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Matango (1963)

Drama | 89 minutes
3,09 32 votes

Genre: Drama / Mystery

Duration: 89 minuten

Alternative titles: Matango: Fungus of Terror / Attack of the Mushroom People / Curse of the Mushroom People / マタンゴ

Country: Japan

Directed by: Ishirô Honda

Stars: Akira Kubo, Kumi Mizuno and Hiroshi Koizumi

IMDb score: 6,4 (3.912)

Releasedate: 11 August 1963

Matango plot

A group of young people runs aground with their ship on an uninhabited island. At first they think they are all alone, but then they hear strange music. One of the boys investigates and is attacked by a creature that appears to be made entirely of moss.

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Full Cast & Crew

Actors and actresses

Naoyuki Sakuta - Skipper

Mami Sekiguchi - Singer

Senzô Koyama - Sailor

Masafumi Kasai - Owner

Kenji Murai - Professor

Etsurô Yoshida - Writer

Akiko Sôma - Student

Doctor (as Jirô Kumagai) (uncredited)

Doctor (uncredited)

Doctor (uncredited)

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avatar van ToNe

ToNe

  • 2865 messages
  • 2336 votes

I was surprised by this movie.
At first glance it looks like a 'cheesy' Toho film and this is especially evident in the acting of some of the actors and the props used [giant mushrooms!].

The film ends with a 'shocking' and theatrical [but beautifully executed] denouement that allows you to view the entire film in a different context.

Besides the 'drug references' I noticed a lot of social criticism in the story and the most intense is the 'reward' the narrator [and sole survivor] receives after he
"obvious" choice when it comes to 'happiness'.

Back in the 'civilized' world, his minor mutation lands him in a madhouse, while he could have lived in the wild as a 'matango' with the woman he loved.


A nice, dark and pessimistic film from the director of Godzilla with some familiar faces from the Toho stable.
Rickichi, the farmer from Seven Samurai, for example, plays a businessman with a trendy scarf [hehe]
A number of creepy, almost claustrophobic scenes keep the tension high. Of course, it's not because of the monsters.

Please check the original Japanese version.
The American dub blows the story and context out of proportion...

dutch flagTranslated from Dutch · View original

avatar van Onderhond

Onderhond

  • 87592 messages
  • 12835 votes

Nice.

There's little camp in this Honda film. That's quite surprising, because if you're going to watch a Honda with mushroom monsters, your expectations are somewhat different. It's also both a curse and a blessing, because the film is occasionally overly serious, while the premise itself (with its classic rubber effects) is hard to take seriously.

The upside is that the craziness doesn't really come for long, allowing Honda to build up slowly without the cheesiness. It works quite well, though it was a bit too slow at times. It also makes the film a bit ordinary, where I might have hoped for a bit more weirdness.

But ultimately, I had a pretty good time with this, and Honda does show a different side of itself here. That of a skilled filmmaker who can also keep things a bit more serious. Not entirely, because it goes a bit off track towards the end, but that doesn't spoil the fun. A great video and one of the better Hondas.

3.0*

dutch flagTranslated from Dutch · View original