A live-action adaptation of the award-winning novel by popular Japanese author Otsuichi (Zoo), Goth: Love of Death (expanded from the original Goth) is directed by Gen Takahashi (Confessions Of A Dog) and stars Rin Takanashi (Samurai Squadron Shinkenger) and Kanata Hongo (The Prince Of Tennis) in a disturbing tale of two teenagers with an unhealthy appetite for the macabre. The original source novel has already been adapted into a manga by artist Kendi Oiwa and an American movie adaptation (interestingly, not a remake of Takahashi's film) is reportedly in the pipeline.

A serial killer is on the loose in the suburbs of Tokyo, one who preys on identical looking young women and identifies his grisly work by removing the left hand of his victim before leaving the mutilated corpse artfully posed in a location where it can be easily stumbled upon by a member of the public. When two high school kids, Kamiyama and beautiful loner Morino, fatefully meet at the scene of the killer's latest crime they are drawn together by their mutual morbid fascination with human cruelty and murder and begin a tentative friendship based on their bizarre interests.

One afternoon, Morino finds a lost notebook in the café where she and Kamiyama have begun to meet. In it are specific details of all the recent murders, including those relating to some that have yet to be revealed. Believing the book to be the killer's journal, they follow the notes and find themselves at the murder site of one of the unfound victims. But rather than report their discovery and hand over the notes to the police, they agree to keep the journal and track down the corpses for themselves simply to satisfy their own ghoulish curiosity. However, wanting more, Morino decides to take things a step further by adopting the appearance of the previous victims in the hope of drawing the killer into the open. It is a game proves to be a very dangerous, and one that threatens to reveal to Kamiyama her deepest and darkest secrets.

Goth: Love of Death is apparently a feast of ethereal imagery (thanks to superb cinematography by Ryuji Ishikura and Shinji Kugimiya) that perfectly suits the sinister and melancholic air of Otsuichi's source novel.

Goth is getting pretty much its first UK outing when it's released on DVD on 21st September 2009 by 4Digital Asia at the RRP of £14.99. No news of any extras at this stage.