One of Japan's leading literary maestros of the macabre, Edogawa Rampo (or Ranpo) hasn't been adapted nearly as often as the basis for his pen name, Edgar Allan Poe. However, like Poe his tales have been mashed up into single-narrative films over the years, most famously The Watcher in the Attic, Blind Beast, and Horrors of Malformed Men, as well as solo-story works like Gemini and the 1994 arthouse success The Mystery of Rampo. Then there's the ambitious omnibus film Rampo Noir from 2005, which brings together four different filmmakers to each adapt one of the author's stories in their own distinctive style. As with most horror anthologies, each tale probably won't land equally with viewers; by general consensus and definitely in agreement here, the latter half of the film is quite a bit stronger and justifies what might be a struggle for some with the opening two entries. It's all quite beautifully mounted and serves as an intriguing showcase for actor Tadanobu Asano (Shōgun, Ichi the Killer, Thor) who appears in all of the stories in very different roles.

Things kick off on a very avant-garde note with "Mars's Canal" by music video specialist Suguru Takeuchi, which has no dialogue (and almost no sound) as it follows a nameless, naked Asano confronting himself, his lost love, and a possible atrocious act that alters his own sense of identity. Then in Ultraman director Akio Jossoji's "Mirror Hell," Rampo's recurring detective, Kogoro Akechi (Asano again), investigating the mysterious death of a tea ceremony teacher whose face has melted, a sinister mirror, and subsequent fatalities tied to the same location. Visually stylish with a desaturated gold look, this one also segues briefly into some strong roman porno-style shenanigans involving rope and a burning candle. Then in Hisayasu Sato's "Caterpillar," a wounded war veteran is sexually and violently accosted and tormented by his wife (Yukiko) who thinks of him as being in a transition phase before turning into a butterfly. In "Crawling Bugs" by manga artist Atsushi Kaneko, a cabaret performer and actress (Tamaki) is drawn into a bizarre pathological world created by her chauffeur (Asano) which finishes the whole film off on a particularly twisted note.

Though it can be a challenging sit at times, these four stories provide a memorable and often beautiful-looking collection of ways to interpret the famed storyteller's work. Not surprisingly, the film had more exposure on the art film circuit than in the horror community given the often abstract or experimental streak that runs through it; however, the fusion between the two has become more commonly accepted in recent years with the drastically increased number of Japanese releases for Western consumption in the past two decades. As the audio commentary by Jaspar Sharp and Alexander Zahlten notes on the 2025 Blu-ray release from Arrow Video, coming back to the film so many years later after its widespread festival run is like seeing an old friend again in some ways (albeit a really strange friend!). The presentation here looks beautiful and captures the varying aesthetic approaches of the stories, with the second and fourth ones shining in particular with their striking color schemes. The LPCM 2.0 stereo Japanese track sounds great throughout with some very jarring separation effects at times, and optional English subtitles are provided.

In addition to the excellent commentary (which is loaded with info about Rampo and all of the filmmakers among many, many other topics), the disc is packed with video supplements that help put some of the more bizarre angles of the film in perspective starting with "Another World" (14m4s), in which Takeuchi talks about his fandom for Rampo since his schoolboy days (when books were frequently passed around) and how he chose to interpret the source story. Sato gets his turn in "A Moving Transformation" (25m7s) about his own relationship to the author and how he was approach by producer Dai Miyazaki to jump into this crazy quilt of a project after their work on direct-to-video productions. In "Butterfly Queen" (13m49s), Kaneko talks about the process of making "Crawling Bugs" and film studies that surprised the producer, the decision to make this in live action despite his background, and the usefulness of his art skills to storyboard for the crew. In "Hall of Mirrors" (25m19s), cinematographer Masao Nakabori covers his collaboration with Jissoji on "Mirror Hell," his work in TV with Ultraman and Ultraseven among others, and the aesthetic approach they took to the story after an unusual screenwriting process. In "The Butterfly Effect" (15m47s), "Caterpillar" cinematographer Akiko Ashizawa recalls her own search for a career after school, her move into doing pink films, her strong friendship with the director, and the artistic reasons behind taking so many voyeuristic tactics to tell the story. Finally in "Looking in the Mirror" (13m58s), actress Yumi Yoshiyuki looks back at "Mirror Hell," her lack of familiarity with the director when he first started casting her, the artistic approach that appealed to her, and the role details like hair and makeup played in putting her character together. The archival SD video extras include "Stage Greeting" (15m6s) with the cast and directors introducing the film at its Japanese premiere and the 2006 Tatsuya Fukushima documentary Cross the Lens (75m45s) featuring extensive coverage of the entire production. Also included are six image galleries (a main one and individual for each segment), while the package comes with an insert booklet with new essays by Eugene Thacker and Seth Jacobowitz.

Reviewed on January 22, 2025