The Mystery of Rampo

The Mystery of Rampo

So provocative the censors banned it. So powerful it came true.

1994 · 100 min · ★ 7.1 · Drama, Thriller, Romance

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. The film's strongly Expressionistic direction skillfully combines a variety of media (animation, computer-generated imagery, grainy black-and-white fast film stock, color negatives) for artistic effect.

Directed by Kazuyoshi Okuyama · Written by Kazuyoshi Okuyama

Your Rating

Cast

Make it a double feature

3h 18m together

The Mystery of Rampo

Yearning

Both from Kazuyoshi Okuyama.

More from Kazuyoshi OkuyamaSee all →

YearningYearning · 1993
Yearning
★ 10.01993
MovieDrama
Set during the Meiji period (1868-1912), Kaede is the former mistress of a wealthy merchant. When he dies, she is forced out on the street and forced to give up her young daughter to the merchant’s family.
HachikoHachiko · 1987
Hachiko
★ 7.81987
MovieDramaFamily
The tragic, true story about Hachikō, an Akita dog who was loyal to his master, Professor Ueno, even after Ueno's death.
Love LetterLove Letter · 1985
Love Letter
★ 7.81985
MovieDrama
A drama depicting the conflict between a man that ran to an old lover suffering from advanced leukemia, his wife and child that were left behind, and the friendship that develops between his wife and his former lover.
SonatineSonatine · 1993
Sonatine
★ 7.51993
MovieActionCrime
Murakawa, an aging Tokyo yakuza tiring of gangster life, is sent by his boss to Okinawa along with a few of his henchmen to help end a gang war, supposedly as mediators between two warring clans. He finds that the dispute between the clans is insignificant and whilst wondering why he was sent to Okinawa at all, his group is attacked in an ambush. The survivors flee and make a decision to lay low at the beach while they await further instructions.
A Naive History of the Bakumatsu EraA Naive History of the Bakumatsu Era · 1991
A Naive History of the Bakumatsu Era
★ 7.51991
MovieDramaComedy
In the last days of the Tokugawa shogunate, there was a cute warrior, Souji Okita, who belonged to the armed police of the shogunate in Kyoto. Very few knew that Souji was not a boy, but a woman. Souji loved the vice-leader of the armed police, Toshizou Hijikata. Souji suffered from pulmonary tuberculosis and coughed up blood during a battle. Toshizou helped her but said that he did not care for the girl with a smell of blood. Souji had a real talent for swordsmanship and no one but Ryouma Sakamoto could compete with her. Ryouma was a liberal intellectual and tried to carry out a revolution without blood. However, the bloody Meiji Restoration broke out and Souji killed Ryouma who lost his dream. Because a friendship had sprung up between Toshizou and Ryouma, Toshizou got angry and slashed at Souji with a sword. Unwillingly, she unsheathed her sword and thought that she might get love if she was killed by the man she loved.
My Father's DragonMy Father's Dragon · 1997
My Father's Dragon
★ 7.51997
MovieAnimationFantasy
Elmer is told by a traveling cat about a baby dragon who is being held captive and mistreated on the scary Wild Island. Elmer decides to investigate and battles tigers, crocodiles and gorillas in order to rescue the little dragon.
Four Days of Snow and BloodFour Days of Snow and Blood · 1989
Four Days of Snow and Blood
★ 7.31989
MovieDramaWar
Based on the "2.26 Incident", an attempted coup d'état in Japan 1936, launched by radical ultra-nationalist parts of the military. Several leading politicians were killed and the center of Tokyo was briefly held by the insurgents before the coup was suppressed.
Violent CopViolent Cop · 1989
Violent Cop
★ 7.21989
MovieCrimeThriller
A detective breaks all rules of ethical conduct while investigating a colleague’s involvement in drug pushing and yakuza activities.
Good Men, Good WomenGood Men, Good Women · 1995
Good Men, Good Women
★ 7.01995
MovieRomanceDrama
An actress preparing to play in a historical epic is terrorized by someone faxing her pages from her stolen diary; has colorful flashbacks of her affair with a now-deceased man; and imagines black-and-white film-within-a-film scenes of the movie she is about to appear in.
Gonin 2Gonin 2 · 1996
Gonin 2
★ 7.01996
MovieCrimeThriller
Five women snatch one billion yen in jewellery from the yakuza, while construction manager Toyama burns for revenge against the mobsters who raped and caused the death of his wife. Before long, the yakuza and Toyama arrive at the women's hideout.
Basara: The Princess GohBasara: The Princess Goh · 1992
Basara: The Princess Goh
★ 7.01992
MovieHistoryDrama
Furuta Oribe is ordered to become tea master under Toyotomi Hideyoshi after his teacher Sen no Rikyū, the former tea master, was ordered to commit suicide. Princess Goh, daughter of the lord but adopted by Hideyoshi, is outraged when Rikyū's severed head is thrown in the Nijo River. She sends Usu, Oribe's servant, to retrieve the head and deliver it to Rikyū's adopted daughter.
The ShootoutThe Shootout · 1982
The Shootout
★ 7.01982
MovieDramaCrime
A run-in with the police once again puts three former reformatory inmates on the wrong side of the law. Their situation becomes increasingly desperate as events spin out of control, culminating in an audacious hijack at sea...
Labyrinth of CinemaLabyrinth of Cinema · 2020
Labyrinth of Cinema
★ 6.92020
MovieHistoryFantasy
When lightning strikes a theater about to close its doors, three moviegoers are thrust back in time to the world inside the screen.
Boiling PointBoiling Point · 1990
Boiling Point
★ 6.91990
MovieCrimeComedy
Masaki, a baseball player and gas-station attendant, gets into trouble with the local Yakuza and goes to Okinawa to get a gun to defend himself. There he meets Uehara, a tough gangster, who is in serious debt to the yakuza and planning revenge.
Go for BrokeGo for Broke · 1985
Go for Broke
★ 6.81985
MovieAction
At a Japanese school, a desperate student council struggles with a recurring problem. The aggressive and relentless members of the Yagyu biker gang stop by the school each semester to beat up the kids, steal their lunch money and vandalize their belongings. The kids want to fight back but realize they're too weak and undermanned against the bikers, and so they hire a handful of tough gals to train and defend them.
Village of DoomVillage of Doom · 1983
Village of Doom
★ 6.71983
MovieHorrorCrime
Rejected by the military and frowned upon by his fellow villagers, a young man nicknamed 'Genius' falls into a series of dangerous love affairs during World War II.

More Like This

ManhattanManhattan · 1979
Manhattan
★ 7.71979
MovieComedyDrama
Manhattan explores how the life of a middle-aged television writer dating a teenage girl is further complicated when he falls in love with his best friend's mistress.
Moulin Rouge!Moulin Rouge! · 2001
Moulin Rouge!
★ 7.52001
MovieDramaRomance
A celebration of love and creative inspiration takes place in the infamous, gaudy and glamorous Parisian nightclub, at the cusp of the 20th century. A young poet, who is plunged into the heady world of Moulin Rouge, begins a passionate affair with the club's most notorious and beautiful star.
MM · 1931
M
★ 8.11931
MovieDramaThriller
In this classic German thriller, Hans Beckert, a serial killer who preys on children, becomes the focus of a massive Berlin police manhunt. Beckert's heinous crimes are so repellant and disruptive to city life that he is even targeted by others in the seedy underworld network. With both cops and criminals in pursuit, the murderer soon realizes that people are on his trail, sending him into a tense, panicked attempt to escape justice.
The Door in the FloorThe Door in the Floor · 2004
The Door in the Floor
★ 6.12004
MovieDrama
A writer's young assistant becomes both pawn and catalyst in his boss's disintegrating household.
PollockPollock · 2000
Pollock
★ 6.72000
MovieDramaHistory
In August of 1949, Life Magazine ran a banner headline that begged the question: "Jackson Pollock: Is he the greatest living painter in the United States?" The film is a look back into the life of an extraordinary man, a man who has fittingly been called "an artist dedicated to concealment, a celebrity who nobody knew." As he struggled with self-doubt, engaging in a lonely tug-of-war between needing to express himself and wanting to shut the world out, Pollock began a downward spiral.
A Knight's TaleA Knight's Tale · 2001
A Knight's Tale
★ 6.92001
MovieAdventureDrama
William Thatcher, a knight's peasant apprentice, gets a chance at glory when the knight dies suddenly mid-tournament. Posing as a knight himself, William won't stop until he's crowned tournament champion—assuming matters of the heart don't get in the way.
Adaptation.Adaptation. · 2002
Adaptation.
★ 7.32002
MovieComedyCrime
Charlie Kaufman is a confused L.A. screenwriter overwhelmed by feelings of inadequacy, sexual frustration, self-loathing, and by the screenwriting ambitions of his freeloading twin brother Donald. While struggling to adapt "The Orchid Thief," by Susan Orlean, Kaufman's life spins from pathetic to bizarre. The lives of Kaufman and Orlean's book become strangely intertwined as each one's search for passion collides with the other's.
The Night of the HunterThe Night of the Hunter · 1955
The Night of the Hunter
★ 7.91955
MovieCrimeDrama
In Depression-era West Virginia, a serial-killing preacher hunts two young children who know the whereabouts of a stash of money.
Breakfast at Tiffany'sBreakfast at Tiffany's · 1961
Breakfast at Tiffany's
★ 7.61961
MovieComedyRomance
Holly Golightly is an eccentric New York City playgirl determined to marry a Brazilian millionaire. But when young writer Paul Varjak moves into her apartment building, her past threatens to get in their way.
MetropolisMetropolis · 1927
Metropolis
★ 8.11927
MovieDramaScience Fiction
In a futuristic city sharply divided between the rich and the poor, the son of the city's mastermind meets a prophet who predicts the coming of a savior to mediate their differences.
The Blue AngelThe Blue Angel · 1930
The Blue Angel
★ 7.31930
MovieDrama
Prim professor Immanuel Rath finds some of his students ogling racy photos of cabaret performer Lola Lola and visits a local club, The Blue Angel, in an attempt to catch them there. Seeing Lola perform, the teacher is filled with lust, eventually resigning his position at the school to marry the young woman. However, his marriage to a coquette -- whose job is to entice men -- proves to be more difficult than Rath imagined.
The Cabinet of Dr. CaligariThe Cabinet of Dr. Caligari · 1920
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
★ 7.91920
MovieDramaHorror
Francis, a young man, recalls in his memory the horrible experiences he and his fiancée Jane recently went through. Francis and his friend Alan visit The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, an exhibit where the mysterious doctor shows the somnambulist Cesare, and awakens him for some moments from his death-like sleep.

Rate this film

Your ratings make Midnight smarter