Matango: Attack of the Mushroom People

(1963) ***

I was drawn to this film as I had a similar experience at a Phish show a few years back. A group of seven set out to sea to escape the hustle and bustle of city life. The group consists of a writer, a professor, a student, a couple of sailors, a movie star, and another woman who isn't a movie star. Let's just call her Marianne. One inevitable severe storm later, the crew are shipwrecked on a desert island. Unfortunately the island is not as user-friendly as Gilligan's. The only potential sustenance is a meager supply of turtle eggs, some roots and an abundance of giant mushrooms. When they peruse the log of another abandoned ship that washed ashore, they learn that the island was once used to study expermental radiation. Every member of that crew who set out to find food never returned. The log also warned not to snack on the local mushrooms or else you run the risk of mutating into some sort of half human/half mushroom person. Eventually one crew member succumbs to temptation and it all culminates in good old fashioned bugout.

Toho Studios (famous for the Godzilla flicks) delivers what is promised in the title and I must say I took quite a shine to the look of the mushroom people. The story drags for a while (including a love triangle subplot that took precious time away from the mushrooms) but all is forgiven in the grand finale.