Horrors of Malformed Men (aka Horror of a Deformed Man) is a controversial 1969 surrealistic horror movie, still banned in its native Japan. Based on the stories of Edogawa Rampo, Horrors of Malformed Men is directed by Teruo Ishii and stars Teruo Yoshida, Minoru Oki, Tatsumi Hijikata, Yukie Kagawa, and Asao Koike.
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Horrors of Malformed Men is about a young man who finds himself imprisoned in a lunatic asylum, with no memory of what went before apart from some dreams of a mysterious island. Managing to escape he assumes the identity of a deceased man to whom he bears a striking resemblance in order to discover more about his fate. His enquiries take him to an island full of deformed men and women led by a sinister doctor.
Tom Mes writes of Horrors of Malformed Men: “Combining a spectrum of influences that stretches from Rampo to butoh, it taps into the country’s post-nuclear trauma so audaciously that people fled theaters in disgust upon its release… Yet, it is beautiful, haunting and oneiric; it is the closest one can come to a dreamlike experience without closing one’s eyes.” [http://www.midnighteye.com/reviews/horrmalf.shtml]