Matango (1963)

[ScootaVaran]

On the DVD the production members say that they made up the name.

How the crap did I miss that?! Was it the Nakano interview?

Either there or in the audio commentary. I wish there were more audio commentaries by original cast-members for Toho movies.

Yep, the DVD has commentary by the actor Akira Kubo (really good and informative to listen too)
Interview with Nakano and a spoken word from writer Fukushima.

[Cimmerian Dragon]

Didn't they make some Dracula films in the '70s?

Yamamoto's trilogy: Vampire Doll, Lake of Dracula, Evil of Dracula.

Out of the three, the first is the best, in my opinion, with a delightfully unhinged performance by the lead actress. the others are also a lot of fun, with spectacular atmosphere if nothing else. Toho was basically channeling the Hammer Studios technicolor horror spectacles, and they did a fair job aping that style.

[menschenjaeger]

I sorta kinda looked around for those about the time Monsters Are Attacking Tokyo came out. I assume they're a lot easier to find these days.

I'm still going to lament what might have been: There are so few "weird fiction" films, and so few of those effectively pull it off as well as Matango. Just imagine...Toho presents At the Mountains of Madness (1967). Or in keeping with the fungal theme, The Whisperer in the Darkness (American title Space Fungus).

I find it frustrating the way so many home in on the whole "drug metaphor" aspect of Matango. First off, it's not a metaphor when something is explicitly stated. Second, it all comes down to Kasai's little hallucination: What does he see? He sees a montage of Tokyo nightlife. In Matango, drugs are a metaphor for the modern "culture" of instant gratification, of the pursuit of entertainment and pleasure at the expense of substance, morality, identity, humanity - not the other way around. "Here, you all have to get to work..." or you can just eat the shrooms. They're an alternative to real life. Neil Postman's (read him) concept of "pseudocontext" comes to mind....

[The H-Man]

Watched it last night, and one thing I noticed is that Mami "turns wierd" all of a sudden. They don't actually show her when she eats the mushrooms the first time, she suddenly is on Yoshido's side when he tries to kidnap Akiko the first time.

[menschenjaeger]

I really liked that part - did she eat them, or has she just thrown in with Yoshida because he's in charge now (and to spite the others)? That scene asks some nice questions.

Also, didn't notice it until I watched the Nakano interview, where he talks about Honda's decision to make make Mami look better after she eats the shrooms...but Akiko is all prettied up in the mushroom forest, too, after her meal. See the eye makeup?

[The H-Man]

And is Kenji infected with the disease at the end because he ate matango, or was it because he was exposed to it so much (and if so, does his presence in Tokyo hint at a possibility that this infection could spread to all of Japan?)

[menschenjaeger]

I think if they hadn't put the whole "I ATE THEM!" bit in the American dub, there would be less confusion. In the Hodgson story, the mold all over the island grows on the unlucky couple regardless - being forced to eat the fungus due to the starvation was horrible icing on the evil cake. The fact that Murai says that he kept both Akiko and himself from eating the shrooms, no matter how hungry they got, is good enough for me. Add to that the way he says "for what purpose?" at the moment of the reveal, and I took it as unambiguous. The horror was unavoidable - it didn't even matter whether they ate or not.

Since the movie plays out as a metaphor for the social and moral decay inherent in the modern world, this interpretation is seems best and is the more thematically consistent. Struggling against the dehumanizing influence of modern society is, in the end, a pointless struggle - the decay creeps in inexorably. Just being near it all is enough to change you, permanently, whether you want it or not.

Regarding infecting Japan, they do mention early on how the fungus is very "susceptible to chemicals." A few rounds of Lamisil and I'm sure he'd be right as rain

[Tyler]

The ending was ruined for me because there was a pic of Akira Kubo's moldy face on the back of the DVD.

[Cimmerian Dragon]

^ I hate when companies do stupid crap like that. What's worse is when they show you clips from the movie during the menu screen that would have been a surprise, had they let you see them when you were supposed to.

[TokyoVigilante]

Didn't want to put this before the thread even took off, but one of the European language versions for War of the Gargantuas is called Katango; makes me curious if there was some connection drawn into this cut of WotG, or the name was derrived from Kong+Matango or something.

[menschenjaeger]

^ I hate when companies do stupid crap like that. What's worse is when they show you clips from the movie during the menu screen that would have been a surprise, had they let you see them when you were supposed to.

Sometimes movies themselves do that - when I watched Latitude Zero, the first SECOND they showed Cesar Romero laughing evilly, I thought "well, HE'S going to come to a bad end sometime in the next hour and half..."

"Katango?" Weird. It's strange what they do with these movies in Europe...the whole Hedorah/Frankenstein thing, for example.

[nobodobodon]

Several have pointed out that the timing is wrong for the TV show to be inspired by the movie. The similarities between the two works is hard to ignore, and the timing of their releases so close together suggests they might have been submitted around the same time.

So there's only one conclusion I can draw: They are both based on a true story.

We may never know what REALLY happened, whether the crew and guests were American, Japanese, or from somewhere else entirely, or whether the tycoon was married or sleeping with the celebrity or perhaps both. But I think we can be pretty certain that the Professor was the sole survivor and that he died shortly after rescue. As for mind-controlling fungus versus coconut-powered bamboo cars, we can only hope they had both.

[menschenjaeger]

^^ That's definitely it.

And there was that Gilligan's Island episode with the giant radioactive vegetables...

[GIGAN05]

( This thread ( and film ) needs more love, period )

This film was the core reason why I wanted to get that triple pack, and I really do not regret doing so.

And now, Matango is not only my favourite Honda film ... But my absolute favourite out of Toho's Sci-fi entries.

I love it so much . It is soo well crafted. And it got quite disturbing at times ... Love it!

[Arbok]

( This thread ( and film ) needs more love, period )

Concur, was shocked at the lack of conversation on it. Still one of my favorite movies, and one of the few Toho science fiction films that my gf enjoyed, so that must count for something. Try to make sure to watch this film every couple of years, which is saying something considering how exhaustive my film collection is now.

[eabaker]

Very high on my list of Honda's best, just below the original Godzilla, and alongside Mothra and Mothra vs. Godzilla.

I wish Honda had been assigned more atmospheric horror stories, as he did a fantastic job on both Matango and H-Man.

[20th Century Boy]

Agreed. This is one of the best survival films of all time. It's truly something watching the characters' trusts break down and their attempted alliances fail despite the fact that they came to the island as friends. It reminds me of Night of the Living Dead, except with mushrooms, of course.

[eabaker]

Agreed. This is one of the best survival films of all time. It's truly something watching the characters' trusts break down and their attempted alliances fail despite the fact that they came to the island as friends. It reminds me of Night of the Living Dead, except with mushrooms, of course.

(Night of the Living Dead + Gilligan's Island + Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas) / 3 = Matango

[Ookondru99]

I just got done watching 1963's Matango and I couldn't help but wonder what the purpose of the original shipwrecked crew (Those who wrecked prior to the main character's arrival on the island) was. It is somewhat said they might have been studying the effects of radiation, and if so, does that mean the Matango fungus was caused by some sort of mutation due to radioactivity? Just a thought, I'm probably over analyzing this....

[Arbok]

I just got done watching 1963's Matango and I couldn't help but wonder what the purpose of the original shipwrecked crew (Those who wrecked prior to the main character's arrival on the island) was. It is somewhat said they might have been studying the effects of radiation, and if so, does that mean the Matango fungus was caused by some sort of mutation due to radioactivity? Just a thought, I'm probably over analyzing this....

It's possible that Matango was created by radiation... or the radiation angle could just be used to explain why no one went searching for such a large ship when it went missing if they were involved in such things.

What is clear is that they had a Matango species on the ship in storage, which is where the name came from, and while not conclusive, the species originating from the ship is likely.