| Matango | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Ishirō Honda |
| Screenplay by | Takeshi Kimura |
| Story by | Shinichi Hoshi Masami Fukushima[1] |
| Based on | "The Voice in the Night" by William Hope Hodgson |
| Produced by | Tomoyuki Tanaka |
| Starring |
|
| Cinematography | Hajime Koizumi |
| Edited by | Reiko Kaneko[2] |
| Music by | Sadao Bekku |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Toho[2] |
Release date |
|
Running time | 89 minutes[2] |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
Matango (マタンゴ) is a 1963 Japanese horror film directed by Ishirō Honda. The film stars Akira Kubo, Kumi Mizuno and Kenji Sahara. Partially based on William Hope Hodgson's short story "The Voice in the Night", it centers on a group of castaways on an island who are unwittingly altered by a local species of mutagenic mushrooms.
Matango was different from Honda's other films of the period as it explored darker themes and featured a more desolate look. Upon the film's release in Japan, it was nearly banned due to scenes that depicted characters resembling victims of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The film was released directly to television in the United States in a shortened form. Retrospective reviews generally commented on how the film varied from Honda's other work, with its darker tone.
- ^ Galbraith IV 2008, p. 203.
- ^ a b c d "マタンゴ". Toho (in Japanese). Archived from the original on March 25, 2016. Retrieved March 5, 2022.