Matango (1963)

A different kind of movie from Toho, 16 July 2005

Matango is an odd little movie. Coming from Toho, I expected rubber-suited monsters to dominate the action. But that's not the case. The creatures in Matango don't appear until the final 15 minutes of the movie. And when they do appear, they barely move at all. Not what I expected from the house that Godzilla built.

Instead of cartoon violence, Matango is a much darker movie than most of the other Toho movies I've seen. Instead of city-stomping monsters, Matango excels at atmosphere. The abandoned ship and the lush jungle island are wonderfully creepy places where anything could be lurking around the corner.

If you're so inclined, I suppose there are a lot of different messages that I you could read into the movie. There's the ease with which people can become uncivilized or the dangers of nuclear war or the effects of drugs on our society. I didn't let any of this get in my way of having a good time with the movie.

Finally, when the movie started, I thought I was watching the wrong DVD. The first 15 or so minutes play like an episode of Gilligan's Island. You've got a skipper, a first mate, a professor, a millionaire, a movie star type, and a girl next door. All of them are laughing and singing on board a yacht out for an afternoon cruise. And just like the ill-fated Minnow, the ship in Matango runs aground on a deserted island. Freaky!

7/10