“A simply wondrous film… Hauntingly beautiful and highly underrated.” –Toho Kingdom

Just in time for mushroom-hunting season in Missouri, the Strange Brew cult movie night is flipping the script: the mushrooms will be hunting you with this psychedelic screening of Matango a.k.a. Attack of the Mushroom People (1963)!

Directed by legendary Japanese film director Ishirō Honda, Matango is ahorror story told from the perspective of a mental hospital patient who recounts being the lone survivor of a shipwrecked group stranded on an island. As his group of swinging ’60s Japanese elites struggle to survive, they all ingest mutagenic and mind-altering mushrooms while searching for a source of food. Psychedelic freak-outs ensue, and the group of castaways are picked off one-by-one as ominous creatures stalk the survivors on the mysterious island.    

Based on the short story The Voice in the Night by William Hope Hodgson, the film was nearly banned in Japan during its original release in 1963 because the characters’ depictions of disfigurement were viewed as too closely resembling the victims of the atomic bombs of Hiroshima & Nagasaki. Matango was also the first sci-fi film directed by Honda to not receive an American theatrical release, only getting a direct-to-television release in 1965 retitled as the shlocky Attack of the Mushroom People. Like Honda’s nuclear metaphor Godzilla (1954), his overlooked Matango is a dark, introspective creature-feature and is dying to be discovered by many westerners for the very first time. Think Gilligan’s Island assaulted by The Twilight Zone on Psilocybin. 

THEATER POLICIES

All seats are first-come, first-served.

The theater opens one hour prior to showtime, except for “Happy Hour” events when the theater will open at the event’s start time.

All ages are welcome at Arkadin except for Drinkolas Cage events, which are restricted to 21+. We follow the MPAA rating guidelines for all other films.

Tickets can be purchased using the BUY TICKETS link above. Upon ordering, you will receive a confirmation email from Square. Tickets may also be purchased on the day of the show at the concession counter.

If you’ve purchased advance tickets, when you arrive, please give your name at the concession counter to check in.

Tickets are returnable by sending a request through the contact form located on our About Us page prior to showtime.

When an event is sold out, we reserve the right to release open seats to customers on the waitlist. If you have a pre-purchased ticket and arrive late and there is no seat for you, your ticket will be refunded.

All screenings are held in our indoor theater unless indicated otherwise in the event description above.

Please respect your fellow movie-goers by remaining quiet and refraining from using your cell phone throughout the screening.