Whenever you venture into the realm of Japanese science fiction soundtracks, the shadow of Akira Ifukube is going to loom heavily over everything you do. Ifukube, who was one of Japan's most prolific soundtrack composers, wrote scores for a variety of movies -- including many of Akira Kurosawa's best-known films -- but is best known for his work on the Godzilla series. Starting with the original film and spanning decades, Ifukube's compositions practically defined Japanese sci-fi and monster movie music, and their influence continues to this day. Even when Ifukube wasn't responsible for a score -- and given the sheer number of them he composed, it's rare that he wasn't -- it's obvious that whoever was the composer was putting no small amount of effort into drumming up a soundtrack that was, at the very least, reminiscent of Ifukube.

The good of this is that it sort of created this whole genre unto itself, with its own expectations and traditions. When you hear a Japanese sci-fi score from the 50s, 60s, or 70s, you know exactly what you are listening to. Additionally, Ifukube's phenomenal skill as a composer means the standards of quality were set extremely high -- even if the standards for the movie itself were considerably lower.

The bad of it is that there are a whole slew of top notch composers who are largely unknown by many fans of these movies, or whose work is often mistakenly attributed to Ifukube. Take Sadao Bekku, for example. Bekku was largely a concert composer, but he worked on several film scores, the most notable of which was for the bizarre but highly enjoyable sci-fi horror film Matango -- known to many by the more sensational titles Fungus of Terror or Attack of the Mushroom People. Directed by acclaimed Japanese genre director Inoshiro Honda in 1963, it's easy to assume that Honda -- the man who directed about as many Japanese sci-fi films as Ifukube scored -- tapped Ifukube for the score. And certainly there are moments when there is similarity between Bekku's composition and those of Ifukube. Both men, after all, were maverick composers who thrilled at incorporating off-kilter elements into their more classical arrangements. For Honda, it was everything from Ainu language lyrics to spooky Theremin noodling for anytime aliens were up to no good. Bekku, similarly, was fond of incorporating jazz into his scores. And both men worked at an extremely high level of excellence.

Because of the zany title and the strange subject matter, Matango the film is rarely recognized for what it is: one of the all-time great films in the sci-fi horror crossover genre. Similarly, Bekku's score for the film often fails to receive the recognition it deserves, simply because it is the score to a film about a self-destructive group of people stranded on a tropical island where they are preyed upon by a deadly fungus, probably from space, that turns them into shroom-headed monsters. With such an outrageous description, you wouldn't expect to get the downbeat, moody, atmospheric classic that the movie turns out to be.

Bekku's score matches the film perfectly. The opening theme is a familiar Japanese sci-fi style song, followed by Bekku indulging his taste for jazz with a couple tracks that capture the breezy, decadent lifestyle of the characters before the trouble begins. There's even a jaunty ukulele number. The soundtrack quickly takes a turn for the sinister, however, and becomes increasingly tense, dark, and creepy as it progresses, keeping pace with the events on the screen as the characters descend into madness and the rampant eating of nightmarish space mushrooms. When, for the final track, the score returns to pieces of the finger-snapping title theme, it's become undeniably infused with a malevolent, haunting quality.

Matango is one of the finest horror or sci-fi soundtracks out there, and it deserves to be held in high esteem. Sadao Bekku only worked briefly in film before returning to the world of classical concerts, but even if Matango was his only contribution to cinema, it would be worth it. Strange and eerie, packed with atmosphere, and deft at creating a light and swinging mood that quickly becomes increasingly warped and terrifying, if you dig horror/scifi sound tracks, this should be high on your list.

Track Listing
1. Opening
2. Title Frame
3. Sea Breeze
4. Dark Clouds
5. Jibing
6. Adrift
7. The Transistor Radio
8. The Illusion
9. The Ukeleles
10. An Isolated Island Shrouded In Mist
11. Setting Foot On The Desert Island
12. The Seven Wanderers
13. The Shipwreck
14. Matango
15. Inside The Flames Of Disaster
16. With Memories
17. The Desert Island Enigma
18. Shadows In The Dark
19. In The Rain
20. The Matango Throng
21. When Reason Fails
22. Sakuda's Betrayal
23. The Matango In The Rain
24. The Matango Woman
25. A Million And One Matango
26. The Two Remaining People
27. Skuda's Will And Testament
28. Murai And Akiko: The Matango Attack
29. The Terror Of Matango
30. Akiko Gets Taken Away
31. Pushed To The Extreme
32. Ending
33. Transistor Radio Copy

Labels: Soundtracks