Angel Dust (Enjeru Dasuto) — Not on DVD

Posted on June 9, 2010 by Chris Nelson

My pick for Not on DVD this week is Sogo Ishii’s 1994 thriller, Angel Dust (Enjeru Dasuto).

Since I’m a bit pressed for time, here’s a plot Synopsis from Mattias Sandstrm on IMDB:

Every Monday at 6 pm a young woman is murdered in the subway. The psychiatrist Setsuko Suma is called in to assist the police. The trail leads to another psychiatrist – Dr Rei Aku – who Setsuko used to date. As she get closer to the solution, she gets more and more convinced that Aku’s deprogramming of former sectmembers is important.

As you can probably tell, the story was inspired by the subway activities of the Aum Shinrikyo Cult. The film has a very intersting psychic-cyberpunk kind of feel; a bit Blade Runner, a bit supernatural anime, and the tension is rife throughout. I know serial killer films have gone way beyond cliche since the release of Fincher’s Se7en, but you haven’t quite seen a serial killer film like this before. But don’t just take my word for it. Check out the user reviews at IMDB.

Even though this film was released by New Yorker Films on VHS, the struggling distributor never saw a release on DVD. I was lucky enough to pick this film up when Blockbuster was liquidating its foreign film section. I’m not exactly sure where you’ll be able to find readily available copies of this one outside of Amazon, but I do recommend it.