S2E2 Psychedelic Kaiju w/ War of the Gargantuas (1966) & Matango (1963)

S2E2 Psychedelic Kaiju w/ War of the Gargantuas (1966) & Matango (1963) Kevin Moss from the Junk Food Dinner podcast joins Cory and Bob for the most wigged-out Japanese monster movies ever to come out of Toho Studios. First, it's the good Brown Gargantua vs. the evil Green Gargantua in a battle of land and sea elemental forces in the appropriately titled WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS (1966), an epic that rattled the minds of everyone from Guillermo del Toro to Tim Burton to friggin' Brad Pitt (who gushed about it once during The Oscars). It's also a favorite of Mark Mothersbaugh of DEVO, who used to close out their set with "The Words Get Stuck in My Throat," the baffling-yet-catchy pop song that's ruined by Green Gargantua in the middle of the movie. Watch for it. The Gargantuas are about half the size of Godzilla or Rodan, and they don't have tails, so they move fast and hurl tanks like they're baseballs. Starring a decidedly unimpressed Russ Tamblyn from the original WEST SIDE STORY and the lovely Kumi Mizuno. Things get even weirder with our second feature, MATANGO (1963) aka ATTACK OF THE MUSHROOM PEOPLE. Seven stranded castaways (or maybe a few more) are shipwrecked on an island where the only thing to eat are mutated mushrooms with the power to transform you into creepy toadstool creatures. It's kaiju meets full-on body horror. Kumi Mizuno is back for this one along with Yoshio Tsuchiya and Akira Kubo. Both of our films also feature the artistry of Gojira director Ishiro Honda and special effects wizard Eiji Tsuburaya, which makes Honda the most featured director on OLD MOVIES FOR YOUNG STONERS of all time, since we profiled his ALL MONSTERS ATTACK (1969) in Season One, Episode Six. We haven't even done Orson Welles or Fritz Lang movies yet, but we've featured three Ishiro Honda movies. Priorities! Big thanks to Kevin Moss for joining us. His indispensable JUNK FOOD DINNER podcast is streaming on Apple Podcasts and your favorite podcast app. You can learn more about it at junkfooddinner.com. All of Bob's Ishiro Honda knowledge in this ep comes from the excellent book, "Ishiro Honda: A Life in Film from Godzilla to Kurosawa" by Steve Ryfle and Ed Godziszewski. Bob purchased the book from MZS.press, the bookstore run by movie and TV critic Matt Zoller Seitz out of his home. Highly recommended. Join us in March for our International Women's Day Episode with Agnès Varda's Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962) and The Hitch-Hiker (1953) by Ida Lupino. Rog Franklin, Rest-in-Power. Co-hosts: Bob Calhoun & Cory Sklar. Greg Franklin and Philena Franklin are on assignment. Contact: oldmoviesforyoungstoners AT gmail DOT com