Japan Release: 1963
Running Time: 89 minutes

Matango

マタンゴ
[Matango]

A crew of seven, including wealthy vacationers and two ship crew, venture across the seas. Their ship, however, is undertaken by a fierce storm. The tempest destroys their engine and sail, stranding the boat. To make matters worse, the communication equipment is rendered useless. The radio does allow them to hear reports of their disappearance, though, as they continue to drift further out to sea. Eventually the yacht drifts near a remote, fog ridden island. The seven disembark for the land mass, in search of supplies. They are able to find water in abundance, but nearly no food. The survivors come across a giant shipwreck, wrought with age from having crashed years ago. Inside they find logs of radiation abnormalities that were being studied. Among the ship is also fungus, including a gigantic mushroom that the previous crew had dubbed "Matango". The survivors decide to fix up the shipwreck and make it a home while they are stranded. Tensions rise, though, from a scarcity of food, causing infighting. Meanwhile, something not quite human is lurking out in the island's jungle...

Live Action Science Fiction

Titles

Matango

Attack of the Mushroom People
US Distributor: AIP (1965) / Time: 88 Minutes

Matango: Attack of the Mushroom People
[US DVD Title]

Matango the Monster
[Italian]

Monsters

Staff

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Background and Trivia

• Toho submitted the film to the US copyright office on August 9th, 1989 with the registration number of PA0000435874. The film is listed under only one title: Matango.
• Based on the short story "A Voice in the Night" by William Hope Hodgeson.
• Played as a double bill with Young Guy in Hawaii (1963).
• During its theatrical run, the movie had 550,000 admissions as noted in Age of the Gods (self-published).
• Matango was the first film by special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya to utilize his new Oxberry 1900 Optical Printer. At the time, Disney was the only other studio to own this printer for their movie productions. The printer itself was actually paid for by Fuji TV, hoping to tap into Tsuburaya's new production studio, Tsuburaya Productions. However, the series, Unbalance, fell through, although Fuji TV had still picked up the tab for the Optical Printer used in Matango and later productions. The printer was used in sequences such as making the miniature, crashed boat on the docks a credible fill-in for a lifesize crashed ship. Cited in Age of the Gods (self-published).
• Filmed on location on Oshima island near Tokyo. This required the cast to live there for a month. Actress Kumi Mizuno, perhaps playfully, noted that most of the actors started to change themselves after being confined to the island for so long. Noted in Japanese Cinema (ISBN 9783822831564) and Monsters Are Attacking Tokyo (ISBN: 0922915474).
• For Kenji Sahara's role in the film, director Ishiro Honda convinced the actor to not wear his fake tooth to give him a more transformative look from what audiences were used to. Mentioned in Age of the Gods (self-published).
• Actress Kumi Mizuno has cited this as her favorite film in interviews, noted in Monsters Are Attacking Tokyo (ISBN: 0922915474).
  

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