Matango (1963)

Director:

Ishirô Honda

Writers:

Takeshi Kimura (screenplay)
Shinichi Hoshi (adaptation) ...
(more)

Release Date:

11 August 1963 (Japan)

Genre:

Fantasy | Horror | Sci-Fi | Drama | Thriller

Plot:

Shipwrecked survivors slowly transform into mushrooms.

Plot Keywords:

Island | Mushroom | Yacht | Radiation | Occult

Cast

Akira Kubo	...	Kenji Murai - Professor
Kumi Mizuno	...	Mami Sekiguchi - Singer
Hiroshi Koizumi	...	Naoyuki Sakuta - Skipper
Kenji Sahara	...	Senzô Koyama - Sailor
Hiroshi Tachikawa	...	Etsurô Yoshida - Writer
Yoshio Tsuchiya	...	Masafumi Kasai - Owner
Miki Yashiro	...	Akiko Sôma - Student
Hideyo Amamoto	...	Skulking Transitional Matango
Takuzô Kumagai	...	Doctor (as Jirô Kumagai)
Akio Kusama	...	Police Personnel
Yutaka Oka	...	Doctor
Keisuke Yamada	...	Doctor
Kazuo Higata	...	Police Personnel
Katsumi Tezuka	...	Police Personnel
Haruo Nakajima	...	Matango
Tokio Ôkawa	...	Matango
Kôji Uruki	...	Matango
Masaki Shinohara	...	Matango
Kuniyoshi Kashima	...	Transitional Matango
Toku Ihara	...	Transitional Matango
Mitsuko Hayashi	...	Nurse
Tazue Ichimanji	...	Nurse
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Hiroshi Akitsu	...	Guest at Club (uncredited)
Ryûtarô Amami	...	Guest at Club (uncredited)
Saburô Iketani	...	Radio Announcer (voice) (uncredited)
Yoshio Katsube	...	Guest at Club (uncredited)
Hideo Shibuya	...	Staff at Club (uncredited)

Directed by
Ishirô Honda

Writing credits
Takeshi Kimura		(screenplay)
Shinichi Hoshi		adaptation &
Masami Fukushima		adaptation and
William Hope Hodgson		story "The Voice in the Night"
Sakyo Komatsu		uncredited

Produced by
Tomoyuki Tanaka	....	producer

Original Music by
Sadao Bekku

Cinematography by
Hajime Koizumi

Film Editing by
Reiko Kaneko

Production Design by
Shigekazu Ikuno

Costume Design by
Shigeru Komatsuzaki

Production Management
Tadashi Koike	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Kôji Kajita	....	chief assistant director

Art Department
Shigeru Komatsuzaki	....	conceptual artist

Sound Department
Minoru Kaneyama	....	sound effects
Hisashi Shimonaga	....	sound effects
Fumio Yanoguchi	....	sound recordist

Special Effects by
Shigeru Nakamura	....	special effects unit production manager
Teruyoshi Nakano	....	chief assistant special effects director
Eiji Tsuburaya	....	director of special effects
Akira Watanabe	....	special effects art director
Akira Watanabe	....	special effects set decorator

Visual Effects by
Sadamasa Arikawa	....	director of special effects photography
Kuichirô Kishida	....	special effects lighting
Yukio Manoda	....	optical cinematography
Hiroshi Mukoyama	....	matte process
Hiroshi Mukoyama	....	optical chief
Yoshiyuki Tokumasa	....	optical cinematography
Sokei Tomioka	....	director of special effects photography

Camera and Electrical Department
Shoshichi Kojima	....	lighting technician
Issei Tanaka	....	still photographer

Other crew
Samuel Z. Arkoff	....	presenter
James H. Nicholson	....	presenter

Production Companies

• Toho Company

Distributors

• Toho Company (1963) (Japan) (theatrical)
• American-International Television (AIP-TV) (1965) (USA) (TV) (dubbed) (syndication)
• JVI (1982) (UK) (VHS)
• Media Blasters (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• Something Weird Video (SWV) (1996) (USA) (VHS)
• Tokyo Shock (2005) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Titra Sound Corporation  re-recording (USA release)
• Toho Studios  sound stages

Also Known As:

"Attack of the Mushroom People" - USA (TV title)
"Matango: Attack of the Mushroom People" - USA (DVD box title)

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.55 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Hachijôjima, Japan

Company:

Toho Company

Trivia:

The film was nearly banned in Japan due to the fact that the makeup that some of the cast wore as they were turning into mushrooms was very reminiscent of how many people looked after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Kasai shoots at Yoshida and Mami as he chases them off the boat, you can see the bullets ricochet off the ground before he fires a shot.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in Dead End (1985)

One of the most beautiful and haunting fantasy films ever made

MATANGO, directed by Ishiro Honda, is an exceptionally beautiful fantasy film from the mighty Toho. 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. Tonally, it recalls underrated Japanese genre flicks such as "The Mistress in a Cave", "Horror of Malformed Men" and the delightful "Living Skeleton". 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. Like all classic stories of survival, human greed, envy, love and hunger are the engines of the conflict. The search for a state of being free of responsibility and consequences is the dream driving the conflicted.

It is of curious interest to me that the characters in this "uncharted island" fantasy include a Skipper, a Millionaire, a Professor, a First Mate and a Girl Next Door. Produced before "Gilligan's Island" debuted on American TV, it could surely be argued that this orchestration of characters was a template for Sherwood Schwartz, the creator of "Gilligan's Island".

A palpable sadness permeates the last twenty minutes of MATANGO, a sense of blinding melancholy that elevates it to a dizzying level of achievement.

MATANGO explores how we are all drawn to pleasures that we know may sign our death warrants while daring to suggest that death by pleasure is a demise more preferable to death without love.

Stunning.