Talkback: Matango (1963)

[GojiDog]

I've actually never seen the movie dubbed before. I'll have to check it out.

[JAGzilla]

Okay, got it watched. I picked a bad time to watch it and was consequently distracted quite a bit through the second half, though, so I definitely missed some things and kind of lost track of what was going on with some characters here and there. I'll have to give it a rewatch down the line and pay closer attention.

That said, I did enjoy it. There was a lot of great atmosphere and tension, and a good job was done with the initial exploration of the spooky, fungus-encrusted deserted ship. The scenes where some of our characters finally give in to the mushrooms and descend into trippy hallucinations were appropriately disturbing, too. The acting was solid, and even the dub was pretty tolerable.

[edgaguirus]

That laugh is disturbing as well. It adds that extra fear to the forest scenes.

[LockBite]

I’m having a hard time finding a decent version of this film. Amazon Prime Video has it, but the quality is sub-vhs and it’s English dub only. Any help here would be greatly appreciated

[The Killer Meteor]

I would expect the Media Blasters DVD, unless it's OOP?

[edgaguirus]

You can definitely say this film breaks the mold.

[edgaguirus]

Has anyone read the story this is based on, The Voice in the Night? It's a good read.

[eabaker]

Has anyone read the story this is based on, The Voice in the Night? It's a good read.

Yup, I've read it a couple of times. I'd say that the movie does a good job of capturing the concept and the atmosphere, while also using its greater length to add characterization and depth to the whole thing.

We talked a bit about the similarities/differences between the two when we covered the movie for G-Force: A Kaiju Podcast back in October.

[HedorahIsBestGirl]

After at least a year of saying "I really need to watch Matango again as an adult," I finally did it last night! And I have some thoughts.

To start with the positive, Matango marks a huge departure from Honda's usual body of work (except H-Man, I guess) and it's always cool to see a director branch out into new territory like this. It could be argued that many of Honda's films truly belong to Tsuburaya, since they're so reliant on effects sequences, but Matango is inarguably Honda's movie, being driven entirely by the characters and the atmosphere. For the most part, it's a triumph. The actors all really get to shine and their characters mostly feel distinct, while also largely being more developed than the average protagonist in a 60s tokusatsu movie. Special shoutout to Yoshio Tsuchiya, who is consistently one of my favorite Toho stars, and kills it in every scene. I love stories where human nature is laid bare and devolved to its most primal state, and that's exactly what Matango is. There's an unshakeable fog of unease that hangs over the entire movie and that mounting dread only grows as the characters begin losing their minds and the mushroom people begin coming into play.

But... Matango isn't the masterpiece some make it out to be. A good film, yes, a great film, maybe, but I don't see the argument for it rivaling Godzilla as Honda's magnum opus. In terms of character work, it's almost inarguably Honda's best film, but there are other aspects where it falls short and a few things that bother me in general, which I'll list below:
- The big problem with Matango is that it just isn't scary. Atmospheric ≠ scary. While the concept of humans turning into murderous mushroom people is terrifying, this isn't The Last of Us. The Matango creatures themselves are grotesque but hardly scary, especially with their slow, plodding movements. The climactic scene where Akira Kubo's character must escape from their midst is almost laughable - hell, the creatures themselves are laughing like devilish children, which ends up being more funny than creepy. Honda's H-Man WAS genuinely scary and I'm going to go against the majority and say that I think the two films are overall on par.
- Akira Kubo is seemingly presented as the lead protagonist among the main cast, being the character we open on and the one who retains his sanity for the longest. He's also by far the most boring character of the lot and the one actor who feels uncomfortably out of his element. There are good moments in his performance, but I feel a different actor (Takarada, perhaps) would've been better suited to this role.
- I'm not a fan of how the first encounter with the mushroom man plays out. There's a big build-up to his first full appearance and then... we cut to everyone eating the next day. Why did he come wandering on the ship just to leave abruptly, leaving them to wonder if they saw him at all? Why did no one try to shoot him when Yoshio Tsuchiya's character fired like mad at every other opportune moment in the movie? It's supposed to be a pivotal moment in the film but it falls rather flat.
- Finally, I'm not huge on the bookends of Kubo in the psychiatric ward. They rob the film of some of it's tension, for me at least. I don't need to know going in that only one person was definitely killed but the others suffered some other terrible fate. I also don't need to know that our protagonist survived but is somehow turning into a Matango himself, meaning that either he ate the mushrooms after all or was infected in some other way. It's a decent reveal but I think the better ending would've been to see him sailing out into the fog alone, knowing he will likely meet the same fate as the skipper did.

[Follinollante]

After at least a year of saying "I really need to watch Matango again as an adult," I finally did it last night! And I have some thoughts.

Wow, it's crazy that you bring this up now; I've been considering watching it very recently.
How highly would you recommend it?

[HedorahIsBestGirl]

After at least a year of saying "I really need to watch Matango again as an adult," I finally did it last night! And I have some thoughts.

Wow, it's crazy that you bring this up now; I've been considering watching it very recently.
How highly would you recommend it?

I'd recommend it pretty highly. While I offered some critiques, I think it was a pretty great movie overall. It's actually grown on me as I've thought about it off and on throughout the day. Definitely depends on your tastes, though. Do you like atmospheric horror that relies on building suspense rather than gore or jump scares? If so, you'll probably love it. But if you're hoping for lots of creature action or genuine scares, you might be disappointed. I think it's worth watching if only to see a Honda movie that's primarily focused on its human cast rather than monsters or aliens, and to see many of the Godzilla regulars (Kenji Sahara, Akira Kubo, Kumi Mizuno, Yoshio Tsuchiya) play very different roles.

[Gojira-Fan]

After at least a year of saying "I really need to watch Matango again as an adult," I finally did it last night! And I have some thoughts.

Wow, it's crazy that you bring this up now; I've been considering watching it very recently.
How highly would you recommend it?

I'd recommend it pretty highly. While I offered some critiques, I think it was a pretty great movie overall. It's actually grown on me as I've thought about it off and on throughout the day. Definitely depends on your tastes, though. Do you like atmospheric horror that relies on building suspense rather than gore or jump scares? If so, you'll probably love it. But if you're hoping for lots of creature action or genuine scares, you might be disappointed. I think it's worth watching if only to see a Honda movie that's primarily focused on its human cast rather than monsters or aliens, and to see many of the Godzilla regulars (Kenji Sahara, Akira Kubo, Kumi Mizuno, Yoshio Tsuchiya) play very different roles.

I think it is the best movie that Kimura wrote a screenplay for and the subject matter really suited his darker style. Arguably one of Honda's greatest films if not the greatest. Also has a lot of similarities to Gilligan's Island strangely enough.

[edgaguirus]

That's one comparison I never would have thought of.

This is a human horror film rather than a monster one. The growing inhumanity of our characters makes for a compelling story and tense interactions.

[LSD Jellyfish]

I want to respond to all the stuff about Matango, but first I'd like to point out that Human Vapor also exists. I think that Matango is more atmospheric in some ways, but Human Vapor can be really horrifying and unnerving in moments. H-Man, Matango, and Human Vapor are actually all pretty different, but they showcase that Honda, and Toho, could pump out some raw horror films when they wanted to.

[HedorahIsBestGirl]

I want to respond to all the stuff about Matango, but first I'd like to point out that Human Vapor also exists. I think that Matango is more atmospheric in some ways, but Human Vapor can be really horrifying and unnerving in moments. H-Man, Matango, and Human Vapor are actually all pretty different, but they showcase that Honda, and Toho, could pump out some raw horror films when they wanted to.

You're right that they're pretty different, which is why I didn't even compare Matango to Human Vapor. While Human Vapor can be classified as horror, I think of it as more of a tragedy/mystery with a sci-fi element - in contrast to Matango, which is psychological horror, and H-Man, which is more traditional monster horror. I like all three of them about equally, too. I consider them among the best Honda films though I don't think I'd choose any of them over Godzilla or Mothra vs. Godzilla.

[edgaguirus]

I have yet to see Human Vapor, but the other two show Honda and Toho were versatile.

[Chaos Reincarnation]

I think people forget that Horror is an umbrella genre with lots of sub genres. That being said Matango to me is easily the best out of those 3. I think it really gave that cast a script they could all show their real acting chops and were able to bounce off each other more which really sold it all to me as they grew more and more mad.

[king_ghidorah]

I don't think Human Vapor/H-Man are all that compelling personally. Matango is easily the best of the three and also one of Honda's better efforts. Definitely in his top 10 films made, if not his top 5.

[OrnithopodaistheBest]

I'd love to see the Matango making a major return (they were in Godziban, i know, but just as minor characters) but i have a feeling everything about them will inevitably get compared to The Last of Us, which is ironic because they predate the games, the series and their own mushroom zombies by a healthy amount of years.

[edgaguirus]

And if Matango did return, would it still be psychological horror or have the mushroom people go LOU zombie style? Based on recent zombie entertainment, the mushroom people would probably be treated like the second. This approach would be more marketable to a general audience, but I would miss the psychological dread of the original.