Rampo Noir Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.5

Rampo Noir Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 3, 2025

The vagaries of transliteration and/or Romanization of Japanese characters may slightly obscure the surprise that is hidden within the pen name of author Tarō Hirai, whose work inspired this quasi-portmanteau of offerings. Hirai took the pseudonym of Edogawa Ranpo (and/or Rampo, once again dependent upon transliteration and/or Romanization), an assumed moniker which perhaps willfully subverts the frequent Japanese tradition of offering a surname first in order to offer a kinda sorta Japanese approximation of one of the most redolent names in global horror literature, Edgar Allan Poe. Rampo* probably was a bit more interested in detective fiction and/or mystery than outright horror, though there are hints of horror running throughout Rampo Noir, even if that "noir" part probably points unavoidably to tropes typically featured in that genre. And in terms of noir, Rampo created his own version of someone like Sam Spade or Philip Marlowe with a private eye character named Kogoro Akechi, who does in fact appear in the second of the four "mini movies" offered in this anthology.

*The rest of this review will use this particular spelling since it's part of the film's title and also how the English subtitles offer the name in some of the interviews offered as supplements on this disc.

The quadrilogy begins with Mars Canal, arguably the most opaque of the four offerings, which is saying quite a lot. With a sound design comprised solely of odd ambient effects and no dialogue, director Suguru Takeuchi offers a hallucinatory tale of a naked man (Tadanobu Asano, who recurs throughout the various "episodes" in various roles) who half wanders, half stumbles through an almost alien landscape. Intercut with these vistas is an unsettling battle between the naked man and a naked woman, and it may not be entirely clear until you listen to the commentary by Jasper Sharp and Alexander Zahiten that Rampo's source story evidently offered what might be called an Orlando adjacent "transformation". One way or the other, the visuals of this opening vignette (which is rather brief) get Rampo Noir off to a dazzling start.

Next up is Mirror Hell, which, as alluded to above, features Rampo's detective character Kogoro Akechi (Tadanobu Asano once again), who here is caught up in an almost supernatural mystery that involves women who have been killed via some horrifying disfigurements. Akechi's investigations lead him down some provocative "alleyways", and that reference to narrow passages may be especially apt given an increasing reliance by director Akio Jissoji on literal halls of mirrors that may bring to mind films like The Lady from Shanghai. This also flirts with some pinku eiga or ero guro material, in an alternately grisly and kind of provocative presentation that is nonetheless the direct polar opposite of the first vignette, in that it offers a straightforward narrative, albeit one with more dazzling visuals.

It might be jokingly suggested that it may not ultimately be really that much of a good thing that the narrative of Caterpillar is also straightforward, since this is kind of the smarmiest entry in the polyptych. One part Metamorphosis (and/or Rhinoceros), one part Freaks and (as incredible as it may sound) one part Coming Home (and/or The Best Years of Our Lives), this disturbing tale focuses on a badly disabled veteran who is victimized by his sadistic wife. It's about as unsettling as it sounds.

While noir and Technicolor might not seem to be ideal "bedmates", that's kind of the dialectic at play with the film's final story, Crawling Bugs. Once again Tadanobu Asano is on hand, this time as part of the Entourage of an actress (Tamaki Ogawa). Asano's chauffeur character has an unhealthy obsession with his employer, but any attempt to really discern a standard narrative here is at least interrupted if not completely undercut by bizarre sets and props, which make this look like it's playing out in some alternate universe version of The Happiness of the Katakuris.

Rampo Noir Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Rampo Noir is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Arrow's insert booklet offers the following minimal information about the presentation:

Rampo Noir is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with stereo sound. The high definition master was supplied by Kadokawa.

Unlike some of the "pre-delivered" masters from Toei in particular that Arrow and Radiance can occasionally offer and which I've found to have some questionable quality, I actually found this presentation to be quite striking a lot of the time. That said, our usual metrics of analyzing image quality may be relatively useless here, since the four sections utilize so many "bells and whistles" to tweak imagery repeatedly. For instance, the opening vignette is both graded rather oddly (kind of toward green and ice cold blues) but also looks like it's had contrast played with. Everything from fisheye lenses to skewed framings (with relatively normal lens work) to a ton of special effects keep the visuals on the bizarre side more often than not. With that in mind, it's probably understandable how fine detail levels in particular can ebb and flow, but things on the whole are nicely sharp and well detailed looking. I never saw this film theatrically, and so I'm assuming that the quasi-electronic "interference" in the opening is deliberate (jagged horizontal lines intrude periodically).

Rampo Noir Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

While the intentionally hallucinatory sound design (especially in the opening vignette) might have arguably benefited from a surround track, this disc's LPCM 2.0 offering features secure fidelity and at times noticeably wide stereo imaging. As with the visual blandishments, all four stories here have at times nicely layered sound designs, and the stereo track accounts for dialogue, scoring and effects without any issues. Optional English subtitles are available.

Rampo Noir Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary by Jasper Sharp and Alexander Zahiten


• Cast and Crew Interviews are subtitled in English:

  Another World (HD; 14:04) is an interview with Sugura Takeuchi, director of Mars's Canal.

  
  

  A Moving Transformation (HD; 25:07) is an interview with Hisayasu Sato, director of Caterpillar.

  
  

  Butterfly Queen (HD; 13:49) is an interview with Atsushi Kaneko, manga artist and director of Crawling Bugs.

  
  

  Hall of Mirrors (HD; 25:19) is an interview with "cinematography advisor" Masao Nakabori, talking about Mirror Hell.

  
  

  The Butterfly Effect (HD; 15:47) is an interview with Akiko Ashizawa, the cinematographer of Caterpillar.

  
  

  Looking in the Mirror (HD; 13:58) is an interview with Mirror Hell actress Yumi Yoshiyuki.

• Stage Greeting (HD; 15:06) offers archive footage of the cast and directors Suguru Takeuchi, Hisayasu Sato and Atsushi Kaneko at the film's Japanese premiere. Subtitled in English.


• Cross the Lens (HD; 1:15:45) is an archival making of documentary from 2006 by Tatsuya Fukushima. This has some great background and contextualizing information that may help understandably confounded viewers come to terms with the odd material. Subtitled in English.


• Image Galleries

  Main Stills (HD)

  
  

  Mars's Canal (HD)

  
  

  Mirror Hell (HD)

  
  

  Caterpillar (HD)

  
  

  Crawling Bugs (HD)

A nicely appointed insert booklet contains two good essays by Eugene Thacker and Seth Jacobowitz, along with stills and the usual technical information. A folded mini poster is also included. Packaging features a reversible sleeve and a slipcover.

Rampo Noir Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Rampo Noir isn't always successful, and it is certainly seemingly deliberately incomprehensible at times, but it is also incredibly, undeniably stylish. The film may strike some (many?) as hit or miss, but from a purely visual standpoint, it's often unbelievably arresting. Arrow provides a release with generally solid technical merits and some outstanding supplements. With caveats noted, Recommended.