Matango

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. Retrospective reviews generally commented on how the film varied from Honda's other work, with its darker tone. The film was released directly to video in the United Kingdom as Fungus of Terror and an abridged version aired on television in the United States with the title Attack of the Mushroom People.