is a 1963 Japanese horror film directed by Ishirō Honda. The film stars Akira Kubo, Kumi Mizuno and Kenji Sahara. It is partially based on William Hope Hodgson's short story "The Voice in the Night" and is about a group of castaways on an island who are unwittingly altered by a local species of mutagenic mushrooms. Matango was different from Honda's other films of the period as it explored darker themes and featured a more desolate look. Upon the film's release in Japan, it was nearly banned due to scenes that depicted characters resembling victims of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The film was released directly to television in the United States in a shortened form. Retrospective reviews generally commented on how the film varied from Honda's other work, with its darker tone. Plot In a hospital in Tokyo, a university professor named Kenji Murai is visited by a man who asks him about the events that led him to the hospital. The story is about a group of crew and passengers on a day trip on a yacht, including Murai; his shipmate assistant Senzō Koyama; writer Etsurō Yoshida; celebrity Masafumi Kasai, the owner of the yacht; professional singer Mami Sekiguchi; and student Akiko Sōma. A sudden storm causes the yacht to nearly capsize. Though the boat remains upright, it sustains severe damage during the storm and drifts uncontrollably. The group arrive at a seemingly deserted island and begin to explore. They come across ponds full of fresh rain water and a large forest of mushrooms. The yacht's skipper, Naoyuki, warns them not to eat the mushrooms because they might be poisonous. As they cross the island, they come upon a wrecked yacht on the shore whose sails are rotted and its interior is covered with a mysterious mold. Finding that the mold is killed by cleaning products, they work to clear it from the ship. In doing so, they begin to suspect that the ship was connected to nuclear tests conducted in the vicinity of the island, with the resultant fallout forcing a bizarre mutation on various organisms native to the surrounding area, including the mushrooms. As the days pass, the group grows restless as their supply of food stores starts to run low. Kasai refuses to help find a way off the island and steals from their food stores instead. After becoming concerned about their provisions,