Matango

Tired of civilization, seven Japanese people seek distraction on an excursion in a fancy sailing yacht. In distress upon being struck by a sudden storm, they get stranded on a lonely island surrounded by fog. In search of water, they find a wrecked ship with a musty, mushrooming mould. They discover a lab in a cabin in which the effect of nuclear radiation on flora and fauna had obviously been investigated. In a wooden box labelled «Matango» the stranded team finds a huge mushroom. Soon the nerves of the starved people are on edge and the previously civilized protagonists start to go for each other’s throats full of distrust. The two beautiful women must defend themselves against the acts of harassment perpetrated by the men, whose animal instincts are difficult to control upon eating the mushrooms. Ghosts appear at night as the former crew of the ship has turned into ghastly, disfigured mushroom people upon consuming the hallucinogenic mushrooms.

Photo: © Toho Co., Ltd.