Akio Jissôji

Four short films, based on stories by Japanese mystery writer Rampo Edogawa, explore dark themes of obsession, sex and death. In "Mars Canal," a naked man wanders alone through a swamp recalling a former lover. "Mirror Hell" follows a serial killer with a fixation on hand mirrors. "Caterpillar" centers on a crippled veteran, his sadistic wife and their unhealthy relationship. And in "Crawling Bugs," a chauffeur plots to seduce a starlet.

An anthology featuring ten dreams.

This Transient Life tells the story of the siblings Masao and Yuri who live in a huge estate near Lake Biwa north of Kyoto. Masao refuses to go to university and is infatuated with Buddhist sculptures. Iwashita, a student who lodges at the house, and Ogino, a young priest and former classmate of Masao, are both in love with Masao's beautiful sister Yuri, who rejects all proposals from her parents to marry her off. (midnighteye.com)

A decadent Count in 1920's Japan becomes obsessed with the works of the Marquis de Sade. he creates a theatre to show plays adapted from the notorious writers novels, and recruits a variety of theives, prostitutes and low lives to act out his fantasies onstage for the delight of his rich and decadent friends. In search of new sensations, the nobleman orders one of the actors, on pain of death, to make love to the noblemans wife while he watches. (mondomacabrodvd.com)

A strange murder mystery tale about a lady who asks a forgery artist (Hiroyuki Sanada) to forge a series of rare bondage / torture paintings for her. Upon discovering that the client was actually the original model in those paintings, he murders her. (foolamak.com)

An ancient evil threatens to destroy modern-day Tokyo in this supernatural chiller based on Hiroshi Aramata's novel and featuring conceptual designs by H.R. Giger. A thousand years have passed since madman Masakado was sentenced to death for crimes against humanity, though the lingering influence of his blackened soul has haunted Tokyo ever since... (allmovie.com)

Two men -- one who seeks to become separate from time, and one who seeks to conquer it through radical politics -- become involved with a vaguely Buddhist cult that practices kidnapping and rape and believes in benevolence through sexual sadism and male dominance.

Utamaro paints, secretly watches couples have sex in order to bolster his understanding of the female form, aids a legendary thief alongside his counter-culture artist friends, engages in an affair with a beautiful pickpocket, sanctions the rape of his wife to inspire yet another painting, falls in love with a noblewoman, and then nearly loses everything when he and his fellow artists upset the shogunate by "creating disturbed minds," which they believe is the biggest threat to their rule.

In the final entry in his Buddhist Trilogy, Akio Jissôji returns to black and white for a story centred on the austere existence of a young houseboy who becomes helplessly embroiled in the schemes of two brothers. (Arrow Academy)

When faced with an accidental gas leak, four bored students turn the situation into a game. The last one to leave the apartment gets a small sum of money. (imdb)

A human member of a defense force is given the life and ability to change into a giant super-hero to battle the monsters he encounters. (imdb)

After a number of stressful affairs, a court lady becomes a nun in order to pursue a life without desire. (imdb)

A film adaptation of Arthur Honegger and Paul Claudel's 1935 oratorio about Joan of Arc, based on a 1989 staging at the Saint-Denis Basilica in Paris.

A painter makes a lover's suicide pact with the wife of his friend, but does not kill himself; letting her die alone. Five years later, his friend remarries a woman who looks exactly like his dead spouse; who haunts the painter's dreams. (imdb)

Anthology film.

A middle-aged widow becomes an SM call girl to pay off the debts accumulated by her yakuza husband. She's a depressed woman, merely going through the motions of existence, subjected to every cruel whim concocted by her clients. She's dedicated to the misery - even finding comfort in it - stumbling through life like a zombie.

Based on the book by Tsuboi Sakae, which drew on her involvement in Japan's anarchist counterculture and opposition to Korean War rearmament. Combined live action (handled by Akio Jissoji) and animation (handled by Shigetsugu Yoshida). Released as a TV special.