The Forest of Love

Joe Murata sits in a restaurant as a TV report details the misdeeds of a serial killer. He clutches a yearbook from a girls' school, with numerous photos crossed out, hinting at his fixation. He tells the waiter he is a screenwriter and asks if he knows what it's like to kill someone.

Two young men, Jay and Fukami, meet Shin and take him to the vacant warehouse where they're living. Jay explains he wants to make movies that explore criminal behavior legally. Shin's admission of virginity leads Jay to introduce him to Taeko, a promiscuous girl.

Taeko refuses Shin but introduces him to her high school classmate Mitsuko. Mitsuko is also a virgin, but she isn't interested in Shin. Taeko argues Mitsuko should 'make some scars and move on'.

In a flashback, Mitsuko and Taeko participate in a high school production of Romeo and Juliet, with Mitsuko playing Juliet and Eiko playing Romeo. With little experience with boys at their all-girls school, they explore sexuality and romance among themselves. Eiko is killed in a car accident and the play is cancelled; Taeko vows to become a 'slut' if she survives, and Taeko bears a scar and tattoos 'Romeo' on it.

Mitsuko receives a call from Murata claiming she had lent him 50 yen years earlier. They meet at a park where Murata arrives in a sports car and expresses attraction. Shin, Jay, and Fukami watch and record this encounter as part of their plan to film his scams.

Mitsuko watches the video with Taeko and recognizes Murata as a con artist who had claimed to marry her sister. Taeko recalls sleeping with Murata and seducing her mother. The young men assemble a filming crew and begin making a movie about Murata, with Shin playing Murata.

Murata seduces Mitsuko, her younger sister Ami, and Taeko, leaving Mitsuko self-harming herself with a yen. He stages a concert where many of his former victims appear to compete for his affections. Afterward, the filmmakers meet him and decide to continue the collaboration.

Murata reveals he has no money but promises to help with the project. The film crew quits, leaving Jay, Shin, Taeko, and Mitsuko to press on, now with Murata taking over and reveling in cruelty. Mitsuko reveals she is pregnant with his child.

Murata coaches Mitsuko in a scene where she strangles Jay; Jay dies, and Murata instructs the group to dump the remains in a lake. Taeko tries to escape by boat but is killed by an unknown gunman.

Back at Mitsuko's home, Murata uses Mitsuko's involvement in Jay's death to blackmail her parents and tortures them on camera to extract funds. Ami seems to relish the cruelty, and Mitsuko's precarious pregnancy further complicates the situation.

A relative arrives to demand repayment, and Murata and Shin dismember the relative. Ami decapitates her father and discovers her mother is alive, and, at her mother's request, Ami kills her mother.

In the forest, Mitsuko agrees to be killed and hints at knowing Murata was a con artist and Shin a killer. Shin shoots Ami and Mitsuko, then Murata is ordered to kill Ami, but Shin kills Ami himself and reveals he is the serial killer. Murata escapes, flags down a car, and glimpses a woman resembling Eiko as he runs into the woods after her.

On-screen text states that those behind the murders that inspired the film were caught in 2002 and sentenced to life imprisonment.