Matango – Attack Of The Mushroom People
Picture: C+
Sound: B- Extras: C+ Film: B-
Ishiro Honda remains one of the best-known genre directors
in Japanese film and it is no surprise that in 1963, he would be the one to
direct Matango – Attack Of The Mushroom People. Essentially, it was Toho’s answer to the
original Don Siegel Invasion Of The Body Snatchers with a touch of The
Thing From Another World thrown in for good measure. The film runs 90 minutes and could have even
gone on longer if the Takeshi Kimura screenplay had decided to go further into
the Horror aspects. The monsters may
look silly by today’s standards, but the film is done seriously and it is still
very watchable.
A group of friends go yachting and are having a good time
when they land up in a storm and land on an island they know little about. It is a nice, clear sunny day, but the party
is about to come to an end. The island
is odd and seemingly empty. They look
for food and water, then find mushrooms, some of them start to eat those, but
others start to discover that may not be such a good idea.
This was based on William Hope Hodgson’s original story Voice
In The Night, though I doubt this film looks exactly like that book or that
the author could imagine the look and feel of a Toho production. With that said, Matango is proof Toho
could do more than play out their giant monster movies to death and many still
believe that is all the studio did.
Instead, it shows the spirit of the studio, that they would try to take
ideas and give them new twists. It is
that character and ambition that keeps this film from aging more than it would
otherwise.
The anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 TohoScope frame often
looks good in this restoration, but it is uneven, with muted color and lack of
detail in many spots. This is still
superior to the many awful prints, especially pan & scan copies that have
been circulating far too long doing such injustice to the work of
cinematographer Hajime Koizumi. The
Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 English sounds like new dubbing work of some sort and
both have decent surrounds, though nothing extraordinary. The Dolby Japanese 2.0 Mono shows its age,
but has authenticity the new mixes do not, though the same original, effective
Sadao Bekku score runs throughout all tracks.
Extras include a Japanese-language commentary track with actor Akira
Kubo that has optional English subtitles worth sitting through, on-camera (27.5
minutes) interview with special effects head Teruyoshi Nakano on the making of
the film and his use of front projection and optical printing on the film among
other items, adapted story co-writer Masami Fukushima reading (for about 13
minutes) that story’s text to footage and stills and continues with a 4.5
minutes piece about his life, plus the original trailer and trailers for four
other Media Blasters/Tokyo Shock/Toho titles on DVD. Matango is recommended, especially if you have never seen
it.
- Nicholas Sheffo
