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Kosuke Kindaichi is a popular detective found in Seishi Yokomizo's novels, and this is one of several movies that have been made based on his character. Yokomizo's plots have more twists and turns than Japanese calligraphy and loudly invite parody. This film is not an RSVP to that invitation. Director Nobuhiko Obayashi has not parodied Yokomizo's style so much as imitated it. Kindaichi (Ikko Furuya) is called in to discover who has decapitated a precious statue and to find the missing head so it can be reattached. With this simple premise, a long series of circumstances lead the detective into many blind alleys as corpses litter the landscape and inept policemen bungle their jobs.