Toho Kingdom

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

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

Despite me never seeing the original, that would of been awesome! I would love to see some of the dream team's other classics get attention.

It would be interesting to see a new take on the film.

I have the DVD . . . seen it a number of times . . . not once did I make any connection to the characters from Gilligan's Island. Now I'm worried that's all I'll be able to see.

On the top of the short-list rewatch pile.

If you haven't seen this yet, I'll warn you.....spoilers.
















Sit right back and you'll hear a tale,
a tale of a horror trip,
about a storm tossed crew aboard a tiny ship.

The captain was a solid man,
strong as he could stand,
when a stormy sea washed them on an unknown island.

Slowly hunger took its toll,
sending them to eat mushrooms,
and those who did met their dooms.

One survivor was returned,
but it proved too late,
for a matango had sealed his fate.

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

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

I wonder if he could instead make a new film based on The Voice in the Night.

Watched it again, definitely some of Honda and his cast's finest work in the genre. It's a bit of a silly concept with the villains just being dudes in rubbery costumes/makeup, but managing to get a really heavy atmosphere with the hopelessness and impending doom with those setbacks just makes it more impressive. The ending with Akiko calling out and trying to lure in the professor is the perfect mix of creepy and tragic. Seeing Kubo's character get ruined after the rest of his friends is a sight to see. The tones and characters Honda got to work with this film and The Human Vapor really set them apart from most of his monster works, and it's a shame only the latter got the critical recognition it deserves in Japan. At the very least its good to see this one gain more and more fans as time goes on.

Would this film be good for a Monsterverse remake?

LegendZilla wrote:Would this film be good for a Monsterverse remake?

Nope.

LegendZilla wrote:Would this film be good for a Monsterverse remake?

No, have you seen it?

Mr_Goji_and_Watch wrote:It's a bit of a silly concept with the villains just being dudes in rubbery costumes/makeup

I wouldn't really describe the mutants as the villains of this movie; they're really just victims of their own needs and desires, as is everyone in the cast.

Just watched this movie. Got to say, this must be some of Honda and co. best work. Very atmospheric, filmed very well. Also very unique.

I think I just made a connection toMothra vs. Godzilla. Many people have pointed out that Sekizawa's stories are more lighthearted/positive while Kimura's stories are more dark/negative. I think both Mothra vs. Godzilla and Matango have Honda's brotherhood of man theme, but potrayed in different ways.

Mothra vs. Godzilla shows that the islanders of Infant Island mistrust outsiders because of the nuclear tests on their island. Only because of an emotional plea from one of the main characters that the Shobijin and other islanders agree to have Mothra defeat Godzilla. The plot in that scene really centers around healing the wounds of mistrust, and that theme is restated at the end of the film where one of the characters says (and I am paraphrasing here) that we must create a world without mistrust. Happy music plays as the film ends and the viewer is left feeling positive.

Matango is really about seeds of mistrust sprouting to the point where social relations break down. The seeds of mistrust (as potrayed in the film's metaphor of mushrooms) is hedonistic greed. Tokyo is viewed as equivalent or even worse than the island by Akira Kubo's character in the end due to the post-war economic boom changing Japanese society to be decadent and materialist. Ultimately, the film has an unhappy ending.

Both movies are classics and some of Toho's and Honda's best work. I love how many similar motifs and themes you can find by watching these movies, even if the tones are really different.

Sorry to bump the thread but I found you can watch the English Dub Attack of the Mushroom People on a free (non illegal apparently) streaming service called tubitv.com. I usually prefer watching the sub, but I was curious about how good the English dub is, as I think this is the easiest I'll see the film.

Jetty_Jags wrote:Sorry to bump the thread but I found you can watch the English Dub Attack of the Mushroom People on a free (non illegal apparently) streaming service called tubitv.com. I usually prefer watching the sub, but I was curious about how good the English dub is, as I think this is the easiest I'll see the film.

The export version trailer should give you an idea:

So I think I used to find this film boring. Maybe not boring, I know I always liked it, but I think I've grown to appreciate the slow-burn of it all, and how the film has a lot more going for it than just the mushroom people. The atmosphere and some of the really creepy imagery make it. The fact that it builds up so heavily, makes it better than an easy to imagine "silly film about mushroom people". Every time I watch this film I notice more and more top-notch little moments that give the characters plenty of characterization before things get worse.

One thing I noticed this time around is how the film is pretty subtle at what is going on. Sure, it's sort of spelled out, but I'm glad it lacks that "let's explain everything" like a lot of modern horror films have. We get clues of what is going on, some strange variety of mushroom, possibly mutated from nuclear tests, has been growing on this deserted island. Due to the nearby climate, ships have gotten stuck there, resorting to the people eating and transforming into the mushroom people. Sure it's obvious, but again, It's a lot subtler than what usually happens.

Also, I found it strange that I realized that this might actually be a photo-zombie film. It predates night of the living dead (and is in color!). A lot of the tropes that the zombie genre would adopt (heavy infighting and character drama, reflections on society) are present in here. I know there's movies that pre-date this in terms of having physical zombies, but damn this might pretty much be the first modern zombie film as well know.

Wow it even predates The Last Man on Earth by a year, which I used to argue is the first modern zombie movie (despite the creatures in question being vampires). To give a little context to what LSD is saying, prior to Night of the Living Dead, zombie movies did not depict zombies as creatures, or at least not in the way we think of them today. Movies like White Zombie (considered to be the very first zombie movie) where influenced by Haitian folk lore with a particular emphasis on voodoo, where the zombie wasn't so much the dead reincarnated, but people either hypnotized or put under a trance by some form of evil magic. From my understanding it wasn't until George Romero's Night of the Living Dead where the zombie creature (despite not actually being called by this term) was first truly removed from its magical/mythical/cultural roots, and had metamorphosed into the tropes that are now standard for modern zombie fiction, reanimated flesh preying on the living. Now, I still consider I am Legend (1954 novel by Richard Matheson, also the source material for Last Man on Earth), to be the true origin of today's modern zombie, despite being about vampires, but none-the-less it is very interesting that this film came out as early as it did.

Heck, the story that this is based on dates back to 1907, and although it doesn't go into the same kind of detailed examination of the phenomenon, the basic pieces of the transformation/absorption narrative are already there. And of course the novel I Am Legend comes from 1954, with the concept of the friends-conformed-to-a-collective horror story further popularized in the mid-50s by The Body Snatchers/Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

So along with Godzilla vs. The Cosmic Monster and Revenge of Mechagodzilla, Amazon Prime Video now has Attack of the Mushroom People. I've never seen any version of Matango, so does AotMP hold any kind of candle to the original? I'm going to infer from the above that the dub isn't of great quality, but is the story even close to accurate?

I'm most likely watching it either way, I'd just like to have a little context and know what I'm getting into.

JAGzilla wrote:So along with Godzilla vs. The Cosmic Monster and Revenge of Mechagodzilla, Amazon Prime Video now has Attack of the Mushroom People. I've never seen any version of Matango, so does AotMP hold any kind of candle to the original? I'm going to infer from the above that the dub isn't of great quality, but is the story even close to accurate?

I'm most likely watching it either way, I'd just like to have a little context and know what I'm getting into.

https://wikizilla.org/wiki/Matango_(film)#U.S._release

With the exception of an edited-down opening title sequence it appears to be the same.

The Prime version is the English dubbed audio (which was recorded in Hong Kong for Toho) synced to SD video of the Japanese version. (The “Mushroom People” title originated with American International, which released basically the uncut Toho dub with new credits directly to TV. The title is presumably used on this streaming version because it’s more lurid or popular than “Matango”.) As with nearly every Toho export version, it’s basically an English language version of the original film. There’s no reason this upload shouldn’t be uncut.

I think the dubbing is OK for what it is. If you can tolerate how it sounds in the trailer I posted earlier in this thread then give the movie a shot, especially if you’re interested in it.

One thing worth mentioning: Media Blasters’ subtitles for the ending give a slightly different interpretation of what happens than the dubbed audio does. I don’t know which one is more accurate, although it’s probably the MB translation. I don’t think the difference is severe enough that it will affect your enjoyment of the film. It’s really hard to explain any further without spoiling the movie, so:
I hope you enjoy the movie, but regardless please let us know what you thought. The more discussion of non-Godzilla movies on this site, the better.

Terasawa wrote:The Prime version is the English dubbed audio (which was recorded in Hong Kong for Toho) synced to SD video of the Japanese version. (The “Mushroom People” title originated with American International, which released basically the uncut Toho dub with new credits directly to TV. The title is presumably used on this streaming version because it’s more lurid or popular than “Matango”.) As with nearly every Toho export version, it’s basically an English language version of the original film. There’s no reason this upload shouldn’t be uncut.

I think the dubbing is OK for what it is. If you can tolerate how it sounds in the trailer I posted earlier in this thread then give the movie a shot, especially if you’re interested in it.

One thing worth mentioning: Media Blasters’ subtitles for the ending give a slightly different interpretation of what happens than the dubbed audio does. I don’t know which one is more accurate, although it’s probably the MB translation. I don’t think the difference is severe enough that it will affect your enjoyment of the film. It’s really hard to explain any further without spoiling the movie, so:

Spoiler:

As I recall, their translation says Kubo’s character transforms through accident, by inhaling fungal spores from the air. For some reason, maybe through faulty translation, the English audio has his character exclaim that he ate the mushrooms out of desperation on his trip. While this changes the tone of the ending, the events and effect are still the same. Even when I only had the dubbed version to watch I felt the ending was fittingly pessimistic, so again, I don’t think the change is necessarily a dealbreaker.

I hope you enjoy the movie, but regardless please let us know what you thought. The more discussion of non-Godzilla movies on this site, the better.

All right, great to know this is basically just a straight dub with minimal differences. I've been wanting to see this movie for years, so I'll be giving it a shot for sure. The dub's sound quality would have to be terrible to really get in my way, so I'm sure I'll be fine with it. And yes, I'll absolutely post my thoughts once I watch it, which will probably be sometime next week. Thanks!