Talkback: Matango (1963)

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kpa
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MATANGO 35mm Screening in NYC

Post by kpa »

Japan Society NY presents ‘The Dark Side of the Sun: John Zorn on Japanese Cinema’, a monthly film series spotlighting lesser-known or overlooked works from six Japanese directors. The excellent lineup includes a rare 35mm screening of Ishiro Honda’s MATANGO (aka ATTACK OF THE MUSHROOM PEOPLE) in Japanese with English subtitles.

Lineup, photos, ticket info and other details are now on SciFi Japan…

http://www.scifijapan.com/articles/2014 ... ociety-ny/

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Re: MATANGO 35mm Screening in NYC

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It seems these never happen near where I live :(. One day I hope I can see an older Toho film on the big screen.

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Re: MATANGO 35mm Screening in NYC

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It would be nice to see it, too, but...oh well. I hope they serve mushrooms with the movie.
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Re: MATANGO 35mm Screening in NYC

Post by he-ba »

^I love but hate how all these movies are being screened in NYC. I live 45 minutes from the city (In a tiny suburb filled with the nicest people you will find in NJ), but I never have the time to just go and watch them. Shame.
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Re: Talkback: Matango (1963)

Post by GodzillaRangerPrime »

So at the end, he didn't really eat any of the mushrooms?
It would've got to them eventually even if they didn't eat a single one?

This is disregarding the English dub
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Re: Talkback: Matango (1963)

Post by Anguirus »

I love body horror, so this seems to be a movie made for me!!

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Re: Talkback: Matango (1963)

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This is one of the few classic Toho films to depict kissing on-screen. One other (at least to my knowledge) is Invasion of Astro-Monster

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Re: Talkback: Matango (1963)

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Anguirus wrote:I love body horror, so this seems to be a movie made for me!!
If you're looking for body horror, this really isn't. More like psychological horror.
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Re: Talkback: Matango (1963)

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Kaiju-King42 wrote:
Anguirus wrote:I love body horror, so this seems to be a movie made for me!!
If you're looking for body horror, this really isn't. More like psychological horror.
Y'know, I really dislike the term "psychological horror." All horror is psychological; horror itself is by definition a psychological response.

Anyway, while Matango certainly doesn't dwell in/linger on the graphic aspects of body horror like an 80s Cronenberg flick or anything, it definitely falls within that sub-genre. It has elements in common with numerous genres/sub-genres, but none of them are mutually exclusive.
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Re: Talkback: Matango (1963)

Post by OneMillionTomsBC »

Yeah this was surprisingly dark and creepy. Constant dread through and through. I'd probably be tempted and fall victim to the mushrooms as well though :lol:. I need to give this a few more views to determine if it's going up there in the favorites. In a weird way it reminded me of Hammer's "The Lost Continent", only that film had a better soundtrack.

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Re: Talkback: Matango (1963)

Post by ThunderScore »

Reminded me of GILLIGAN'S ISLAND...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilligan%27s_Island

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Re: Talkback: Matango (1963)

Post by eabaker »

ThunderScore wrote:Reminded me of GILLIGAN'S ISLAND...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilligan%27s_Island
Yeah, whenever I describe this movie to people, I make a point of mentioning the odd synchronicity of both appearing around the same time, each with a social microcosm consisting of seven stranded castaways, including a skipper, a first mate in a red shirt, a rich guy, a professor, a "good girl," and a woman who works as a sultry entertainer.
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Re: Talkback: Matango (1963)

Post by edgaguirus »

I don't generally go for horror, but this one does it well by showing the characters becoming increasingly unhinged and the suggestion that they're not alone. The story this is based on has the fungus grow on the people without eating the mushrooms. However, the specter of starvation and loss of humanity as you literally turn into a mushroom seem a mush worse fate.
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Re: Talkback: Matango (1963)

Post by Ookondru99 »

What makes this movie great is that it speaks on so many levels. It is truly unlike anything toho made before or since
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Re: Talkback: Matango (1963)

Post by Stevo_1985 »

I'm gonna watch this tonight.. little freaked out. I hate mushrooms and the idea of mutated mushroom people freak me out. But, I'm determined to broaden outside of the Godzilla-verse.
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Re: Talkback: Matango (1963)

Post by edgaguirus »

I hope the end of the film doesn't freak you out. Matango is a good piece of film.
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Then expect something that's fiercer, more cruel, and deadly than anything that's walked the Earth.

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Re: Talkback: Matango (1963)

Post by Stevo_1985 »

OK THEN! I'll say I really enjoyed this film. I'm really not into the horror genre but I like it. Yes I'm gonna spoiler this because chances are there is someone who hasent seen it yet and will cry so I won't give anything away.
Spoiler:
The ending was rather depressing. When I say that I mean I was saddened. It would have been nice to see Akiko and Kenji get off the island unscathed given the effort they put in to resist and survive. Kenji loses his girl, then is declared crazy when rescued on top of turning into a mushroom himself. As he put it he would have rather been back on the island with Akiko given the outcome. That's rough stuff... Even so.. As they transform I would wonder if at some point they would forget who they even are. Just a number in the collective hive.
Added in 2 hours 50 minutes 13 seconds:
Cortyceps. Real life Matango?

https://youtu.be/XuKjBIBBAL8
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Re: Talkback: Matango (1963)

Post by KuboSensei »

[/quote]Oh Matango ... Personally, not only my favorite Ishiro Honda film, but one of my favorite films of all time. I love the atmosphere, the serious nature of the film, the acting, the characters... everything. Find it to be a terrific little movie.[/quote]

Spoilers! Just saw it last night for the first time. Matango is not only very fun, but brilliantly executed. Just when I thought I knew what was going to happen next, the following scene catches me by utter surprise. It was obvious that all the characters enjoyed their roles; each character was interesting and unique in their own ways. The ending KILLED me! It was so tragic! I thought that Akira Kubo and Miki Yashiro's characters were gonna escape happily together and it would end, but instead you get the most frightening scene ever were Kubo's character is surrounded by the matango mushroom people, only to escape to Tokyo, doomed to a place where he would, most likely, eventually become one of the matango. Thats not to say I didn't like the end, no, it was brilliant! Overall, definitely one of Ishiro Honda's best, if not, the greatest tapestry Honda ever wove.

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Re: Talkback: Matango (1963)

Post by mikelcho »

I've got a question. I know that Matango was released on American TV as Attack of the Mushroom People, but does anyone know if it was released in British theaters as Matango, Fungus of Terror? I remember seeing the second title in a British hardcover book from the 1970s called Horror Movies (I don't remember the author's name, though) but when I tried to put this into the Wikipedia article on the film I got chided for it and threatened with being banned from editing. Can anyone vindicate me here?

Added in 1 hour 23 minutes 37 seconds:
Got my answer on another post. It was called simply Matango. On an unrelated note, I also found out that the British titles for Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster and Monster from a Prehistoric Planet were Ebirah-Terror of the Deep and Gappa, not Ebirah-Horror of the Deep and Gappa the Triphibian Monster as I had previously thought. You learn something new every day, it seems.

UPDATE: I finally found out what the title and author of the British book were-Horror Movies: Tales of Terror in the Cinema by Alan G. Frank. It also seems to be part of a possible book series called The Movie Treasury and it was published by Octopus Books.
Last edited by mikelcho on Wed Jun 10, 2020 6:32 pm, edited 7 times in total.

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Re: Talkback: Matango (1963)

Post by Tyrant_Lizard_King »

Matango was almost remade, by Steven Soderbergh! Unfortunately he was unable to reach an agreement with Toho.

http://www.darkhorizons.com/soderbergh- ... e-matango/
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