Magnificent Japanese Cult Classic ! Bizarre
and almost Experimental Art-Horror and a Crime Mystery after
the writings
of the Edgar Allan Poe of Japan - Edogawa Rampo. Directed by the great
and fascinating Outsider of Japanese film,
Teruo Ishii 1924 - 2005.
Often unhinged and daring he is said to be one of Takashi
Miike's big influences.
The film is based mainly on Edogawa Rampo's "The
Strange Tale of Panorama Island" and starts with doctor
Hirosuke
Hitomi (played by Teruo Yoshida) being in a mental hospital in 1925,
under the Taisho era. He escapes in pursuit of
lost memory fragments and a children's song, and he acts as his own
doppleganger. He arrives to his father, to the
island of Jogoro, where Jogoro (Tatsumi Hijikata) has created his own
paradise, an island with hords of malformed
men. Yes, and Edogawa Rampo's master detective Kogoro Akechi (played
by Minoru Ohki) turns up too.
The film is presented in 2.35:1 widescreen with japanese
audio mono with english subtitles, region all
Extras:
Audio commentary by film critic and Ishii expert Mark Schilling and
a moderator, a text by Jasper Sharp, reversible
sleeve, Malformed Memories - Interviews with i.a. Shinya Tsukamoto who
have been inspired a lot by a master
writer and a master director as Edogawa Rampo and Teruo Ishii (22 minutes),
Pictures from the Teruo Ishii retrospective
held in Udinese, Italy in 2003 (13 minutes), Introduction to this film
by Teruo Ishii himself (3 minutes and 50 seconds),
Trailer, a Poster Gallery and Biographies.
Note December 2022: A very fine DVD edition from
US Synapse this was and when i wrote the above review in 2007
i thought that Panik House maybe had bought Synapse. But probably the
opposite occurred and Synapse is with
us still today and always releases very high quality editions.
Panik House Entertainment is gone since a decade or so and will forever
be considered one of the greatest film
companies ever for their important task of releasing the amazing wonders
of Méxican Film in superb editions