DVD Review: Matango - Attack of the Mushroom People

Matango Party Mushroom Fondue Recipe No. 1963

Have an insatiable appetite for radiation-laced mushrooms and 1960s Japanese horror-fantasy? Why not invite everyone over for a Matango Mushroom Party? It's fun and nutritious! Just get out the fondue pot, light up some tiki torches, and follow the instructions below for a groovy party your friends will never forget.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 lightly greased DVD player
• 1 fresh copy of Matango: Attack of the Mushroom People
• 1 fondue pot
• 3 cups Velveeta cheese
• 2 cups Tenshi cheese, cut into small cubes
• Enough shiitake mushrooms to feed 10 to 15 horrorheads
• Enough beer, wine, and saki to inebriate 10 to 15 horrorheads

DIRECTIONS:

While the cheese is melting in the fondue pot, put on Matango: Attack of the Mushroom People. Make sure everyone has their  beverage of choice and is comfortably seated. Get the shiitake mushrooms ready while they enjoy this Gilligan's Island meets Lord of the Flies — with fungus — cinematic delight. Whenever any of the characters onscreen munch on a mushroom, have everybody yell "Matango!" and dip their mushrooms into the melted cheese. Yummy. You'll have more fun than mimes at a karaoke party!

Inspired by the chilling short story, "A Voice in the Night", by William Hope Hodgson, a crew of seven soon-to-be castaways are enjoying a nice sunny day aboard a wealthy man's yacht. There's the professor, the professor's demure girlfriend, an alluring actress in a big hat, a mystery writer, a disgruntled skipper, some tough guy who never takes his sunglasses off — must be a gangster — and Gilligan. Just kidding about Gilligan.

Before the bikini-clad, ukulele-strumming actress can launch into her next song, with lyrics that consist of the words "lalala" dubbed over and over again, a storm (luckily for us) suddenly whips up. As the sea starts getting rough, the tiny ship is tossed and the skipper yells for everyone to come on deck and lend a hand. Everyone, that is, except the two women aboard. Apparently '60s women were pretty helpless when it came to helping out during crisis situations. While the idiot writer gets tangled up in the rigging, and things go from bad to really bad, the not so brave and sure skipper yells for everyone to go back down below deck. Apparently '60s guys were pretty helpless, too.

The lack of courage and seamanship from the not so fearless crew lands them, and the boat, on the shores of a mysterious island covered in dense, swirling fog. Uppermost in everyone's mind is the need for food, so they start foraging. As they continue to move deeper into the island, they find water and another, much larger, ship run aground.

Article Author: ILoz Zoc

Founder of the League of Tana Tea Drinkers (LOTT D), expiring writer of Zombos Closet of Horror Blog, and valet to Zombos, the noted B-movie horror actor (to his few remaining and decaying fans).

Visit ILoz Zoc's author page — ILoz Zoc's Blog