Nice price for Mantango/Mushroom People…

Updated on August 12, 2010 By Ken Begg 11 Comments

Amazon is selling the rather nifty DVD for Mantango, Fungus of Terror (aka Attack of the Mushroom People) for $11, 45% off the $20 MSRP.  Although mostly thought of as a camp piece–one of my favorite bits for a long time has been to slowly turn around and then blurt, “I ATE THE MUSHROOM!”–Mantango is actually a pretty damn effective mood piece.  If you haven’t given it a look lately, give it another try, I think you’ll be surprised how creepy it is, especially in the original Japanese.  The disc offers a sweet widescreen presentation, and a commentary track by the film’s lead actor.  I have to say, Toho has been treated pretty well on DVD in this country.

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  • The Rev.

    I need to get this. I’ve never seen it.

  • Ericb

    It was cute when the commentary moderator admitted that this film kept him from eating mushrooms as a child.

  • Gamera

    Thanks Ken. I’m trying to watch the budget right now but I’m so tempted!

    I’ve heard about how crazy this film is and plus it stars the lovely Kumi Mizuno!

  • P Stroud

    Curse you. Now I have to build yet another shelf to store DVDs on!

  • BeckoningChasm

    Count Gore DeVol showed this back in DC, and he edited together a nice little set of clips to the tune of “There Was A Fungus Among Us.”

  • Rock Baker

    Nice, spooky flick. As Attack of the Mushroom People it was only released in (reportedly) black and white TV prints, which might actually add to the show! I’ve not seen the AIP print yet, but when watching the color/scope version I was noticing that many of the scenes would actually be creepier if filmed in black and white. The cropped picture might also add to the trapped feeling the film needs, instead of the wide vistas offered. Toho might’ve missed a chance here by not utillizing black and white stock with a lesser scope. A fine movie, all the same, I just wish they’d offer the AIP/US dubs more often. Viewing the international dub of Yog; Monster From Space provided much humor for my brother and I as the giant turle was identified as the “Stegosaurus-Bat.” Really, what gives?

  • Gamera

    Ok, dominated by the unearthly power of Jabootu I went and ordered it and a few other films I’ve had my eye on.

    If anyone asks: ‘Jabootu made me do it…’

  • Toho owns the rights to the (often awful) “international” dubs, because they provided them. It’s a mark of their quality that companies like AIP would lay out money to do their own dubbing. However, US companies also tended to edit their version (even to occasionally good effect; clipping out Godzilla’s blah initial appearance in Son of Godzilla adds a lot of drama to his emergence later on, and speed the action up). So the AIP / whatever dubs usually don’t sync up to the uncut Toho versions, etc.

  • The Rev.

    They identified Kamoebas as a “Stegosaurus-bat”???

    Wha…buh…huh!?

    Especially considering the weakness to bats the critters in that movie had…

    WOW. Just WOW.

  • Rock Baker

    Yeah, our reaction to the Stegosaurus-Bat line was composed mostly of arched eyebrows, open mouths, and tilted heads, with a generous period of looking at each other in a mix of astonishment and search for confirmation that we’d really heard that.

    The uncut Toho flicks make for some nice compare and contrast reflections on the versions we’re familiar with. Ideally, we’d get both versions each time, like those nifty sets with Ghidrah the Three Headed Monster, Monster Zero, and Terror of (Mecha)Godzilla. Though even those could kick in some US trailers, and I still haven’t forgiven them for replacing the title card of Gigantis the Fire Monster with that cheap video title card reading “Godzilla Raids Again.”

  • Rock Baker

    By the way, what about the Brenco releases? Human Vapor? Gorath? The Last War?