Originally shot by Rintaro Mayuzumi, the director had a falling out with producer Okuyama who then reshot much of the film and added many of the surreal elements.
We now then enter a live action world where Poe-inspired mystery writer Edogawa Rampo (Naoto Takenaka) has written a book about a woman who has killed her husband by locking him in a nagamochi.
Here his younger literary alter ego Kogoro Akechi (Masahiro Motoki) picks up the story.
Akechi finds out Shizuko has an affair with a marquis in a Dracula-like castle located at the sea on a cliff.
Akeshi observes the marquis while he's horse-riding, cross-dressing and smearing his facial make up all over her naked back and projecting a stag film on her body.
As Rampo navigates through the castle the layers of fantasy and reality start to merge into one cosmic flashback occurring before and after he gets into the room where Shizuko commits suicide before Akeshi can get out of the nagamochi.