A.K.A. ATTACK OF THE MUSHROOM PEOPLE-- At last, as long promised, we narrated this 1962 Japanese Monster Movie, although KrOB never did show up. Jett and Dr. H. Owll experienced the Mushroom mystique both externally and internally, as it were. Artistically, we think it is another fine movie from Inoshiro Honda, the father of the Giant Monster "Kaiju Eiga" genre. In this case, the film is just such a "Kaiju Eiga" (that is, a straight-up Monster Movie) somewhat closer to the horror than to the science-fiction picture, though employing SF elements, including mention of then-contemporary atom research in that part of the dialogue transpiring aboard the ghost boat in which the marooned cast are living on the misty, fungus-shrouded isle. It is closer to BINJO TO EKITAI NINGEN (L'HOMME H-- known in this hemisphere as H-MAN, 1958) than to the far more famed GOJIRA (1954), both directed by Honda. Anyway, MATANGO truly is a most original movie in director-auteur Honda's career. It may be reminiscent, as some have mentioned of William Hope Hodgson's novel preoccupations, and yet we believe it evolved independently as an intriguing narrative. Actually, we have heard that in France, a smart distributor has bought the rights from Toho and distributed MATANGO in a beautiful Cinemascope restoration... We're unsure if the crisp print we viewed and narrated is that version. The English language subtitles tend to make that assumption doubtful.

Before we began that mushroom-saturated journey, we read lyrics from David Normal, his Space Cat Ballad. The Cult of the Cat continues and will be happening soon at Patricia's Green in Hayes Valley. So, despite the Disco Reptilians, next door, we hope we presented a more than ordinarily entertaining episode of our show.