Kyôfu kikei ningen: Edogawa Rampo zenshû (1969) aka Horrors of Malformed Men

Edogawa Rampo's fiction has been a source of fascination for me over the past few months. Because so few of his works have been translated into English, my exposure to his stories has been exclusively through the cinema. Widely regarded as one of the best adaptations of Rampo, Horrors of Malformed Men is a delirious, psychotronic, and horrifying tale of insanity and depravation. The main character is a medical student stuck in a mental hospital and suffering from amnesia. When he escapes, he is framed for the murder of a beautiful circus performer and takes the identity of a dead man who looks just like him. Turns out this man's wealthy father has been building a secret island habitat for the deformed, most of whom are kidnapped young women that have been surgically experimented upon. Shot in 'Scope and Technicolor, cult director Teruo Iishi paints with broad stylistic strokes, and even incorporates avant-garde dance and a bizarre, eerie soundtrack. Full of suspense and melodrama, Horrors of Malformed Men is ultimately an achimg and poignant drama whose emtoions are very much within the realm of giallo romanticism. Though it does not shy away from transgressive horror, there is a real human soul to this film, and it is the tragic love stories that ultimately leave the strongest impression.