Based on the works of Edogawa Ranpo, this anthology film features four different stories told by manga artists and directors. It’s a strange film that looks gorgeous and feels incredibly dense.

“Mars Canal, by Suguru Takeuchi, starts the film. A wordless episode, it has a nude man wandering a wasteland and longing for a lover long gone.

“Mirror Hell” was directed by Akio Jissoji (Tokyo: The Last Megalopolis, Ultra Q: The Movie) has Ranpo’s Detrective Kogoro Akechi (Tadanobu Asano) trying to solve a mystery, as women are turning up with burned faces and a mirror figures into the solution.

“Caterpillar” was directed by pinky director Hisayasu Satō and has its lead, a war hero, return home deaf and without limbs, dependent on his wife for everything. All he can do is see and her beauty stands in contrast to the way that she treats him.

Manga artist Atsushi Kaneko directed the final story, “Crawling Bugs,” as an actress is kidnapped by her limo driver.

I’ve never seen any of the work of any of the filmmakers in this and they’ve really created something unique. It’s definitely something different and if you love aesthetically pleasing films that also strive to upset you, good news. This one will do the trick.

The Arrow Video Blu-ray release of Rampo Noir has new audio commentary by Japanese film experts Jasper Sharp and Alexander Zahlten; new interviews with directors Suguru Takeuchi, Hisayasu Sato and Atsushi Kaneko, cinematographers Masao Nakabori and Akiko Ashizawa and Yumi Yoshiyuki; premiere and making-of features; a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Luke Insect and an illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Eugene Thacker and Seth Jacobowitz. You can order this from MVD.