Runtime: 89 minutes
Directed by: Ishiro Honda
Starring: Many people who were in various Godzilla films
From: Toho
By now I’ve witnessed plenty of movies from Ishiro Honda-either Godzilla and other kaiju pictures or science fiction adventures involving aliens. Matango was something I’ve known of for years as being a different sort of picture from him, one in the horror genre yet the specific details I thankfully had little foreknowledge of beforehand.
A group of people (both rich & poor, not always getting along w/ each other from the jump) are on a yacht, when they foolishly stayed out too long, a massive storm hits, they’re left adrift, they wash up on a tropical island, they find a shipwreck-which looked stunning, inside & out-covered in mold, they don’t have much food, the dissention intensifies, then deep in the third act, the body horror begins…
Matango is a darker, moodier, and more psychological film than you’d expect from the director if you only know him for the Gojira pictures. I won’t reveal much more for those wishing to go in relatively blind; the film says plenty about humanity and their attempts to survive a crisis. Even I thought the pacing was methodical; be that as it may, I was still interested as the plot slowly unfurled in an atmosphere thick w/ growing tension and desperation.
IMO, the final act and the creepy scenes (effective both aurally & visually) made the journey worthwhile. Me, it was a gas seeing many familiar faces-each made multiple appearances in Godzilla movies-in a serious film w/ a haunting ending. It will be one of the more interesting films I watch during Spooky Season 2025. If my endorsement isn’t enough and you discount the similarities w/ a certain game franchise turned TV show, none other than Nic Cage, Carpenter and Soderbergh are fans.
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