| View Larger Image | Matango: Attack of the Mushroom People | DVDStarring: Akira Kubo, Kumi Mizuno, Hiroshi Koizumi, Kenji Sahara, Hiroshi Tachikawa
Directed By: Ishirô Honda
Also With: Hajime Koizumi (Cinematographer), Tomoyuki Tanaka (Producer), Masami Fukushima (Writer), Sakyo Komatsu (Writer), Shinichi Hoshi (Writer), Takeshi Kimura (Writer), William Hope Hodgson (Writer)
| List Price: | $19.95 | | Price: | $14.49 | | You Save: | $5.46 (27%) | | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours |
| | Binding: | DVD | | Rating: |  | | Run Time: | 89 minutes | | Format: | Color, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, NTSC | | Studio: | Tokyo Shock | | Number of Discs: | 1 | | Aspect Ratio: | 2.35:1 | | Release Date: | March 15, 2005 | | Sales Rank: | 18,129th |
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Description
Directed by Ishiro Honda (The Godzilla Series!) After a yacht is damaged in a storm and it’s boarders stranded on a deserted island the passengers; a psychologist and his girlfriend, a wealthy businessman, a famous singer, a writer, a sailor and his skipper take refuge in a mysterious fungus-covered boat. While using the MUSHROOMS for sustenance they find in the ships journal that the mushrooms re poisonous, however some members of the shipwrecked party continue to ingest the mysterious fungi transforming them into hideous ungal monsters. One of the strangest and most horrific TOHO productions to date. |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 34 reviews)
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There's a fungus among us by Daniel Jolley (Shelby, North Carolina USA)  3 Stars
November 28, 2009
Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip ... Numbered among your castaways are a sailor, the skipper, a wealthy businessman, a professor, a female performer, a cute and mousy young woman, and - a writer. Oh well, you didn't think this was Gilligan's Island, did you? Nobody gets tired of coconut cream pies here because there is almost no food to be found on this deserted isle - nothing except great big mushrooms that thrive in the seemingly cursed environment. You don't want to eat these mushrooms, though, for this is the one place on earth where the old maxim "You are what you eat" is actually a truism.
Matango: Attack of the Mushroom People taught me one thing. If I'm ever on Survivor and there's a Japanese contestant in my tribe, I'm going to do everything I can to make sure he/she is the first person booted out. This film's "survivors" definitely are not team players, and things start getting ugly even before their drenched clothes have started to dry out. The decision to take their tiny yacht directly into a huge storm is anything but unanimous in hindsight, the men soon starting looking at the women as if they've been locked away in solitary confinement on Alcatraz for a couple of decades, and the small and dwindling food supply is not even safe under lock and key. These folks wouldn't have lasted a day if they hadn't found an old, abandoned relic of a ship on the other side of the island. There, they at least have shelter. All too quickly, though, the more annoying characters succumb to the lure of the abundant mushrooms, even after they've learned that eating them will cause you to turn into a mushroom yourself.
Honestly, I expected to enjoy this film much more than I did. After all, it is from Toho, the guys who gave the world Godzilla, and a number of other reviewers seem to have a special kind of affection for Matango - but I found the whole thing rather boring and utterly devoid of creepiness. I didn't think the character development was all that impressive, so much so that I sometimes had trouble telling the different male characters apart. And the constant bickering was just annoying. Whatever moral lessons this movie may have wanted to impart were rather lost on me, I'm afraid. Just to be blunt about it, I found the whole thing to be rather silly.
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One of the Best Movies of All Time by K. Petersen  5 Stars
November 14, 2009
Agreed with another writer here about seeing this first on UHF for the first time back in the 70's or 80's, except on this end it was on VHF. TV that is. Amazed when I found out that I could actually get my hands on this excellent movie. Before this it was going to the video store to rent it out, and even then the quality was not so good. This is a masterful reproduction of the original and minimal loss in quality when compared to the airwaves of the 70's and 80's.
The storyline is already spelled out by Amazon, and quite a number of recommendations have appeared for this film. Here's another thumbs up as it can be seen that a majority are saying that this is five stars, or "love it." The total weirdness of the film with all of its majestic undertones and hints of what some people may really want to do (escape the rigors and realities of everyday life in civilization) and go back to the down and dirty, or the earthy and awesome. When we see firsthand one of the characters eating the mushrooms (the storyteller) and how it affects his brain (flashbacks to most pleasurable moments) we are taken away to the outer space of time.
In the previous paragraph was written the word civilization, but actually it should have quotes around it, as told by the storyteller near the end of the film too..."people in cities are cruel, aren't they?" And then the final lines...(saved for surprise effect).
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Wow by HardyBoys.us (Long Island USA)  4 Stars
November 09, 2009
I bought this set mainly to get "The Mysterians" and figured the other 2 would just be the icing on the cake.
"The Mysterians" is great - a quality print and transfer and decent English dubbing.
"Matango" is a dark, nihilistic tale. A decent print and a good transfer too.
"Varan" is the only one not in color and without English dubbing but it's still a pretty good movie.
All-in-all, I'd recommend this set to any fan of Toho monster/horror/scifi films with the caveat that the 2 of the 3 discs in my set skipped/froze and had to be exchanged.
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Funny by Brandon C. Walker (Oklahoma) 4 Stars
August 08, 2009
I bought this for my mother, she loves it! She has made everyone she knows watch it!
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Classic continues to fascinate by g20882 5 Stars
July 20, 2009
In the Godzilla genre, Attack of the Mushroom People satisfies. Last seen on a Saturday afternoon monster marathon sometimes in the 80s, I was psyched to pick up this dvd. An acquired taste, true, this movie is a most welcomed addition to my growing collection.
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