Matango (1963)

Directed by
 Budget

Matango (also known as Attack of the Mushroom People) is a 1963 toho kaiju film, Directed by Ishirō Honda the film was released in the US on TV Under The Title of Attack of the Mushroom People.

## Plot

A group of pleasure-seeking young people are stranded on a mysterious island when their boat crashes. One by one they succumb to the lure of the deadly mushrooms course and damages the boat. They soon land on a deserted island where they find a deserted, fungus covered wreck. They then find out that it was a research vessel examining the effects of radiation on plant and animal life. However, they also discover a strange fungus dubbed Matango. They also find out that the crew ate some of the fungus and were somehow driven mad. The group then goes about trying to find food and water without succumbing to the lure of the mushrooms. However, one by one they soon are driven by their hunger and desires to eat the mushrooms with disastrous effects.

## Cast

* Akira Kubo   as   Kenji Murai, psychology professor
* Kumi Mizuno   as   Mami Sekiguchi, singer
* Hiroshi Koizumi   as   Naoyuki Sakuta, yacht skipper
* Kenji Sahara   as   Senzo Koyama
* Hiroshi Tachikawa   as   Etsuro Yoshida, writer
* Yoshio Tsuchiya   as   Masafumi Kasai, yacht owner
* Miki Yashiro   as   Akiko Soma, university employee
* Hideyo Amamoto   as   Skulking transitional Matango
* Jiro Kumagai   as   Takuzo Kumagai
* Akio Kusama   as   Police personnel
* Yutaka Oka   as   Doctor
* Keisuke Yamada   as   Doctor
* Kazuo Hinata   as   Police Personnel
* Katsumi Tezuka   as   Police personnel
* Haruo Nakajima   as   Matango
* Tokio Okawa   as   Matango
* Koji Uruki   as   Matango
* Masaki Shinohara   as   Matango
* Kuniyoshi Kashima   as   Transitional Matango
* Toku Ihara   as   Transitional Matango
* Mitsuko Hayashi   as   Nurse
* Tsurue Ichimanji   as   Tazue Ichimanji
* Hiroshi Akitsu   as   Guest at club
* Ryutaro Amami   as   Guest at club
* Saburo Iketani   as   Voice of radio announcer
* Yoshio Katsube   as   Guest at club
* Hideo Shibuya   as   Staff at club

## Staff

* Directed by   Ishiro Honda
* Screenplay by   Takeshi Kimura
* Story treatment by   Shinichi Hoshi, Masami Fukashima
* Based on the short story "The Voice in the Night" by   William Hope Hodgson
* Executive producer   Tomoyuki Tanaka
* Music by   Sadao Bekku
* Cinematography   Hajime Koizumi
* Edited by   Reiko Kaneko
* Production design by   Shigekazu Ikuno
* Director of dpecial effects   Eiji Tsuburaya
* Assistant director of special effects   Teruyoshi Nakano

## Titles

* Attack of the Mushroom People (United States)
* Matango: Attack of the Mushroom People (U.S. DVD title)
* Matango, Fungus of Terror (United Kingdom)
* Matango, the Monster (Matango, il Mostro; Italy)

## Release

### U.S. release

In 1965, American International Television released Matango directly to television as Attack of the Mushroom People, using Toho's international English dub recorded in Hong Kong. Aside from a shortened opening credit sequence, it was largely unedited. Used TV prints of this version found their way to public domain dealers who issued it on Betamax and VHS.

## Sequel

**Matango 2** is a fan-made sequel to the film made in the 1980s by kaiju fans (director untold).

## DVD

In 2005, Media Blasters' Tokyo Shock label released the original Japanese version of the film on DVD under the title Matango: Attack of the Mushroom People.

## Gallery

Thin Japanese release posterRare Japanese Release poster for *Matango*