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HORRORS OF MALFORMED MEN
Like many cult movie buffs the world over, I’ve been curious about this long-banned Japanese film for years. It’s inevitable, I guess, that I was disappointed upon finally seeing HORRORS OF MALFORMED MEN, which isn’t nearly as bizarre or subversive as it’s been cracked up to be. It does have its moments, however!
The Package
HORRORS OF MALFORMED MEN (KYOFU KIKEI NINGEN; 1969) was by far the most
controversial film ever made by the late Teruo Ishii, one of Japan’s most
prolific--and notorious--cult auteurs. The film was vigorously protested upon
its initial release, and promptly banned by its own studio Toei for the
following three decades. So maligned was the film that the very mention of its
title (which allegedly contains degrading overtones not apparent in the English
translation) is considered taboo in Japan. Of course these days the furor seems
puzzling, as it’s far from the most offensive of Ishii’s works--I’d say his
aptly titled JOYS OF TORTURE series, made before HORRORS OF MALFORMED MEN,
outdoes it in most respects.
Teruo Ishii was reportedly a lifelong fan of the works of Edogawa Rampo,
Japan’s foremost mystery scribe, and based this film on Rampo’s novella THE
STRANGE TALE OF PANORAMA ISLAND, along with elements culled from the Rampo tales
“Ogre of the Secluded Isle”, “The Human Chair” and “The Walker in the Attic”.
Other Rampo-based films include
THE BLIND BEAST (1968), BLACK LIZARD (1968), THE
WATCHER IN THE ATTIC (1976), THE MYSTERY OF RAMPO (1995),
GEMINI (2000) and
BLIND BEAST VS. KILLER DWARF (2001), Teruo Ishii’s final feature.
The Story
Hirosuke is a young medical student suffering from bizarre visions
involving malformed women and the rocky coast of a far-off island. He also
discovers one day that a man has recently died who looks exactly like him. In a
misguided effort at ferreting out the mystery man’s identity, Hirosuke pretends
to be his dead doppelganger and moves in with the latter’s wife. She buys into
Hirosuke’s ruse but is discomfited by his coldness toward her. Hirosuke for his
part is preoccupied with his quest, investigating circus sideshows and
eventually a secluded island he recognizes as the landscape of his visions.
On the island he meets the freakish Jogoro, who lords over a kingdom of
human oddities. In a seaside cave Jogoro reveals to Hirosuke the secret of this
freak paradise: years earlier Jogoro caught his wife canoodling with another man
and so brought them both to the island, where he let them starve to death in the
very cave he and Hirosuke now stand in. Jogoro further admits that he kidnapped
several unsuspecting women from the mainland and surgically transformed them
into malformed humans. And Jogoro discloses yet another secret: years earlier
he birthed twins, of whom Hirosuke is one. There are even more (many
more) secrets, but in the interests of keeping this summary to a manageable
length I’ll leave them for you to discover on your own.
The Direction
To be frank, Teruo Ishii, despite his cult status, was never a terribly
great director. He had an annoying penchant for overheated melodrama and lurid
exploitation, both very much evident in HORRORS OF MALFORMED MEN. There’s also
the fact that he wasn’t much of a storyteller, proven here in the way he packs
in an unconscionable amount of back story, leading to an overabundance of
flashbacks. The reason for this was apparently Ishii’s desire to include as
many Edogawa Rampo-inspired concepts as possible, but the resulting film is a
mess narrative-wise.
Where Ishii excels is in gruesome and surreal imagery. Often shot through
multi-colored filters, Ishii’s visions of malformed humans drifting trance-like
(the freaks were portrayed by a real-life dance troop) through cobbled streets
won’t ever misplace the work of Jodorowski or
Arrabal, but do make for deeply
striking, never-before-seen images. There’s also an agreeably outrageous bit
toward the end in which a lover’s dying wish to be reunited with his beloved is
granted in a decidedly unexpected manner. It’s just too bad the film is
otherwise such an overplotted jumble.
Vital Statistics
HORRORS OF MALFORMED MEN (KYOFU
KIKEI NINGEN)
Toei Co.
Director: Teruo Ishii
Screenplay: Teruo Ishii, Masahiro Kakefuda
(Based on stories by Edogawa Rampo)
Cinematography: Shigeru Akatsuka
Cast: Teruo Yoshida, Tatsumi Hijikata, Minoru Ohki, Asao Koike, Yukie Kagawa,
Teruko Yumi, Mitsuko Aoi, Mie Hanabusa, Yukie Kagawa, Yumiko Katayama, Katsura
Kiyama, Michiko Kobata, Hideo Ko, Masaomi Kondo, Reiko Mikasa, Miki Obana