Matango:Attack of the Mushroom People Actor: Akira Kubo Number of Items: 1 Format: Color Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Studio: Media Blasters, Inc Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2005-03-01 Buy from Amazon

Customer Reviews: Total numer of reviews: 13 Average rating: 4.5 "My dream came true - an excellent DVD of Matango!" It's here. One of my favorite movies - and most eagerly-awaited DVDs - ever. And EVERY single bad scenario I could think of for its DVD release has been stamped out soundly by Tokyo Shock/Media Blasters. Because THIS is exactly what I wanted from a DVD of "Matango" (Attack of the Mushroom People). My dream came true, and it's sitting in my hands. The movie? Some of you might remember seeing it back when there were things called "local UHF television stations" :) that showed lots of cheap movies - mostly bad ones, some good ones, but almost universally fondly remembered regardless of their narrative quality. Back when we were kids, all we remembered about the movie was the ghost ship, the mushroom people, and the narrator's unforgettable final lines (dubbed in English, of course). And that it was cool. We may not have noticed that the script is very effective, the character interaction and motivations convincing, and the production design truly remarkable... and there's plenty more about the film that elevates it WAAAAY up above your average Japanese monster movie. The DVD? Well, now we can finally really see the movie and rediscover it. The DVD boasts a beautiful clean print presented in anamorphic widescreen. The aspect ratio is stated as 2.35:1 on the back cover, which is correct for TohoScope, but the ratio actually measures out to be about 2.53:1. Add to that the fact that the image is actually windowboxed (when looking at the full image, say, on a PC screen, there are black bars on the sides as well as top and bottom), and this movie looks VERY wide on a television. Just like the other recent DVD release of "The Mysterians" (q.v.), there is a wealth of audio selections: the disc includes a 5.1 surround English audio mix, a mono English track, and a mono Japanese track. There is also a commentary track from Akira Kubo, who plays the lead role of Kenji Murai in the film. It is in Japanese, but there are subtitles for the film AND the commentary... and you can even turn them BOTH on at the same time if you want (one subtitle appears at the top, the other at the bottom). Just a glorious presentation of the film (at last!) would be enough to please me and other fans of the film, but we also get some marvellous extras. There is a 17 minute 41 second piece called "Spoken Word from Matango writer Masami Fukushima" which is a written narrative of the story accompanied by widely varied video - sometimes stills, sometimes behind-the-scenes footage, and so on. There is also a very generous, in-depth and fascinating interview with special effects cinematographer Teruyoshi Nakano. The interview runs 27 minutes 38 seconds and covers the film from all angles, accompanied at times by some great production stills and behind-the-scenes photos detailing the set, makeup, pre-production artwork and more. It's clear from what he says that "Matango" was MEANT to be a cut above the rest, and the loving care they put into its production really shows in the movie itself. Also included on the DVD is a trailer (16:9 WS), plus previews for "Dogora" (1964), "The Mysterians" (1957), "Varan" (1958) and "Gappa" (1967). One more thing... if you're already familiar with the movie, you'll probably just want to watch it in the Japanese language with English subtitles on. The impact of the ending is undeniably weakened in the Japanese (original) version, believe it or not. So you, and ESPECIALLY those who have never seen the movie before, will want to watch the movie both ways at least once, and I'll even go so far as to suggest your first viewing be of the English dubbed version. (Don't think it to be sacrilege; the Japanese version is right there waiting for your second viewing, which you'll want to do anyway.) Anyway... THANK YOU Tokyo Shock/Media Blasters for having such remarkable respect for the material to present it to us with every bit as much loving care and attention as any other recent Hollywood blockbuster film released to DVD. Buyers, start your debit cards! You don't want to be without this title! "Fungus among us (finally)" A.K.A. 'Matango - Fungus of Terror' [giggle]. Media Blasters has delivered another great disc. The only other thing I would have liked to have seen is a poster and still gallery, but let's not nitpick. Those of us who've been waiting for this movie for a long time had no reason to expect it to be treated respectfully. And at such a nice price! Bitchun! Just be aware that, like a lot of Japanese movies released in the US, the bright level on your TV needs to be adjusted down a bit to restore black levels and color vibrancy. I don't know why Japanese source materials have this problem over here, but it's pretty easy to fix. And, given that there's a lot of fog and interesting shades of mold on display, you really don't want to forget to do this. You would think that with the advent of cable there would actually be more movies to choose from on TV. The fact is, the pool of films getting broadcast has shrunk dramatically. (Notice that you rarely see black and white anymore. In the early days of cable AMC used to show older movies commercial free, but now most of the "classics" they air date from at least the [retch] eighties.) More channels, less variety. Gone are the days when local stations paid for grab-bag movie packages of diverse titles of varying quality - many of which you've never heard of. Back before cable it was actually possible for insomniacs to find buried treasure at odd hours. 'Matango,' like 'Carnival of Souls,' is one of those movies that people accidently stumbled across when they should have been sleeping, and remembered forever after. It would insidiously etch itself on your tired brain. And, if you were lucky, maybe it gave you some pretty f***ed up dreams whenever you finally got to sleep. I actually first found this in the middle of the afternoon at the babysitter's house. It was still too much. Now you can just forget about it. You can watch 'Rocky' or 'Sum of All Fears' three times in a row (if you want to), but you won't find 'Thirst,' or 'Isle of the Dead,' or 'Detour,' or 'Lady in a Cage,' buried in the airwaves like a mugger ready to jump out at you from all that banality it's hiding in. Now we have DVD - which is a huge improvement in many respects. The catch is, you have to know what you're looking for. Most of us remember this movie as being really messed up - but we love it for that. It's at least as creepy as it is silly - atmospheric, colorful and surprisingly grim. It won't scare the wee-wally out of you, but, if you give it a chance, it might, uh, grow on you. The characters are mostly a selfish and spoiled lot, and the filmmakers seem to have a less than favorable outlook on the prosperity and growth of the era. This at a time when widespread deprivation and starvation were not such distant memories for a lot of folks in Japan. The characters are pretty young, for the most part, though - perhaps young enough to be of that first generation that wouldn't remember the hardships associated with the war. Thinking themselves invulnerable, they behave stupidly in the face of danger and pay for it with their humanity. If what was done to Japan casts a heavy shadow over Honda's famous 1954 effort, 'Matango' is perhaps haunted by what Japan did to itself - which is maybe even more disturbing. The movie seems to have an all-around ambivalence that is refreshing. The art direction is often wonderous. Even the English dub track is not too bad, as these things go - but the fact that the Japanese track is included shows that Media Blasters knows what their audience wants. Fear and loathing from the people who brought you Godzilla - in color and glorious TohoScope! Happy, happy happy. By the way, there is a nice bit of audio by the screenwriter, who appears to be reading a treatment for 'Matango.' (This version bears a somewhat closer resemblance to the very creepy William Hope Hodgeson story 'Matango' is based on.) When that finishes, just let the disc run. There's more. "Was this the Inspiration for Gilligan's Island?" ...and that's a serious question. It predated the premier of Gillian's Island by several years. There's a millionaire who owns a yacht that looks like the Minnow. On board is a professor, the captain, a goofy (though somewhat sinster in the film) first mate, a pretty but shy country girl named Okiko, and a singer/movie star. There are seven castaways in all. "Lovey" is replaced by another male character, a writer named Roy. The boat crashes into an island where they are castaways... Course on Gilligan's Island they didn't all turn into mutated mushrooms monsters. Rent or buy the DVD (one of my favorite films in Japanese cinema, finally getting its due...) and you tell me if Gilligan's Island isn't a complete rip-off of this film. If I was Toho I would have sued Sherwood Schwartz for copyright infringement. "DON'T EAT THOSE 'SHROOMS!!!!!!" Wow! Was I glad when I discovered "The Attack of the Mushroom People", as I always remembered it, was coming to DVD! I remember seeing this on tv years ago, and never forgot how damn creepy it left me feeling. Story revolves around a handful of young Japanese citizens enjoying fun in the sun on a yacht. They wash up on a little fog-shrouded island after a storm hits them at sea. Finding no food on the island with which to sustain them until rescued, they one by one give in to their hunger, and start eating poisonous mushrooms. This in turn causes them to turn into human toadstools!! The DVD presentation of this "classic" is outstanding, and their is some really interesting extras. Buy it already!!!! "Great atmospheric Thriller!" I saw this as a kid and loved it. FINALLY it's to come out as a DVD (I hope legit! I have the bootleg VHS so no more thank you). A great film with B movie touches Japan style but with great atmosphere. A small ship gets hit by a storm and lands on a radioactive island covered in ship wrecks only where are their crews?? A tropical island BUT the only thing worth eating are the mushrooms. Scary! Some where between an anti-drug movie and a sci-fi horror one of the great B collectables.