Rampo Noir

The Japanese horror genre has rapidly become stale. Films like The Ring, The Grudge and The Eye put J Horror on the map but the multitude of copycat films that followed featuring ghosts, strange Japanese school girls and possessed televisions soon lessened the impact of those atmospheric chillers. The moment Hollywood hammered the final nail in the genre with its incessant and redundant remakes of seemingly every single Japanese horror film under the sun, often poaching the original director for good measure, meant the prospect of sitting through the latest excursion into Tokyo terror was not a joyous one.

Based on stories by Japanese mystery writer Tarō Hirai, writing under the nom de plume Edogawa Rampo, apparently the Japanese rendering of Edgar Alan Poe, Rampo Noir is a breath of fresh albeit repugnant air on the moribund genre. An anthology of four incredibly disturbing short stories, the film takes the horror out of the shadows and dangles it far too close for comfort. All four stories push the boundaries of good taste. Some will find them slow and pretentious and to be honest; they are but they are also so much more.

Takeuchi Suguru’s Mars’ Canal begins the collection in somber silent mode; barely a word of dialogue is spoken during this segment as a lone figure reminisces about his traumatic final encounter with his former lover. His nakedness against the harsh landscape that surrounds him only accentuates his deep sense of loss and anger. The performance by Tadanobu Asano, of Ichi The Killer fame, is extraordinary considering the lack of dialogue he has to work with.

Mirror Hell, brought to us by Jissoji Akiom is a seemingly straightforward tale of murder most foul as a private detective tries to find the dark secrets behind a series of bizarre killings all linked by the presence of a hand mirror. It goes some way in describing how strange the rest of the stories are when you say that this story about a killer featuring some strange bondage and wax fetish scenes is probably the most normal of offerings here.

Sato Hisayasu’s Caterpillar is a truly sickening story of obsession unlike anything I have ever seen. When a war veteran returns home having lost his arms and legs, his wife is left to care for him. She is soon driven mad by the strain and begins to torture her “little caterpillar”. All in the name of love. This is horrific to watch but the true horror in the piece is the depths that people will descend to in the name of love. The final moments will leave you speechless.

Finally, we have Crawling Bug directed by Kaneko Atsushi. This is a candy-coloured nightmare that begins in a dreamland and soon plummets the depths of human depravity. David Lynch would have been proud of this neurotic character who is so incapable of human contact that he comes out in a rash whenever he touches anybody. Not good when you are infatuated with a gorgeous chanteuse. Before you can say “pass the embalming fluid”, he has thought of a plan and things are getting a little crazy. The final line of dialogue will either have you in stitches or screaming at the screen.

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