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Attack of the Mushroom People

Play trailer Poster for Attack of the Mushroom People Released Aug 11, 1963 1h 29m Sci-Fi Play Trailer Watchlist
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Tomatometer 4 Reviews 65% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
A man in a padded cell tells of being shipwrecked on a foggy island with toadstool-eating tourists.

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Attack of the Mushroom People

Critics Reviews

View All (4) Critics Reviews
Michelle Kisner The Movie Sleuth Those looking for something grim and nihilistic from Ishiro Honda will be intrigued by Matango. Oct 26, 2019 Full Review Ian Berriman SFX Magazine A surprisingly downbeat example of Japanese horror, with an extremely cynical view of human nature. Apr 20, 2010 Full Review Fr. Chris Carpenter Catholic Sun Rated: 2/5 Nov 4, 2004 Full Review Ken Hanke Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC) Strange Japanese sci-fi film that seems to evoke the effects of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Rated: 3/5 Nov 26, 2003 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (108) audience reviews
Monsol E Not great. A bunch of rich jerks wreck their boat, and drift to an island. Help probably isn't coming, and what food is available is too scarce to support them, except for the obviously dangerous mushrooms of course. when supplies run low, they quickly start scheming and double-crossing each other...only to one-by-one resort to trying the shrooms. The movie started out with a guy telling the story of how he was the only survivor of this, so you knew immediately how it would turn out. The plot was PLODDING, with most of the runtime arguing over food, or which guy gets the girls [uncomfortable] ...eventually the titular "Mushroom people" show up, but don't do much, until people start fungus-feasting...which of course drives them crazy and slowly turns them into mushroom people too. It seemed like there were some jumps/holes in the plot, especially with what happened to the skipper...and when did the last guy actually eat the shrooms? Maybe some important stuff didn't make the final cut? Tho I doubt it would have helped much. The monsters range from dudes with mushrooms growing on their faces, to big vaguely-human-shaped mushroom piles...those ones were admittedly cool, but you don't get to see them very well...and they don't do anything but cackle. At the end, the movie tried to have a theme of "people suck, and are worse than the fungus monsters", but didn't do it well. ...I love old Japanese movies, but this really didn't do it for me at all. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 10/18/23 Full Review Logan M Despite the cheesy title, this is a surprisingly dark, suspenseful, stylish and entertaining film. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 04/30/23 Full Review Audience Member Interesting film that rises above expectations. Weird character study, and even weirder horror element as a group of boaters become stranded on a fog-shrouded fungus-filled island. Campy, slightly psychedelic, and definitely atmospheric. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Joel C Looking at the film quality and style of the filming you wouldn't guess Matango was released in 1963, it could pass for 1983. A story of a yacht full of passengers being stranded on a deserted island with minimal food turns ugly when hunger and jealousy kicks in, then comes the freakish Mushroom People. The set designs and FX look great with a creepy atmosphere on the island. The acting is decent with a pretty basic storyline which has been reused many times since, and nothing seems to look dated inside the super-wide aspect ratio. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/23/21 Full Review Audience Member Japanese horror movie that is AWFUL and full of dumb people. "Oh, look, he ate this stuff and it made him grow this weird stuff . . . I'll eat it, too!" "Oh, we shouldn't go there and touch this stuff, so we'll go anyway!" Recalls mushroom clouds from atomic bombings. Makes you wonder what Japanese are thinking as isn't the typical stereotype that they are smart? That certainly isn't the case here. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 02/14/23 Full Review Audience Member Matango a.k.a. Attack of the mushroom people is a great movie . I do hope you like it . It reminds Me of naked and afraid lol . Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/03/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Attack of the Mushroom People

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Cast & Crew

Movie Info

Synopsis A man in a padded cell tells of being shipwrecked on a foggy island with toadstool-eating tourists.
Director
Ishirô Honda
Producer
Tomoyuki Tanaka
Screenwriter
Takeshi Kimura
Production Co
Toho Company
Genre
Sci-Fi
Original Language
Japanese
Release Date (Theaters)
Aug 11, 1963, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Feb 18, 2018
Runtime
1h 29m
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