Rampo Edogawa

Four short films, based on stories by Japanese mystery writer Rampo Edogawa, explore dark themes of obsession, sex and death. In "Mars Canal," a naked man wanders alone through a swamp recalling a former lover. "Mirror Hell" follows a serial killer with a fixation on hand mirrors. "Caterpillar" centers on a crippled veteran, his sadistic wife and their unhealthy relationship. And in "Crawling Bugs," a chauffeur plots to seduce a starlet.

A young woman who models for a well-known photographer, as well as for a sculptor, attends an exhibition of the work in which she features as a subject, and notices a strange man paying very close attention to the feel of a sculpture of her body.

Yukio is living a charmed life: he is a respected young doctor with a successful practice and a beautiful wife. His only problem is that his wife is suffering from amnesia, and her past is unknown. Things begin to fall apart, however, when both his parents die suddenly, killed by a mysterious stranger with Yukio's face. Only when Yukio confronts this stranger will the mystery of his identity, and his wife's past, be revealed. (imdb)

The landlord of a boarding house in 1923 Tokyo, is keen on spying on the bizarre close encounters taking place beneath his roof. One day he sees a prostitute killing a customer, and decides he's found his soulmate. (imdb)

After escaping from an asylum, Hirosuke assumes the identity of a dead man in order to solve the mystery of a weird doppleganger whose picture he sees in the newspaper. Traveling to faraway Panorama Island, he discovers a mad scientist surgically remaking normal human beings into misshapen monsters but that is only the beginning. Hirosuke soon learns the horrible truth about the island and his own family's shameful past, and finds himself plunged into the depths of incest, murder, and madness. (synapse-films.com)

Twisted and macabre, Japanese cult film director Teruo Ishii's final oeuvre follows a dime-novel writer on a bizarre journey that involves a misshapen dwarf and bodiless limbs. After a night out, novelist Kobayashi is returning home when he sees a dwarf carrying a severed arm. What ensues is a strange and convoluted mystery that has Kobayashi aiding his detective friend Akechi in a kidnapping investigation. (Netflix)

Edogawa Rampo is a writer whose latest work is censored by the government, deemed too disturbing and injurious to the public to be allowed to be published. However, after burning his drafts, his publisher shows him a newspaper with an account of events just like his forbidden story. As the film progresses, fantasy and reality intermingle in a tale that draws heavily on influences from Poe and Stoker's Dracula. (imdb)

A cunning female jewel thief named Black Lizard who tries to kidnap Sanaye, a wealthy jeweler's beautiful daughter as part of a plot to steal the jeweler's expensive "Star of Egypt" diamond. To thwart the planned kidnapping, the jeweler hires Japan's number one detective, the brilliant Akechi. (imdb)

A strange murder mystery tale about a lady who asks a forgery artist (Hiroyuki Sanada) to forge a series of rare bondage / torture paintings for her. Upon discovering that the client was actually the original model in those paintings, he murders her. (foolamak.com)

Based on Edogawa Rampo's novel. A mystery writer vows to protect the woman he secretly loves, but disaster strikes when he turns detective himself.

Part 1 in this four-part mystery adventure, detective Kogoro Akechi and the members of the Boy Detectives Club must capture the Bronze Monster, a giant metal monster that steals valuable clocks.

Part 2 in this four-part mystery adventure, detective Kogoro Akechi and the members of the Boy Detectives Club must capture the Bronze Monster, a giant metal monster that steals valuable clocks.

Part 3 in this four-part mystery adventure, detective Kogoro Akechi and the members of the Boy Detectives Club must capture the Bronze Monster, a giant metal monster that steals valuable clocks.

The final part in this four-part mystery-adventure, detective Kogoro Akechi and the members of the Boy Detectives Club must capture the Bronze Monster, a giant metal monster that steals valuable clocks.

Private detective Kogoro (Kouta Kusano) receives a request from Naoko (Yuki Mamiya). She is the daughter of a family that runs a large hospital. Naoko wants private detective Kogoro to investigate her fiance Endo (Yasushi Fuchikami) and whether he is having an affair with university student Teruko (Noriko Kijima).

After seeing her husband off to work, the young author identified only as Yoshiko sets off to read the large collection of letters she received from other young authors. These are often letters containing samples of their work for critique. One large envelope contains a letter. The letter-writer does not provide his name. The letter is a confession of crimes. The letter-writer has no family or friends, and claims to be "ugly beyond description".

Horror film about a killer dwarf.

Shuichi Minamida lives comfortably on the proceeds of his father's legacy, but he struggles with the idea that his beautiful wife, Moyako, no longer loves him. One day he confesses his worries to Kotoura, his dentist. Kotoura summons the Akechi detective agency and asks them to investigate his friend's wife, Miyako. Fumiyo Akechi takes the case and begins her investigation. She soon notices that something strange is going on between Miyako and the dentist.

A soba restaurant owner dies mysteriously on D. Street. The police rule it as a suicide, but Detective Akechi Kogoro and his wife Fumiyo think otherwise and launch their own investigation. As they delve deeper, they discover relationships twisted by perverted desire and hideous affection and hatred.

Ise, a successful entrepreneur, accidentally murders his lunatic wife after he is spotted having an affair with his secretary, Harumi. In his attempt to perfect his crime, he drives to a remote quarry to bury his wife’s body, but along the way, he finds another dead body in the back of his car! Given no choice, Ise dumps both bodies. Meanwhile, Yoshie begins her search for her missing brother, Yoshihiko. After surprising twists and turns, Ise faces his fate. (Avistaz)