Lustmord

After the death of his father, a disgraced scientist, teenager Eiji becomes consumed by completing one of his unfinished experiments. As he pursues research aimed at dissolving the boundary between pain and pleasure, his intellectual curiosity spirals into obsession. Gradually, Eiji crosses moral and psychological limits, descending into a dark exploration of control, desire, and self-destruction.

Hisayasu Satō is widely regarded as one of the key figures of Japanese underground and V-cinema of the 1980s and 1990s, known for blending experimental filmmaking with psychological extremity.

Made in the late 1980s, Lustmord reflects a moment in Japanese cinema when filmmakers were increasingly drawn to stories that challenged social and psychological limits, focusing on the body, power, and shifts in human consciousness.

While the film was originally produced within Japan’s adult-video market, it has since been reassessed as an experimental psychological drama, closer in spirit to art-house and underground film than to conventional genre fare.

Over time, the film has developed a cult following among cinephiles drawn to extreme film, body-centered themes, and the history of Japanese underground film.

The title Lustmord, a German word referring to murder driven by desire, points to the film’s focus on the uneasy overlap between attraction and violence, a theme long explored in European and Japanese avant-garde art./p>