Ranpo jigoku (2005) User Reviews

Art Horror anthology succeeds and fails

[ChungMo · 6/10 · 8 September 2006]

Without actually reading a Rampo story, viewers (including me) might be at a be disadvantage appreciating this production. Long, arty in good ways and bad, disturbing and gory at times, this is not an off the shelf horror film even for Japan.

The four directors bring their individual talents to each story. The first story is the most abstract and while very beautiful at times passes like an avant-garde experimental film, evocative imagery to be evoked by few.

The second story is by bad boy director Akio Jissoji. Like other films from his 40 year career it's filled with incredible visual compositions and scenes of S/M sex. The story is reasonably good and the closest to a normal plot in the entire film. The ridiculous S/M scene excluded, this segment works well.

The third by Sato, focuses on mutilation and torment, as a woman "cares" for her "caterpillar" war hero husband. Care includes whipping the invalid and slicing his nipple off. The entire segment takes place in a destroyed bunker, apparently right after or during WWII. The married couple share the bunker with the woman's uncle's assistant who watches over a hidden art collection. The uncle has left for an "island". Bizarre and perverse, this segment is tough to watch at times and not because of the effects. The behavior is very weird and disturbing.

The fourth, apparently by a first time director, is the weakest visually although it has some excellent set design. A rash afflicted limo driver with an extreme germ phobia longs for his boss, a beautiful theater actress. This segment is essentially a head long dive into madness as the driver kills the actress to "save" her from her boyfriend who places weird leeches on her neck. The story shifts gears as the driver now has to deal with the germs rotting her body. While well photographed, after the Caterpillar segment I needed something paced better. The black humor is a relief but this one just takes too long until we get to the very disgusting ending.

Total together? Moderately entertaining for segments two and three. The film has a typical Japanese running theme of violence against women. Even the third segment ends with the woman character getting something done to her by a man. Director Jissoji has been doing films like this for 40 years, get over it man! While the misogyny might not mean anything to you (it's probably the reason some will watch it) the acting might be more of an issue. There's been an unfortunate trend in recent Japanese movies to hire rock and roll pretty boys instead of accomplished actors. Both segments two and three suffer as important parts are given to actors who can't really do the roles. The S/M scene in segment two is just awful because of it.

An interesting experiment in anthology horror. Is about as successful as the Italian/French "Spirits of the Damned" from the 1960's. More disgusting however.

Elegant Japanese Horror Chiller

[zardoz-13 · 7/10 · 22 August 2010]

"Rampo Noir" is clearly not fare for everybody. This beautifully lensed, elegantly crafted anthology of four chilling tales of horror adapted from the writings by the Edgar Allan Poe of Japan, Taro Hirai, a.k.a. Edogawa Rampo, falls far short of perfection. Nevertheless, these films are a good stab in the right direction. Mind you, there is nothing horrific here in the sense of grotesque monsters that strangle nubile babes. "Rampo Noir" isn't a lowest common denominator horror film. If you want something with blood, gore, and more, you're looking at the wrong movie. "Rampo Noir" is sophisticated, ambiguous, art-house horror several steps above the old television anthology shows "The Twilight Zone" and "Night Gallery." These stories are not the kind of chillers that will keep you awake at night with a security light on, but they will definitely mess with your mind. This is the kind of stuff that you savor and watch over and over unless you cannot handle this kind of horror.

The four films are entitled "Mars Canal" and it differs from the other three because it is the shortest, lacks sound, and is wholly experimental. Freshman helmer Suguru Takeuchi's "Mars Canal" concerns a naked fellow (Tadanobu Asano of "Ichi the Killer") who cavorts in a lush landscape and has memories of beating up his sex partner. There is no logical ending in this surreal saga. The remaining three are more conventional, but calling them conventional may be misleading considering their subject matter.

Director Akio Jissoji's "Mirror Hell" is a murder mystery where the authorities discover the bodies of several women who have had their faces incinerated like a microwave. The police find gorgeous hand mirrors at the scene of each death. "Mirror Hell" is the most coherent of the quartet. People in the mood for kinky sex with a candle will enjoy scene between Azusa and Toru which contains the use of rope and candle wax.

The third offering, director Hisayasu Sato's "Caterpillar," isn't as bizarre as the final entry "Crawling Bugs." Nevertheless, it qualifies as every bit as perverted as you may not be able to imagine, much less tolerate. Indeed, "Caterpillar" forms the make-it or-break-it entry. A possessive wife has amputated her husband's arms and legs to prevent him from going to war. First Lieutenant Sunaga (Nao Omori) can still see and drool. The hero's embittered wife vents her frustration and rage on him. She slashes one of his nipples with a shiny straight razor and later she lashes his bare back repeatedly with a bullwhip. She puts the B in ITCH! The poor fellow is powerless to resist her depredations. He has to absorb her anger. Later, the wife has sex with her husband and allows him to enjoy Comparing "Caterpillar" to "Johnny Got His Gun" is partially correct, but "Boxing Helena" might be more appropriate for this surreal and abusive Japanese yarn. Ultimately, the wife mutilates herself out of guilt while a third party photographs her in a wasteland.

The final entry is Manga artist Atsushi Kaneko's "Crawling Bugs," and it is roughly similar to director William Friedkin's 2005 chiller "Bug" with Ashley Judd. In this tale, a chauffeur afflicted with a paranoia for bugs kidnaps a celebrity stage actress, strangles her, and paints her body. Predictably, things turn even uglier before it is over and the authorities put his head out of the bloated corpse's body. Ultimately, "Rampo Noir" pushes the envelope of mainstream cinema, but it doesn't warp you as much as it ought to have. Watching "Ramp Noir" is like slicing your hand up with a straight razor and thinking about the way the blood leaks through your fingers instead of pain that you are needlessly inflicting on yourself.

Effects or defects??? Some explain what.

[dchief8000 · 6/10 · 8 January 2007]

I thought the movie was... interesting. Some parts a little too artsy. I'm not really here to debate the movie but, to ask about the warning in the beginning. What are the EXACTLY talking about pertaining the "intended effects"? I'm not sure if they're talking about the blockey distorted appearance of a scratched DVD or if its just the one I'm watching. After a few minutes it gave me a little headache. I thought that that was what they were warning about until towards the end when the guy in crawling bugs says, "what was I thinking?" then the movie was "normal". I had rented the movie from Blockbuster and it was brand new and undamaged.

A Mixed Bag

[Crap_Connoisseur · 27 August 2006]

Rampo Noir is a collection of 4 short films based on stories by Edogawa Rampo, the so-called "Japanese Edgar Allen Poe". Rampo Noir is widely uneven, painfully pretentious and at least half an hour too long. Despite these shortcomings, the film does offer its fair share of pleasures - stunning visuals, black comedy and a large dose of Japanese weirdness. Rampo Noir is not a great film but it is an interesting addition to the very small genre of "arthouse horror".

The first of the four films sums up everything that is wrong with the project. A naked man running towards a lake is inter-cut with a naked couple wrestling. The film is silent and partly shown in slow motion. I'm sure there was a deep philosophical reason behind this but I was basically too bored to bother considering what it might be. Even the French would be embarrassed by this exercise in pretension. The next segment, Mirror Hell, is an improvement. For starters, it has sound and a narrative. Mirror Hell is a mystery about a mirror that has the nasty habit of burning off faces. The film is not particularly riveting and some of the special effects are clumsy and not very convincing. The segment is saved by some arresting photography and a wonderfully kinky sex scene between Azusa and Toru, which involves a lot of rope and candle wax.

Caterpillar is the third and, in many ways, most successful of the films at pushing the envelope. This film has an edge that the first two segments are sorely missing. The basic premise of the film is a wife who appears to have amputated her husband's arms and legs in order to save him from going to war. This film explores domestic violence and domination from the unusual angle of a female perpetrator. Caterpillar is an interesting thesis about love in one of its most warped incarnations but instead of shedding light on the issues it puts forward, the film is happy to be a kind of Japanese "Boxing Helena", with its focus firmly directed at shock value and titillation. And it is exceedingly successful at meeting these goals. The scenes where the wife makes her limbless husband eat from a dog bowl and then beats him with a riding crop certainly leave an impression, as does a gruesome scene where she cuts off his nipple. The film also offers a large dose of kinky, limbless sex which is portrayed as vilely erotic. Caterpillar is a nasty little film and Rampo Noir is all the better for it.

Crawling Bugs is the fourth and final segment of Rampo Noir. This film once again explores the idea of how the illusion of love can be the catalyst for the most abhorrent situations. Crawling Bugs tells the story of Masaki, a man who can not bear to be touched by other human beings. This obviously affects his chances with Fuyo, so he kills her and takes her home to be his bride. Despite the multitude of possibilities that this scenario offers, Crawling Bugs avoids the explicitness of "Nekromantik" or even "Kissed", and is happy to be blackly comedic. This is ultimately a smart move as Masaki's vain attempts to keep Fuyo from rotting inject Rampo Noir with some much needed humour and offer some pleasant respite from the sometimes overwhelming level of pretension. Crawling Bugs is visually stunning and very well directed. The gore effects are convincing and the film walks the fine line between the surreal and the plain disgusting with great skill.

Rampo Noir desperately tries to push the boundaries of mainstream cinema but never quite succeeds. In comparison to many of the films emerging from Asia, Rampo Noir is actually rather quaint - with the exception of the large quantity of kinky sex. However, the concept is an interesting one and it offers the opportunity to explore the work of four promising Japanese directors. Rampo Noir is no "Three Extremes" but is worth watching, particularly for the crazy woman with a riding crop.

One of the best Horror Anthology!

[samxxxul · 7/10 · 20 May 2020]

One of my favorite horror anthology after Subconscious Cruelty (2000), this film is with 4 different directors adapting a Rampo Edogawa story, like most anthology films it's uneven but still fascinating. The only connector is Tadanobu Asano (from Ichi the Killer) in a different role each segment. It blends David Cronenberg with Heroic Purgatory (1970) & House (1977). The movie has almost gialesco vibes, aesthetically and argumentative. I loved "The Caterpillar" episode which is the most grotesque, bizarre and industrial madness.

A Nutshell Review: Rampo Noir

[DICK STEEL · 3/10 · 30 August 2009]

Rampo Noir consists of 4 short stories adapted from the works of novelist Edogawa Rampo, with each segment helmed by a different director. Starring art-house regular Tadanobu Asano as almost different characters spanning across the shorts, this film, to put it mildly, should excite art-house lovers since it stars one of their idols, but everyone else, unless you have spare capacity for the bizarre, would likely want to steer clear of this. For omnibus films, you'd come to expect varying standards and levels of enjoyment, and this film is no different.

The first short Mars Canal (Kasei No Unga) directed by Suguru Takeuchi is probably the weirdest of the lot, and the shortest, which consists of dizzying camera work and a non- linera narrative, if there is one anywhere to begin with. Asano stars in his birthday suit as he goes through an intense battle with a girl on a filthy floor, screaming, yelling, kicking, before he finds some peace by dropping himself into a pond of water. You heard me, and it is bewildering. I think if I were to film a toilet scene with a man pooping, that'll make a more interesting subject matter, and I'll throw in sound effects to boot too.

Mirror Hell (Kagami Jigoku) is probably the more palatable of the lot. Directed by Akio Jissoji), Asano plays detective Kogoro Akechi, who's called upon when a series of bizarre murders take place, all linking the victims with strange mirrors in their possession when they meet their demise. Their faces get considerably disfigured, though you don't get to see it verbatim save for a stylized sequence of what may look like acid chewing through flesh. It is here that the narrative moots the point, with reflections, about what is real and what is actually through the looking glass, and has very nice sets made up of full length mirrors that I always tend to look closely at to spot the camera crew. But the narrative will fizzle out in the end because it has to comply with art-house sensibilities, and I felt it left everyone hanging midway without a proper resolution.

Caterpillar (Imomushi) by Hisayasu Sato plays with the caterpillar/butterfly motif. A war veteran, severely disfigured and without any limbs, is left at the mercies of his sadistic wife (Yukiko Okamoto) to take care of him, and is subject to her horniness and liking for S&M sexual torture. For starters you might think that the wife is nothing short of dutiful, responsible and full of love, having removed all traces of mirrors and reflective surfaces so that he won't feel depressed with how he looked (seriously, if you're in that kind of state, you don't need a mirror to know you're screwed), but there's nothing to protect him from the dangers from within - his own wife. There's probably no proper point to this other than an exercise on cruelty against the disabled, and a measure of how sick one can be in pushing the tolerance envelope.

The last short, Crawling Bugs (Mushi), tells of a man's obsession with a woman. Asano returns to star as a different character, this time a limo driver who is infatuated with his client, a beautiful actress (Tamaki Ogawa). This segment got convoluted no thanks to its repetitive and fragmented storyline, which treads once again on reality and perceived reality, what worked to its advantage here is the lush visuals filled with saturated pop colours. You might wonder if director Atsushi Kaneko was schizophrenic in its delivery of this messed up piece, which continues to baffle especially after your energy's sapped by the previous installments to care any more.

If there's a running, unifying theme here, then it'll be the idea of reality (as usual with an art-house flick), and this shows in all the inter-titles used throughout the films, which is written in a mirror image. There's more visual style than solid substance here in driving the films, and I think a trip to the bookstore for the translated works of Rampo Noir might help in digesting some of these stories, and whether or not the filmmakers here had gone to extreme lengths in disfiguring the narrative of the source material. Recommended to those with a large bandwidth of attention.

This achieves exactly what it sets out to do.

[olz_15 · 10/10 · 2 December 2005]

I also happened to have seen this at the very same Japanese festival in Sydney, and I enjoyed it quite a lot.

These shorts are sick. The writer behind the original stories may have a disturbed and twisted mind for inspiring these disgusting tales of torture and obsession, and love (love which is so alien it doesn't really fit the word).

Of course many stories by Edogawa Rampo have been banned already in Japan for that very same reason.

However, these shorts were great examples of how dark cinema can get. These push right to the boundaries, where sense, reason, and any sort of real point is left behind in its own madness. And it does try to make points. They draw parallels between conscious and subconscious, reality and delusion. The surreal images and narratives destroy the boundaries between the two and the flow freely into each other. The film challenges what art really is. Whether it's a beautiful reflection, a horrific image, or something that is both beautiful on the outside but dead and corroded inside. Here we see that mirrors have the potential to be god, trapping us in its frame. Love is horrific. Horrific. These shorts have the potential to repel you in disgust, or to draw you in and lose yourself in its insanity, and for that reason alone it is a powerful work of art.

The four individual directors obviously had a daunting task ahead of them trying to make this. They had to present these tales honestly, and also visually uncover the madness behind them. I don't know about the former, as I haven't read any of Rampo's stories, however visually these films are amazing too. Especially Mirror Hell, which has amazing shots of the actors constantly reflected in dozens of different mirrors.

You leave the film feeling as if the makers had thrown a lot of violence and sex at you stylishly but with no real substance. The shorts are too surreal and disjointed to follow through with any of the points they try to make. The are no answers to be found in these shorts, and nothing profound to learn or re-learn. However, these shorts were never made with such intentions. They were made to show the madness of Edogawa Rampo. They were made to disgust you, and to provoke you. And they mastered that exceptionally.

Whether you like it or not, you won't forget this one.

Nasty, Boring, Pretentious Rubbish

[explodingcat · 1/10 · 2 December 2005]

I had the misfortune of seeing this one at a Japanese film festival. The movie comes off as a pretentious sexual fantasy of a person who gets off on rape and sexual violence. Not exactly entertainment. The movie is completely hollow, what it has to say sounds very poetic but lacks substance, and all four stories are devoid of a compelling storyline. As a result, it feels as if you are watching pornography, very well shot yet very twisted and very very boring pornography ( unless you are seriously poorly adjusted, in which case you may get off on it, and should seek professional help). I don't want to enter into the what is art and what is pornography debate, i think sexual violence has its place in cinema, i thought Once Were Warriors, Irreversible and even The Hills have Eyes ( the original one) were excellent movies that to different extents contained sexual violence, in different contexts. The difference is those movies (well they are excellent and this is pathetic that is one difference) deplored sexual violence this seems to applaud it, and even enjoy it. The film gets nastier and more twisted as it goes along. The second story about mirrors and a string of mysterious murders is like an extremely substandard X files episode. The third story about a man with no arms, legs, or ability to speak being tortured but his wife wearing bondage gear, isn't my idea of a good time. Extremely stupid, really long ( 2 hours and fifteen minutes) and extremely boring. This a complete waste of time. Don't bother.

Mind-blowing!

[polysicsarebest · 10/10 · 7 October 2008]

Uh.. wow. Here's one you will never forget. Four disgusting and insane shorts that seem loosely connected at times (themes of torture, mirrors, obsession, love, bugs, and.. uh.. Tadanobou Asano are in most of the shorts), all lovingly filmed by 4 different directors. Great acting and beautiful visuals throughout and never a dull moment in its 2 hour running time, this film is actually shockingly beautiful and very experimental at times (see the first story which is completely silent) and is just so full of ideas and life that it should be required viewing for everyone who's into cinema that's a little bit different than the norm.

Much more so than the overrated 3... Extremes, this is a film that actually manages to disturb you with its images. Just try getting the images of a disgusting, drooling, dying human caterpillar or a very realistic decomposing corpse out of your head. However, what really sets this film apart are actually the BEAUTIFUL visuals. I can't really describe what makes them so beautiful; you just have to see them.

Completely unnerving and endlessly fascinating throughout, this is definitely some kind of masterpiece that doesn't have any of the monotony that bogs down most pictures of this type. In fact, it's hard to choose a favorite short amongst the 4, because they're all so good! Highly recommended.

Rambo Noir... Here's shooting at you kid

[juliankennedy23 · 4/10 · 4 December 2006]

Rampo Noir: 4 out of 10: My first though was Zardoz that wacky beyond belief Sean Connery sci-fi film. My second thought was Yoko Ono. Both thoughts along with Johnny Got his Gun and Sherlock Holmes flooded me during the four short stories that make up this J-horror anthology.

First the good news this J-horror is one-hundred percent pasty white ghost free. Yup not an insect screeching wet haired concubine of the damned to be found in any of the pictures. The bad news…. Well let's look at the four pictures.

Mars Canal: 1 out of 10: Naked man in arty picture flashes back at a violent rape while a rare static fills the otherwise mute soundtrack. Yup this was the Yoko picture. Fortunately it's only seven minutes.

Mirror Hell: 6 out of 10: Think Sherlock Holmes but Watson is a dominatrix. Very straight forward narrative and is easily the most accessible of the bunch.

The Caterpillar: 5 out of 10: is the Johnny Got his Gun picture. War hero suffers domineering bride with an over the top amputee fetish. Not as bad as I just made it sound… but close.

Crawling Bugs: 6 out of 10: If this film is ever remade by a Hollywood studio I have two words for the main lead in this segment. Crispin Glover. This tale of obsession over both an actress and the bugs crawling on her skin would make a nifty Showtime Masters of Horror segment. Very arty I could see this both written, directed and starring Mr. Glover who certainly shares the films over the top weirdness.

In fact the whole Rampo Noir movie feels a little like a made for cable anthology series except for the first film that defiantly has NEA grant written all over it. Definitely different but often a little slow and not all that good.

The films have virtually nothing to do with each other in tone and are not strong enough to stand on their own. They do kind of remind me of Zardoz. A film to show your jaded friends who think they have seen everything.

Erotic-Grotesque Japanese Anthology

[Rapeman13 · 27 June 2007]

Rampo Noir is an anthology film that loosely adapts four short stories by Japan's foremost crime/mystery writer Edogawa Rampo (a pseudonym inspired by Edgar Allan Poe.) Often called Japan's Edgar Allan Poe, Rampo's macabre tales frequently involve eccentric and/or disfigured characters enmeshed in bizarre plots that can include anything from a wife who turns her husband into a 'caterpillar' to a chair-maker who buries himself inside one of his own armchairs so women can sit on him. Other (Japanese) films based on Rampo's writing include: Blind Beast, The Horror of Malformed Men and Watcher in the Attic.

The first segment is a mostly silent short titled Mars Canal directed by newcomer Suguru Takeuchi. With a runtime of only two minutes it features Tadanobu Asano (Electric Dragon 80.000 V, Ichi the Killer) on some kinda of lunar-scape having flashbacks (dreams?) of beating his girlfriend. Not really much to comment on here - definitely pretty surreal, especially when the lulling silence is suddenly broken with harsh noise sound effects.

The next story is called Mirror Hell and is directed by Akio Jissoji. Again Tadanobu Asano stars, this time as Detective Kogoro Akechi who is investigating a series of deaths in which beautiful women are discovered with their faces melted and their skulls turned into ashes. As a hand mirror is always found at the scene of the crime, Detective Akechi soon learns the deaths are the work of Toru (Hiroki Narimiya) a mad mirror-maker who is continuing the Japanese art of mirror-making the traditional way. This whole segment has an extreme kaleidoscopic feel to it as every shot seems to have 100 mirrors in it, which obviously pays off visually. Also included is a rather random rope-bondage 'n' candle wax session which perks things up a bit sleaze-wise.

Next up is Hisayasu Sato's (Naked Blood) wonderfully perverse entry, Caterpillar. This is definitely the best of the bunch - First Lieutenant Sunaga (Nao Omori) returned from war relatively unharmed but in a psychotically desperate attempt to stop him from returning to the battlefield his wife (Yukiko Okamoto) amputated both his arms and legs and now cares for him as her 'little caterpillar'. I must mention that caring for him includes brutally whipping him, slicing off one of his nipples with a straight razor, gouging out one of his eyes and other deviant acts. This is all gorgeously shot in true Sato style (albeit on a slightly bigger budget than usual) with strange sequences shot in colored negative in which we see through the 'caterpillars' eyes, desolate surroundings and a fantastic finale.

Finally we come to Manga artist Atsushi Kaneko's film-making debut - Crawling Bugs. The story centers around a chauffeur named Masaki (again played by Tadanobu Asano) who becomes obsessed with one of his famous passengers, stage actress Fuyu Kinoshita (Tamaki Ogawa). Masaki is a certified Mysophobe (hates germs & dirt) and gets a nasty rash on his neck when he touches people. Seeing as he is madly in love with Fuyu but can't exactly touch her, he figures a way round this by killing her and taking her home to live with him?! This has to be my second favorite entry as it has some of the most surreal imagery - an almost hallucinogenic set-piece in Masaki's home (mind?) where he paints the dead actress multicolors then unsuccessfully tries to inject her with embalming fluid, resulting in a bloodbath. Plenty of black humor here too - when the police burst into Masaki's apartment he calmly pulls his head free from the rotting belly of his 'lover' and says "what?''. Atsushi Kaneko is one director I'll definitely be keeping an eye on.

Overall, an excellent anthology which showcases a coupla up 'n' coming Japanese directors and which may also introduce a few more folk to the wonders of Edogawa Rampo.

It's extreme alright—extremely boring!

[BA_Harrison · 1/10 · 28 May 2011]

I was watching Rampo Noir on my portable DVD player the other night when the battery ran out of power mid-film; normally this kind of inconvenience would have made me angry, but in this case I was actually appreciative of the break, such is the mind-numbingly tedious nature of this dreary, overlong piece of pretentious art-house drivel.

The film comprises of four strange and erotic tales based on the works of celebrated Japanese author Edogawa Rampo, each connected by the recurring themes of mirrors, perverse love, obsession and the fact that they are all utterly incomprehensible.

Even though extreme boredom had set in within the first minute of opening tale 'Mars Canal', I persevered, telling myself that, with each part realised by a different director, there was the possibility that one of them might be worth a watch. Sadly, all four episodes turn out to be just as stupefyingly dull as the first, despite the introduction of the odd bit of bondage sex, mutilation and other assorted deviancy.

Hell, even Hisayasu Sato, director of such gloriously twisted films as Naked Blood and Wife Collector, fails to impress, having succumbed to the same soporific artsy-fartsy style as his contemporaries. And when that guy doesn't deliver the goods, it's time to start praying for the battery to run out!

The great Sato returns with a bizarre anthology entry

[fertilecelluloid · 8/10 · 17 June 2006]

This is an anthology film comprising four stories. The third story, "Caterpillar", directed by Hisayasu Sato ("Lolita Vibrator Torture", "Naked Blood") is the most horrific of the bunch. It plays like a big budget Guinea Pig episode and focuses on a man whose limbs have been lopped off by his wife. He wriggles about like a caterpillar, spewing bile and oozing pus, and enjoys a spot of cunnilingus now and then. The lighting is beautiful, the production design is handsome, and Sato has never directed anything so lush. The other three stories are also interesting, although the first story, about a devious mirror maker, is very slow. Final story, about a weird man's obsession with an actress, possesses a surreal quality and is dazzling to look at. The fourth story is so short it's hardly worth commenting on. All stories were inspired by Japan's Edgar Allen Poe, Edogowa Rampo, a splendid author of dark tales who was inspired enough by Poe to take his name. Terrific to see a film of such quality that is not afraid to offend or confront. I was reminded of Hideshi Hino's wonderful work while watching this and highly recommend you chase down "Caterpillar".

Creepy and Kinky Art!

[jaycbird · 9/10 · 10 June 2006]

"Rampo Noir" (Rampo Jigoku) is a gorgeous, creepy, kinky to the extreme as well as beautifully conceived and well crafted compendium of four stories by Japanese author Edogawa Rampo (a transliteration of Edgar Allan Poe and the nom de plume of Taro Hirai): "Mars Canal", "Mirror Hell", "The Caterpillar" and "Crawling Bugs". "Mars Canal" bookends the program and launches us into the three other nightmares. "Mirror Hell" was fun and simply GORGEOUS to look at! "The Caterpillar" (which is the pet name a woman has given her husband for horridly KINKY reasons!) totally CREEPED me out! "Crawling Bugs" was dizzyingly lovely to look at, though quite unnerving as the lead character's 'dilemma' was eerily reminiscent of one of my best friends! It has been released on DVD (region 3) in Japan and I. Must. Have. IT!!

Not exactly Rampo, but very effective

[rooprect · 20 October 2014]

"Rampo Noir" is a collection of 4 short films loosely (and I mean 'LOOSELY' like your mouth after a heavy dose of novocaine at the dentist) based on the 1950s short stories of Edogawa Rampo.

The pen name "Edogawa Rampo" is a Japanese katakana phonetic translation for "Edgar Allen Poe" (say them out loud), which shows the author made no attempt to hide the strong influence Mr. Poe had on him. And indeed, perhaps minus Poe's unique sarcastic wit, the two writers are similar in many ways. That is, Rampo was an excellent writer of Victorian surrealism.

Here we have a modern visual adaptation of Rampo's work which falls short of conveying the master's subtle, Victorian style, but as standalone works of 21st century erotica-horror, they are very effective. These films take the psychologically off-kilter imaginings of Rampo and convert them into outright physical, psychosexual nightmares. Rampo never wrote about steamy sex scenes, bondage & blatant perversion, but these adaptations rely heavily on them. Perhaps more noticeable is the way these adaptations are stripped of any morality that Rampo had originally conveyed. These ain't your grandfather's sort of literature. Characters here are unapologetically twisted, evil & sadistic, hardly recognizable as human beings.

If you can get past that, or if you've come here wanting to see some sick, twisted stuff, then read on. You'll probably enjoy these works.

#1 "Mars Canal" - We begin with the shortest one, a silent film showing a man stumbling through a strange landscape while having disturbing, sexual flashbacks. Most people are utterly confused by this one, and indeed the meaning (here as well as in Rampo's original story) is very abstract. The cinematography is gorgeous, making extreme use of vivid greens and light/dark contrast.

#2 "Hell of Mirrors" is so far from the original story that it's unrecognizable, but it has an interesting story nonetheless. The original story was about a man who was obsessed with mirrors to the point that he builds an experimental laboratory dedicated to the study of optical illusions, culminating in a fantastic & shocking experiment where he builds a spherical chamber of mirrors which he enters. The film is, instead, about a series of gruesome murders of women which all involve mirrors. Also stuck in there are some bizarre love triangles and a creepy scene of sadistic sex (none of which is in the original Rampo). I feel this piece's strength is its creepy mood and the mystery aspect of it, as we follow a detective trying to catch the killer.

#3 "Caterpillar" is the sickest of the lot. Be prepared, this one outshines any twisted story I've seen except for maybe "The Human Centipede" (a laughably gross movie about a German doctor who sews a bunch of people together, mouth-to-butt. Who comes up with this stuff??). The original "Caterpillar" by Rampo is about a war hero who comes home disfigured, deaf, mute & quadruplegic. His devoted wife cares for him but wrestles between tender love & her cruel impulses to torment her husband. In this film, the cruel impulses take center stage, are exaggerated and shown in shocking imagery along with sexual perversion. Seriously, this gets even sicker than the 1982 "Basket Case" or any of its twisted sequels. Nothing like the original Rampo except in the opening premise, this film's strength lies in its sheer perversity. Not for the faint of heart!

#4 "Crawling Bugs" is my favorite of the lot because, rather than bombard us nonstop with disturbing images, it breaks up the pace with some satirically bright, comedic scenes. It begins with a jolly, dreamlike scene of a grinning man and his less-than-grinning bride-to-be about to be married in a setting that can only be described as a set from Walt Disney's "Zip a dee doo dah". From there, we get fragmented flashbacks to a consideably darker tale unfolding about a man obsessed with a famous actress. It hops back & forth to the magical wonderland with some excellent dark comedy spicing things up all the way to the hilariously sick ending. Faithful to Rampo or not, "Crawling Bugs" is a real treat for the mildly depraved cinephiles amongst us.

These films have 1 thing in common, and that is an expert approach to cinema as an art form. The films are challenging, fragmented and gorgeously filmed while digging deep into the rancorous well of human depravity. Give 'em a watch, and then if your curiosity is piqued I highly recommend reading the original Rampo stories that spawned them. They're very hard to find, especially in English, so I may try to post a few in the discussion board. I'd love to hear what people think of these adaptations.

Since I fell in love with you my life has been hell

[christopher-underwood · 8/10 · 30 May 2007]

Lengthy anthology of films made from stories by Edogowa Rampo, that all seem to revolve around obsessive love and the consequences of feeling; 'Since I fell in love with you my life has been hell'. First up, 'Mars Canal' comprises a naked man walking across what appears to be a lunar landscape and recalling a naked fight with a lover (?). Not much in this one for me and 'experimental' would probably be the correct tag. Next up, Mirror Hell was a fairly interesting but rather convoluted tale involving mirrors and ladies dying after a tea ceremony. I liked a lot of this but thought it could have been better told. Caterpillar, I thought was masterful. We are confronted with a mere torso and head of a man who is being further injured and degraded (and whipped) by his wife. She says he has returned injured from war and only she can bear to face him but certainly does not treat him very 'lovingly' as we would conceive of the word. There is a lot here of love and hate, of need and possession and although it is at times very hard to watch I was most impressed. The final, Crawling Bugs, doesn't quite match up to the Sato film but is well shot and certainly well worth watching. All told a surprisingly good quartet and tempts one towards the writings of the mysterious, Mr Rampo.

sick, twisted, and AWESOME....

[Sam_Ramzy · 8/10 · 21 May 2012]

This movie is like an experimental metal album, its metal but not what you are used to, this movie is horror but not this kind of horror that we watch a lot, which makes this movie unique, the movie consists of 4 different stories, the first one is short about 3 minutes i think, we it was disturbing but not a bad way to open a film. The next story ((mirrors hell)) could be the lightest movie of them all, it was about a crazy mirror maker who decided to kill all the girls that he loves as the mirrors are jealous!!! twisted and weird story, the problem is that the story is slow, but it got better at the end. the third story and this is where the movie took another direction, is sick and sadistic its about a wife who cut her husband's hands and legs to prevent him from going to war!! not only that she also tortures him, we also get to see one of the sickest sex scenes ever where she has sex with her paralyzed husband, damn it was nasty, the movie was cool, the acting was nice and yes the story was really awesome i loved this story actually, better than the hell mirrors and well i wont forget about what i've seen 4 a while. Now the last story, which is my favourite its about this driver who kills his boss ((an actress and singer)) in order to save her and make her stay besides him as he love her !!! we see how he tries to keep her dead corpse fresh by painting her and trying to inject her with some fluids and stuff, damn it was nasty and sick, it had this black sense of humour, what i loved about this story was Tadanobu Asano ((i think this is his name)) he did a good damn job in playing this paranoid driver, he made his role so believable, which made the story interesting. so to sum things up, this movie is mmm a bit risky, if you are into experimental stuff and for you horror is not only about slashers and hunted stuff then watch this....

Stylish but sickening

[greenhalcyon · 14 December 2006]

This film, an adaptation of four (really three) short stories penned by Edogawa Rampo, is unfortunately more stomach-churning than it is stylish. Given the uniform elegance of RAMPO NOIR's composition and design, that makes the ick factor pretty high. After the relative subtlety and effectiveness of the first piece, "Mirror Hell," the ensuing parade of erotic leeches, quadriplegic sex, sadism, mutilation and necrophilia should be enough to put almost anyone off their dinner. Potential viewers, you've been warned. The images, which are beautiful, will stay with you, but they'll probably inspire a queasy stomach more than they will a sense of fascination and horror. Here's hoping it was more palatable on the page.