Matango
1963 · Japan · 89 min
- Director
- Ishirō Honda
- Screenplay
- Takeshi Kimura
- Producer
- Tomoyuki Tanaka
- Music
- Sadao Bekku
- Production company
- Toho
Cast
What it is about
A group of friends from Tokyo sets out on a yacht for a day trip, but a storm leaves them adrift near a seemingly deserted island. There they find a forest of unusually large mushrooms and a wrecked ship covered in mold. As food supplies dwindle, relations among the castaways grow strained. The story is told through the account of a psychology professor held in a Tokyo mental hospital, recalling what happened.
How it was made
Loosely drawn from William Hope Hodgson's short story «The Voice in the Night», the screenplay by Takeshi Kimura added characters and drew on a news story about young people who took their father's yacht far out to sea. Ishirō Honda, best known for his monster movies, shot it with a stark, dark look that sets it apart from much of his work of the period.
Reception and legacy
On its Japanese release it was nearly banned over scenes evoking victims of the atomic bombings. Later critics have noted its bleak tone, unusual for Honda. In the United Kingdom it went straight to video as Fungus of Terror.
Stills
Trailer
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Trivia
Journalistic origin
Honda was inspired by a news story about a group of wealthy young people who took their father's yacht far out to sea and had to be rescued.
A 1907 story
The Hodgson story the film partly adapts first appeared in the November 1907 issue of Blue Book.
More films by Ishirō Honda
Godzilla
Dreams
King Kong vs. Godzilla
Invasion of Astro-Monster
Mothra vs. Godzilla
King Kong EscapesOriginal Cinematopedia text based on Wikipedia (en) and Wikidata.