Dip bin

The new MEI AH DVD "The Butterfly Murders" is a very welcome release, as the only time I have seen this debut effort by TSUI HARK was by watching a very poorly transferred VCD.

The story is confusing enough without having subtitles wholly obscured. That is what happened with the VCD.

The film seems to be only sympathetic towards two characters FONG the writer and a female warrior GREEN SHADOW. In turn they appear allied to the TIEN clan leader, who has also been invited to the SHUM castle.

The castle becomes another character - its exterior grim and barren when the main characters arrive, rather those in AGATHA CHRISTIE's "Ten little Indians". And when they are subjected to the first of many relentless attacks by butterflies, they find refuge underground.

The underground is a maze, with mysterious rooms suddenly appearing and concealing the butterflies themselves; arsenals of elaborate weapons, and so forth.

I wonder if we were not intended to be as confused as all those invited to the castle, to their deaths, as the film plays out: to know is to die, to quote Darius Jedburgh ("Edge of darkness," 1986).

This is one of the few HK films that I have seen that has thrown me re its plot and its characters: it took me a long time to really identify the actors and their characters. That said, I was very impressed with the staging of the action which is plentiful and varied; intrigued with the villain and his suit of body armour (it seemed something out of a Mario Bava slasher film), and quietly applauded the cynical ending, but was upset that once again the filmmakers should use so much Jerry Goldsmith ("Planet of the apes") and Ennio Morricone ("Moses") in the soundtrack.

An entertaining debut by Tsui Hark!

Aug 21

I have always been a fan of this from when i first watched it as a teenager back in the 1980s. I am a big fan of mystery films and gialli as well as martial arts films so this has a lot going for it for me.

I hope this gets a blu ray release sometime, but regardless this is a good film.

A couple of actors from this can be spotted in Tsui Harks next film "We are going to eat you".

Remains not easy to get hold of but well worth looking for.

8.5 out of 10.

Startlingly different to other Chinese martial arts films of the time, Tsui Hark's directorial debut is a lost gem. Combining traditional Chinese ghost story elements with plenty of action, atmospheric settings (the caves under the castle are particularly menacing), and a complex murder plot based around killer butterflies, this film is both entertaining and engaging. My main criticism would be the rather disjointed plot and uneven pacing, reminiscent of the average Italian Giallo, and the rather undeveloped motivation of the main villain. Neither of these however spoiled my enjoyment. I'd love to see this in a restored version.

Tsui Hark has one of the most unique voices of the Hong Kong new wave that revolutionized action cinema, kung fu and comedy in the late 70s and gave us a deep well of remarkable treasures that has yet to run out. Visually he is certainly among the best in the business, not only in Hong Kong, both as a director and a producer. The Once upon a time in China and Chinese ghost story series being particularly impressive examples of his prowess.

Butterfly Murders already contains many of his future hallmarks, especially in the imaginative cinematography. It's basically a blend of Kung Fu action and Giallo which I had yet to see. As such it is not fully successful. The visuals are quite amazing, very distinct and cinematic. They foreshadow both his own career and the new trajectory of Hong Kong cinema at the nadier of the more theatrical Shaw brothers productions. The limited setting is suspenseful and well utilized. The mystery story setup is also quite intriguing at first, but the conclusion left a few things left to be desired. The same goes for the fight scenes, which aren't done badly by any means but lack the fluency, creativity and splendor you associate with Tsui Hark. It appears he had yet to learn to marry the hypnotic beauty of his narrative shots with his action shots.

It's an entertaining romp throughout, so I don't want to come down on it too harshly, but it should or at least could have crescendoed to a true classic. I usually wouldn't suggest such a thing, but maybe this material could be made to shine with a remake by the master himself.

Boss Tien, leader of the Tien Clan, receives a letter from Master Shum asking for help: there have been numerous strange deaths at his castle involving poisonous butterflies. Joining Tien and his clan are female warrior Green Shadow and scholar Fong, all of whom are in danger, not just from the deadly insects but also from a fearsome masked killer clad in black armour.

The Butterfly Murders has been described as a martial arts giallo, and it's easy to see why: coming from director Tsui Hark, there is obviously kung fu, but the plot is just as bizarre as many an Italian murder mystery, with one of the craziest methods of murder imaginable (butterflies!). There is also no shortage of style, Tsui providing some stunning visuals.

Unfortunately, the film didn't satisfy me as either an action flick or a horror/thriller: the martial arts are fairly unimpressive, while the story is so convoluted that it wasn't long before I didn't have a clue what was going on. A protracted scene of exposition did nothing to help matters. The Butterfly Murders is an undeniably unique debut from one of Hong Kong's most celebrated directors, but it's far from his best.