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==Plot== | ==Plot== | ||
In a hospital in Tokyo, a university professor named Kenji Murai is visited by a man who asks him about the events that led him to the hospital. The story is about a group of crew and passengers on a day trip on a yacht, including Murai; his shipmate assistant Senzô Koyama; writer Etsurô Yoshida; celebrity Masafumi Kasai, the owner of the yacht and two female passengers, professional singer Mami Sekiguchi and student Akiko Sōma. A sudden storm causes the yacht to nearly capsize, causing it to drift uncontrollably. The group arrive at a seemingly deserted island and begin to explore. They come across ponds full of fresh rain water and a large forest of mushrooms. The yacht's skipper, Naoyuki, warns them not to eat the mushrooms because they might be poisonous. | |||
A group of | |||
As they cross the island, they come upon a shipwreck on the shore whose sails have rotted and its interior covered with a mysterious mold. Finding that the mold succumbs to strong cleansing products, they work to clear it from the ship. In doing so, they begin to suspect that the ship has been involved in some sort of nuclear testing of the polluted waters, forcing a bizarre mutation on various organisms, including the mushrooms. As the days pass, the group grows restless as their supply of canned meat starts to run low. Masafumi refuses to help find a way off the island and steals from their food stores instead. After becoming concerned about their provisions, Yoshida decides to consume the mushrooms. | |||
One night, as Kasai is raiding the food stores, he is attacked by a grotesque-looking man who promptly disappears after encountering the group. Suddenly, Yoshida's behavior begins to grow unsteady, leading him to be locked inside Kasai's room right after he pulls a gun on the group. Naoyuki decides that in order to survive, the team must leave the island. The others disagree, leading him to depart on his own. Mami frees Yoshida and they attempt to take over the ship, shooting and killing Senzô in the process. Kenji and Akiko manage to take control from the two and force them off the ship. Kenji finds the yacht adrift and swims out towards it. He finds Naoyuki missing and a note left behind explaining that he is responsible for the deaths of his group and had jumped overboard. On the ship, Kasai is confronted by Mami, who entices him to follow her into the forest. Perpetual rainfall has caused wild fungal growth, and Kasai realizes that those who have been eating the mushrooms have turned into humanoid mushroom creatures themselves. The mushrooms are addictive and cannot be resisted after the first bite. Kasai is last seen collapsing as mushroom creatures begin to swarm him. | |||
Others who have turned into mushroom creatures strike Akiko and Kenji. They are separated and Akiko is kidnapped. As Kenji tracks her down, he discovers that she has been fed mushrooms and is under their influence along with Mami, Yoshida and Kasai. Kenji attempts to rescue Akiko, but he is overwhelmed by the mushroom creatures and flees without her, making his way onto the yacht and escaping the island. Several days pass before Kenji is finally rescued. As he waits in the hospital, he begins to wonder if he should have stayed with Akiko on the island. His face is revealed to show signs of being infected with fungal growths. Kenji states after that it didn't matter whether he stayed or not, but he would have been happier there with Akiko. The screen zooms to the cityscape as Kenji notes that humans are not much different than the mushroom creatures. | |||
==Staff== | ==Staff== | ||
{{Staffs | {{Staffs |
Revision as of 20:17, 9 November 2019
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Matango (マタンゴ) is a 1963 tokusatsu kaiju horror film produced by Toho, loosely based on the 1907 short story "The Voice in the Night" by William Hope Hodgson. It was released to Japanese theaters on August 11, 1963.
Plot
In a hospital in Tokyo, a university professor named Kenji Murai is visited by a man who asks him about the events that led him to the hospital. The story is about a group of crew and passengers on a day trip on a yacht, including Murai; his shipmate assistant Senzô Koyama; writer Etsurô Yoshida; celebrity Masafumi Kasai, the owner of the yacht and two female passengers, professional singer Mami Sekiguchi and student Akiko Sōma. A sudden storm causes the yacht to nearly capsize, causing it to drift uncontrollably. The group arrive at a seemingly deserted island and begin to explore. They come across ponds full of fresh rain water and a large forest of mushrooms. The yacht's skipper, Naoyuki, warns them not to eat the mushrooms because they might be poisonous.
As they cross the island, they come upon a shipwreck on the shore whose sails have rotted and its interior covered with a mysterious mold. Finding that the mold succumbs to strong cleansing products, they work to clear it from the ship. In doing so, they begin to suspect that the ship has been involved in some sort of nuclear testing of the polluted waters, forcing a bizarre mutation on various organisms, including the mushrooms. As the days pass, the group grows restless as their supply of canned meat starts to run low. Masafumi refuses to help find a way off the island and steals from their food stores instead. After becoming concerned about their provisions, Yoshida decides to consume the mushrooms.
One night, as Kasai is raiding the food stores, he is attacked by a grotesque-looking man who promptly disappears after encountering the group. Suddenly, Yoshida's behavior begins to grow unsteady, leading him to be locked inside Kasai's room right after he pulls a gun on the group. Naoyuki decides that in order to survive, the team must leave the island. The others disagree, leading him to depart on his own. Mami frees Yoshida and they attempt to take over the ship, shooting and killing Senzô in the process. Kenji and Akiko manage to take control from the two and force them off the ship. Kenji finds the yacht adrift and swims out towards it. He finds Naoyuki missing and a note left behind explaining that he is responsible for the deaths of his group and had jumped overboard. On the ship, Kasai is confronted by Mami, who entices him to follow her into the forest. Perpetual rainfall has caused wild fungal growth, and Kasai realizes that those who have been eating the mushrooms have turned into humanoid mushroom creatures themselves. The mushrooms are addictive and cannot be resisted after the first bite. Kasai is last seen collapsing as mushroom creatures begin to swarm him.
Others who have turned into mushroom creatures strike Akiko and Kenji. They are separated and Akiko is kidnapped. As Kenji tracks her down, he discovers that she has been fed mushrooms and is under their influence along with Mami, Yoshida and Kasai. Kenji attempts to rescue Akiko, but he is overwhelmed by the mushroom creatures and flees without her, making his way onto the yacht and escaping the island. Several days pass before Kenji is finally rescued. As he waits in the hospital, he begins to wonder if he should have stayed with Akiko on the island. His face is revealed to show signs of being infected with fungal growths. Kenji states after that it didn't matter whether he stayed or not, but he would have been happier there with Akiko. The screen zooms to the cityscape as Kenji notes that humans are not much different than the mushroom creatures.
Staff
Staff role on the left, staff member's name on the right.
- 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
- Produced by Tomoyuki Tanaka
- Music by Sadao Bekku
- Cinematography Hajime Koizumi
- Edited by Reiko Kaneko
- Production Design by Shigekazu Ikuno
- Director of Special Effects Eiji Tsuburaya
- Assistant Director of Special Effects Teruyoshi Nakano
- Special Effect Photography by Sadamasa Arikawa, Motoyoshi Tomioka
- Optical Photography by Yoichi Manoda, Yoshiyuki Tokusama
- Art Direction by Akira Watanabe
- Lighting by Kuichiro Kishida
- Matte Processing by Hiroshi Mukoyama
- Production Management by Tadashi Koike
- Still Photography by Issei Tanaka
Cast
Actor's name on the left, character played on the right.
- Akira Kubo as Kenji Murai
- Kumi Mizuno as Mami Sekiguchi
- Hiroshi Koizumi as Naoyuki Sakuta
- Kenji Sahara as Senzo Koyama
- Hiroshi Tachikawa as Etsuro Yoshida
- Yoshio Tsuchiya as Masafumi Kasai
- Miki Yashiro as Akiko Soma
- 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
Appearances
Monsters
Gallery
- Main article: Matango (film)/Gallery.
Soundtrack
- Main article: Matango (Soundtrack).
Alternate 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)
Theatrical Releases
- Japan - August 11, 1963
- Thailand - 1964
- Columbia - 1960s
- United Kingdom - 1969
- Italy - November 1973
U.S. Release
In 1965, American International Pictures 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. 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.
Video Releases
Toho DVD (2003)
- Region: 2
- Discs: 1
- Audio: Japanese
- Subtitles: Japanese
- Special Features: Audio commentary by actor Akira Kubo, interview with Teruyoshi Nakano (27 minutes), reading of the original treatment by writer Masami Fukushima (18 minutes), theatrical trailer
Media Blasters DVD (2005)[1]
- Region: 1
- Discs: 1
- Audio: Japanese (2.0 Mono, 5.1 Surround), English (2.0 Mono, 5.1 Surround)
- Subtitles: English
- Special Features: Audio commentary by actor Akira Kubo, interview with Teruyoshi Nakano (27 minutes), reading of the original treatment by writer Masami Fukushima (18 minutes), trailers
- Notes: Out of print. A 2007 release packages it with Varan and The Mysterians.
Videos
Trailers
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Miscellaneous
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Trivia
- Matango is the second adaptation of "A Voice in the Night." The first, simply titled "Voice in the Night," was the 24th episode of the 1957-58 NBC anthology series Suspicion.
- American director Steven Soderbergh discussed remaking Matango with Toho, but was unable to reach an agreement with the studio.[2]
- The giant mushrooms that the characters eat were created by the special effects crew from rice pastry.
External Links
References
This is a list of references for Matango (film). These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]
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