Review: You may not think that giant mushrooms can be scary, and you're probably right, but this should never stop you from catching MATANGO. Produced by Toho and directed by their most renowned science fiction director, Ishiro Honda (also know as Godzilla’s father), MATANGO is quite a visually unique Japanese film filled with colorful and spectacular sets and designs.

The film's beginning is rather straightforward and feels like the Japanese version of Gilligan's Island, which ironically was also produced at around the same time. The first hour of MATANGO is really the most interesting part as the characters have to explore the unfriendly deserted island and try to solve the mystery of the strange ship. Why has the whole crew vanished without a trace and what are those strange beings spying on them? The tension-building is well done, but unfortunately the mystery element is stretched a bit too long, and after a while this tension has simply lost its appeal.

Each character is as colorful as the sets themselves, but also very much a stereotype in their own way. However, the characters' development also suffers from a repetitive pace. The group of survivors are often confronting each other and the mysterious beings of the island in a subtle way, but all these scenes seem to become pointless after a while and when the film reaches the final climactic conclusion, it feels like it happens too late. You also notice that in the end you barely remember each character for what they were and are only left with a souvenir of what they have become. A more balanced story pace and less stretched-out suspense would have greatly enhanced the viewing experience.

With its great dose of oddities, rubber suits and cheap scares, MATANGO's strongest achievement is on the set creation and atmosphere. The movie looks gorgeous, like a painting that has come to life right in front of your eyes. It would have probably been an amazing experience for these actors to shoot on sets like these, and judging by their acting performance, it probably helped a lot to feel how someone would feel discovering these strange lost and mysterious locations.

Each of the seven characters is well portrayed even if they feel a bit stereotyped, but I guess this can be easily forgotten due to the age of the film. At least the stereotype factor doesn’t really hurt the film and is easily forgotten during the development.

As for the scare factor, well MATANGO feels likes a scary movie but in the end is not really either frightening or laughable. Director Ishiro Honda handled the film very seriously and it shows and works well too; nice atmosphere, strange spying shadows and tension between the characters. It works too well, until the actual monsters appear on the screen. Giant carnivorous mushrooms are not exactly very scary. However, the half-people mushrooms, which appear earlier than the giant mushroom, were very well done with very creepy and effective make up. It's a shame that they were not used more during the film.

In the end, MATANGO is an enjoyable film, with an interesting story that's developed in a very spooky environment with nice visuals. Unfortunately, It has aged on the standard of the scare factor, so don’t expect too much on that side, but it’s overall an enjoyable film for those who like oddities from the past.