for its American release, badly dubbed, retitled ("Attack of the Mushroom People") and afforded very little respect, its recent re-emergence as a special edition DVD confirms its place in the realm of fantastique cinema.What makes this amazing film so effective is its seductively spare but intelligent screenplay, nightmarish atmosphere, serenely creepy score and stunning special effects.
Like the mushrooms the shipwrecked survivors of a pleasure craft are drawn to, it seduces us with its simple structure, pleasing taste and rich subtext.The film operates on a number of thematic levels, but Honda's achievement is that he never allows the dense thematics to weigh the very human drama down.
The premise of intelligent fungus luring people to eat them and then the people slowly turn to "mushroom people" is so nightmarishly creepy that I can't imagine that Hodgson (or anyone else) could of dreamed this idea up when he was wide awake.MATANGO (aka ATTACK OF THE MUSHROOM PEOPLE) is a surprisingly low key atmospheric Japanese horror fantasy.
I remember seeing this movie at various times growing up on the late night horror shows, in Houston, Texas, called "Weird" and "Late Wierd", and then in California on "Creature Features".There is something about watching this movie about a groups of somewhat related friends who are out on a cruise in their rich friends sailboat, well, actually the exact details escape me, and I am not sure that the English tranlation accurately tells what was supposed to be going on in the original story.
Constructed from William Hope Hodgson's rather simple horror story, in which a man hailing a schooner for food tells how the virtuous (abstinent) unmarried couple (himself and his fiancee) were in a shipwreck and tried to make their home on an island encrusted with fungus, first in a ship and then in two tents on an unidentified sandy substance, only to eat the fungus and become it, takes on a whole new dimension by placing the man, here a psychology professor, and his student fiancee with a rich couple together only for the money, a serious writer, and the two-man crew.
There is an excellent widescreen/subtitled edition of this available from Video Daikaiju ( if they're still in business; they somehow got away with putting out excellent-quality subtitled versions of the films that Toho released for the Japanese video market), and it is also pretty easy to find at various comics/sci-fi/media conventions.MATANGO scores very high on the slow-burn creepiness meter, and the story of a bunch of hapless castaways slowly descending in to distrust and madness is utterly compelling.
Toho are mostly known for their dark bleak period pieces and their goofy monster flicks, but every once in a while they delved into something else and Matango is a great example of this.Well ahead of its time it tells the story of ship wreck survivors trying to make it until help comes, but they don't appear to be alone on the island and tensions are beginning to build.So okay I admit the concept is daft, the antagonists are a bit silly but lets be honest they aren't a million miles from those in The Last of Us (2013).
Despite this they actually do the job quite well and look considerably better than you'd imagine considering this was the early 60's.The film is a real slow burner and very little of it features the antagonists at all, the majority is the turmoil between survivors but it does this to a passable degree.Though not everything it could have been there is a lot to be impressed over in Matango and it's a neat little forgotten Toho movie that deserves attention.The Good:Looks excellent for its timeSome good ideasThe Bad:Cast and characters are pretty forgettableVery slow burnThings I Learnt From This Movie:An opportune time to tell a woman you love her for the first time is straight after hitting herCould easily have had a sequel about killer cheese people.
As a big fan of bizarre cult cinema, there's no way I could resist a film with a title like 'Attack of the Mushroom People' and resisting this film is definitely not recommended to my fellow cult film fans as this is a highly original and fascinating slice of cinema!
The film obviously takes influence from the monster movie genre in the way that the plot is set up; but director Ishirô Honda clearly didn't want to make just another monster film as the 'mushroom people' of the title don't figure much and the real point of this movie stems from the isolation and claustrophobia felt by the central characters.
There's very little to eat on the island, and even though the research crew noted that there was something wrong with the mushrooms that grow there...they soon become hard for the shipwrecked to resist.In spite of the title, this is not a 'joke' film.
The only REAL reason to see this movie is because on the nature of the film (Mushroom People?).
Honda, working with a supremely talented filmmaking team, creates lots of beautifully twisted imagery, and neatly arranging it within a 2.55:1 aspect ratio.It plays like 'Gilligan's Island' as if that series were turned into a surreal and offbeat horror film.
A Japanese film from the famed Toho Studios, this one was later English-dubbed and released in the U.S. as 'Attack of the Mushroom People'.
Yes I know this sounds incredibly idiotic and the international title "Attack of the Mushroom People" also strengthens the suspicion that we're dealing with a silly and light-headed B-movie, but this honestly is a very competent and admirably atmospheric tale of terror!
I consider myself very lucky and privileged because I was able to see the original Japanese-language version of "Matango" on a big cinema screen, during a little festival in my country with a focus on botanical- themed horror movies.
Matango really is a great movie, since watching the film, I've been trying to get more people to watch it.
Just take a look at the 'shrooms that the seven island castaways in the 1963 Japanese horror outing "Matango: Attack of the Mushroom People" partake in!
The seven--the skipper, his first mate, a beautiful TV star, another pretty girl, a millionaire (hey, wait a minute...could "Gilligan's Island," which premiered the following year, have stolen from THIS film of all films?!?!), a writer and a psychiatrist--feed on the funny fungi and are soon turned into walking shiitakes themselves.
All in all, this film is certainly worth a rental...if only so that you can tell your coworkers that you saw a movie last night called "Matango: Attack of the Mushroom People"!.
I saw "Matango" when I was eleven years old (dubbed, as "Attack of the Mushroom People"), and now in my 50s, it still makes my skin crawl!!Basically it's a Japanese version of "Gilligan's Island" with a psychedelic mushroom turn, then adding in "Ten Little Indians"!
Despite the ludicrous title bestowed upon the English version ("Attack of the Mushroom People"), the film is a somber, well done horror yarn with creepy sets (especially the derelict ship in which they take shelter) and an entertaining story (based on "The Voice in the Night", a short story by William H.
Worth watching for fans of 'body-horror' films, director Ishiro Honda's work, or Japanese fantasy cinema in general..
Ishiro Honda directed this surprisingly effective Japanese science fiction/horror film that sees seven people on a sailing ship encounter a fierce storm, and survive, but find themselves shipwrecked on a mysterious and deserted island, where they find a derelict vessel covered in moss, but loaded with canned food, which has a most unfortunate side-effect on these castaways, just like it did before...Plot does strangely resemble "Gilligan's Island" in many ways, but this film is made in eerie and atmospheric style, with a most effective and striking ending.
I liked the first half of the film, the acting was good especially for a B grade horror, the characters seemed to be nicely developed , the build up was neat & eerie at an almost perfect pace.However, after the first half & as it moves towards the end, the movie turns into just about another b grade average, it loses its excitement & turns bland, not the worst, but there isn't anything outstanding about it either.
I like the way its shown how the tension & mutual distrust among the characters begins to mount due to the scarcity of food & suddenly some of the members start turning hostile, a somewhat typical trapped in an island/everyone for himself situation, but that was the only part which was entertaining.There are the mushroom people but there isn't anything scary about them, they could have been just as well substituted by zombies & this could have been another dawn of the dead type average movie, with an add on of the forbidden mushrooms.There was some scope here & there was potential, but wasn't banked upon.
This is the seventh Honda film that I've watched but only the second that I found to be in any way satisfying  the other being, of course, GOJIRA (1954); actually, I've got five more of his titles to go (which I'll be checking out throughout the week)though, in all honesty, I only expect the earlier effort RODAN (1956) to be any good!The theme and setting of the film derives from a number of earlier horror/sci-fi classics: for instance, the flashback framework where the hero's tall tale is disbelieved by everyone  not to mention the scene in which he's seduced to the 'other side' by his transformed lover  was certainly inspired by INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1956).
As for the mutant creatures (the U.S. title of the film, in fact, was the catchpenny ATTACK OF THE MUSHROOM PEOPLE), they're quite silly-looking in themselves  but, sensibly, these are mainly depicted as menacing shadowy figures.Though not quite the sci-fi masterpiece that Enrico Ghezzi (eccentric presenter of "After Hours", the programme during which the Honda TV marathon was held) proudly claimed in his introduction, it's quite an engaging and effective piece  if somewhat lacking in pace.
Well time passes on the island, tensions build and you just know someone is going to eat a mushroom and then the action begins.
Only this does not really happen, the movie seems to want to really show these people passing away time in the island so I am guessing we can understand why they finally broke down, but I wanted to watch a film with a bit more things happening.
The log on the ship indicates the mushrooms on the island are dangerous, so they're initially avoided....Those looking for a monster movie may be disappointed, since this is more of a suspenseful weird horror movie, I think.
A creepy atmosphere abounds, and the mushroom-covered island and moldy derelict ship are very well designed.Someone mentioned a scene involving a Shinto ritual not in all prints of the film.
Matango (Seen in the US as Attack of the Mushroom People) is a rather effective little horror gem in it's Japanese form.
After all, when I was a kid, it was marketed as "Attack of the Mushroom People".The first 90% of the film is pretty good and is highly reminiscent of "Lord of the Flies".
Seemingly decent people began scheming and killing and it revealed some excellent insights into the dark side of human nature.However, the last few minutes of the film consisted of the mushroom monsters mucking about and this was incredibly silly.
Matango Is one of the weirdest toho movies ever but in a good way.I haven't seen a good horror movie from japan like this.It starts off at a mental hospital with a man telling the story you never see his face but you'll see why his face is never shown.It at the seas seven people A Professor,A Writer,A Businessman,A Singer,A College Student,A Skipper and A hired Sailor.all on yacht trip but are involved in a storm.after the Storm then they find a fogged out island and decided to go to the island the search the island for human but when they get to the other side of the island they find a ship which is covered with fungus.they find broken mirrors,a blind Turtle and a giant mushroom called Matango.after searching the ship The Skipper tells the others that to find food but not eat the mushrooms because of caution of poison.eventually one night while all of them are sleeping but they find out there not alone they find out that someone is on the ship stalking the cast members.soon enough tired of being starved The Writer stars to eat the mushrooms and loses his mind trying to kill the other cast members he eventually kills the hired sailor and is banned from the ship.The singer joins the Writer and she also eats the mushrooms and changes completely.The Skipper before depending on helping the other he becomes Bitter and Selfish.and leaves the others on the island to starve by fixing the yacht and takes it.soon enough there is left is the Professor,the college student and the businessman who becomes desperate and has thoughts of suicide on his mind he also eats the mushrooms after becoming weak and finds out that the crew members didn't disappear they turned into mushroom monsters.The plot is good but what makes this movie so good is the characters every single character has personality and development for example The Sailor who starts off as a low-class person judging the characters for being rich.soon enough he depends on himself by hiding food and gloats about raping the woman.The Skipper is another example he tries to help the others getting off the island soon enough he depends on himself by staying away from the others and dies by drowning in the sea.The Singer who becomes the happy-female soon enough she starts flirting with the men and just becomes evil.The Businessman who thinks he's better than the other he becomes weak for example paying galore money to the sailor who tries to sell him turtle eggs.The Writer from being a stuck-up character to a twisted psychotic killer.to tell you the truth this movie great and you should see it for how special it is..
Attack of the Mushroom People (1963) * (out of 4) Incredibly poor horror film from Toho about seven people who get stranded on an island and turn into the title characters.
I did think the title was better as "Attack of the Mushroom People" instead of Matango.
There is some atmosphere present, and some good creepy scenes involving the mushrooms and what they do to people (the film got into trouble because the make-up resembled Hiroshima victims!).
I saw it at least three times in my early teens, but it's been about 30 years since my last viewing, so my memory's a bit foggy on the details.The tale surrounds the survivors of a shipwreck on a murky, misty island, to which they discover the majority of flora are strange, large, unusual looking mushrooms.After the crew and passengers run out of food, they decide to start eating the mushrooms.
The translated title 'attack of the mushroom people', whilst great fun doesn't really do the film justice and may go some way as to explaining the fact that it is widely overlooked in the annals of Japanese cinema of this period.
This movie should be seen by any parent who tells his/her kids that they'll turn into whatever food it is they eat a lot of.I found the film especially frightening due to the fact that this stranded group of people, having survived one horror (the wreck of their ship) encounter a second, more insidious horror -- the loss of their humanity.
Once the Mushroom People start showing their fungus forms the film really does get dark and creepy.
Creepy film that caused a lot of Japanese kids to refuse eating mushrooms.
If you read the title, "Matango:Attack of the Mushroom People", the idea of a film legitimately creeping you out with it's "under the skin" effectiveness probably wasn't as expected as a cheesy monster movie.
No matter what you look for in a cult film, I think you can find it in Matango, or as it was once better known, Attack of the Mushroom People.We open on the bright lights of Tokyo (or so I presume) as seen through the window of a local hospital for the mentally unstable.
I mean think of it--if people hadn't seen this movie there might be walking, talking giant mushrooms on every deserted island out there!
Unfortunately for them the mushrooms have strange side effects, strange mutating side effects & the survivors quickly realise that they have to fight the mushroom men as well as hunger...This Japanese production was directed by veteran Ishiro Honda, Matango had a great premise & could have made for a good horror/monster film but when the finished product is viewed it has to go down as a big disappointment.
I just found it a bit tedious & boring, I actually started to check my watch to see how long was left even though the film only lasts for a relatively short 70 minutes.Director Honda does a good job & he manages to create a great atmosphere especially the deserted ship with it's rundown equipment & fungus covered walls, it's a pretty creepy place.
The mushroom people themselves aren't shown in any great detail & don't feature that much but they're pretty freaky looking & very effective when they make an appearance, I just wish they were in the film more.Technically Matango is very good, it's competent & generally well made throughout.
I truly wanted to like this movie but could find nothing of value in it whatsoever.First, the characters are given no definitive personalities, nor any real purpose other than to bicker about nothing and then become mushrooms.Of course, if this was going to be the kind of horror/thriller where people were going to die in interesting ways or be put in suspenseful situations, who needs good characters?