The first half of Matango (AKA Attack of the Mushroom People) is rather mundane, but the second half is such a weird, one-of-a-kind experience that I ended up having a lot of fun(gi) with it.

Directed by kaiju legend Ishirô Honda, Matango is far removed from his Godzilla movies: it's an Invasion of the Bodysnatchers-inspired tale imbued with an otherworldly Lovecraftian atmosphere, in which seven people wind up on a strange, fog-shrouded, deserted island after a storm trashes their yacht. The group explore the island and set up base in a wrecked scientific ship found stranded on the beach. With food in short supply, and no sign of rescue, tempers become frayed and loyalties crumble.

So far, so humdrum, but things get interesting when, one by one, the starving survivors take to sampling the strange fungi that proliferates the island, the result being hallucinations and a gradual transformation from human into walking mushroom. Is life as a giant agaric preferable to death?

It sounds ridiculous, but Honda succeeds in making the crazy premise extremely creepy through excellent use of his locations - the rusty, fog-bound, deserted ship and the mushroom covered jungle (which is like something out of a really twisted fairytale) - as well as truly nightmarish sound effects. Honda keeps the mushroom people hidden for the most part - we're only given glimpses of their distorted features, which adds to the horror: one presumes that they're so hideous, the director is reluctant to show too much for fear of scaring away viewers.

At the end of the film, we finally get to see the full consequences of eating the fungi, and while it's clearly people shuffling around in rubber costumes, the idea of being turned into a walking mushroom monster is so freaky that it still works.

7/10. Stick with it - it gets better.

Forget the social and political upheaval: back when the world was still black and white, a kid could count on one thing, and one thing only- the Friday night fright fest. A daily dose of DARK SHADOWS, after school, was enough to get you through the week. Come the weekend, Friday or Saturday night 'round midnight, the real fun would begin: SHOCK THEATER (usually a double feature, hosted by some local stalwart in whiteface and black tie and tails, more often than not sporting a black cape). Thanks to Netflix, I was able to relive one of my fondest late-night childhood memories just this past week: I rented (via mail, no less) ATTACK OF THE MUSHROOM PEOPLE. Surprised first to find that this Nipponese nifty was actually in color, I was pleasantly surprised, also, to find that it was still creepy, after all those years. Want to know what "old school horror" was really all about? Check out this one. You won't be disappointed.