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Description
Mantango: Attack of the Mushroom People

Strange Encounters File 4: MatangoStrange Encounters File 4: Matango (youtube.com)

Long before the Last of Us video games and the live action series, Toho studious brought us a fungal killer in an old sci-fi cult classic...this is Mantango, or more aptly known in America as "Attack of the Mushroom people".

When I was just a kid, I'd see this spooky gem on old horror serial shows, such as Rich Koz's "Son of Svengoolie".

I remember being quite scared of it as a youth, so when I decided to watch it again in a good format, when I was 31 years old, I expected it to be super cheesy, and to some degree it is.

However, I quickly realized it was actually STILL spooky, but in all the right and WEIRD places.

Right away, this movie has a very unique surreal and dream-like quality to it. Nothing any Japanese horror of that time presents, and it actually has an odd "David Lynch" aspect to it.

And I could see why there was a rumor that the nature-scapes in this movie and bizarre fungal prehistoric-looking sets were director Miyazaki's original inspiration for the Toxic Jungles in his 1984 Nausicaa anime film.

And rightly so, since Mantango debuted in 1963, he probably was a connoisseur of Japanese sci-fi, and this film was no doubt one such movie on top of that list.

It expertly captures a nightmare world, which the stragglers of a boating accident fall into.

Here, we have a great plot set up, but this was backed up by some serious creepy atmospheres and environments.

The characters are actually interesting, too, with some very humorous, others tough, and still others greedy.

And the two women in the film gave great portrayals of opposites side of each other.

The plot put them crashed on a very strange island that is always clouded in thick mist, sometimes permeating a queer green or sepia color.

Here, they discover a large, abandoned sailing ship, but the innards of the ship are coated with all manner of molds and fungi.

Far too damaged to ever set sail again, the survivors use an assortment of chemical agents they find left on the old research vessel to clean up the place.

Soon, they all move in and make it their home, a safe and secure spot away from the dark and foreboding jungles abroad.

After fighting one another for the few remnants left over on the Sailing ship, they slowly begin to starve, despite sending fishing and hunting parties to try to catch game.

But nothing seems to live and grow on this island except the tree-high stalks of fungus and mushrooms.

Although one member of the group identifies the mushrooms as poison, because they have a drug-like euphoric effect, they keep eating the mushrooms, more so, as they were starving and with no back up food reserves.

As those that give in to hunger leave the security of the boat to dwell in the eerie humid jungles of the island, some return, now full, tempting them to eat the mushrooms in these odd sorts of hallucinogenic pleas.

At some point, it is revealed that after eating the mushrooms, the people there become actual mushroom hybrids, human-sized fungi monsters with armored shroom skin, not unlike the "Bloaters" from the Last of Us franchise.

At any rate, I won't spoil the film, but it is well written, has good character actors, and plays on both atmospheric AND body horror; a rare mix today, let alone among the 1960's.

And there are some social cues in it revolving around contrasting morality over drug use (the mushrooms are no doubt parodied to as acid or weed), but after all... it was the f*cking 1960s!

Although some suitmation effects are dated, the overall feel of this movie is aesthetically beautiful and the horror aspects of it is strong and well-paced.

I recommend it for anyone interested in surreal and unique horror.

There have been some rumors of a remake, and one actually by Nymphomaniac, Antichrist, and Melancholia director Lars Van Tier, which if true, I'm sure would be the stuff of nightmares.

But so far, no director admits to taking on this film for a modern remake.

-- Dark Riddle.

Description
Mantango: Attack of the Mushroom People

Strange Encounters File 4: MatangoStrange Encounters File 4: Matango (youtube.com)

Long before the Last of Us video games and the live action series, Toho studious brought us a fungal killer in an old sci-fi cult classic...this is Mantango, or more aptly known in America as "Attack of the Mushroom people".

When I was just a kid, I'd see this spooky gem on old horror serial shows, such as Rich Koz's "Son of Svengoolie".

I remember being quite scared of it as a youth, so when I decided to watch it again in a good format, when I was 31 years old, I expected it to be super cheesy, and to some degree it is.

However, I quickly realized it was actually STILL spooky, but in all the right and WEIRD places.

Right away, this movie has a very unique surreal and dream-like quality to it. Nothing any Japanese horror of that time presents, and it actually has an odd "David Lynch" aspect to it.

And I could see why there was a rumor that the nature-scapes in this movie and bizarre fungal prehistoric-looking sets were director Miyazaki's original inspiration for the Toxic Jungles in his 1984 Nausicaa anime film.

And rightly so, since Mantango debuted in 1963, he probably was a connoisseur of Japanese sci-fi, and this film was no doubt one such movie on top of that list.

It expertly captures a nightmare world, which the stragglers of a boating accident fall into.

Here, we have a great plot set up, but this was backed up by some serious creepy atmospheres and environments.

The characters are actually interesting, too, with some very humorous, others tough, and still others greedy.

And the two women in the film gave great portrayals of opposites side of each other.

The plot put them crashed on a very strange island that is always clouded in thick mist, sometimes permeating a queer green or sepia color.

Here, they discover a large, abandoned sailing ship, but the innards of the ship are coated with all manner of molds and fungi.

Far too damaged to ever set sail again, the survivors use an assortment of chemical agents they find left on the old research vessel to clean up the place.

Soon, they all move in and make it their home, a safe and secure spot away from the dark and foreboding jungles abroad.

After fighting one another for the few remnants left over on the Sailing ship, they slowly begin to starve, despite sending fishing and hunting parties to try to catch game.

But nothing seems to live and grow on this island except the tree-high stalks of fungus and mushrooms.

Although one member of the group identifies the mushrooms as poison, because they have a drug-like euphoric effect, they keep eating the mushrooms, more so, as they were starving and with no back up food reserves.

As those that give in to hunger leave the security of the boat to dwell in the eerie humid jungles of the island, some return, now full, tempting them to eat the mushrooms in these odd sorts of hallucinogenic pleas.

At some point, it is revealed that after eating the mushrooms, the people there become actual mushroom hybrids, human-sized fungi monsters with armored shroom skin, not unlike the "Bloaters" from the Last of Us franchise.

At any rate, I won't spoil the film, but it is well written, has good character actors, and plays on both atmospheric AND body horror; a rare mix today, let alone among the 1960's.

And there are some social cues in it revolving around contrasting morality over drug use (the mushrooms are no doubt parodied to as acid or weed), but after all... it was the f*cking 1960s!

Although some suitmation effects are dated, the overall feel of this movie is aesthetically beautiful and the horror aspects of it is strong and well-paced.

I recommend it for anyone interested in surreal and unique horror.

There have been some rumors of a remake, and one actually by Nymphomaniac, Antichrist, and Melancholia director Lars Van Tier, which if true, I'm sure would be the stuff of nightmares.

But so far, no director admits to taking on this film for a modern remake.

-- Dark Riddle.