Butterfly Murders

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!

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.

This is a movie that I never heard of until prepping for the Podcast Under the Stairs' Summer Challenge Series. One of the other hosts recommended it. Now I recognized the director of Hark Tsui. I've seen a remake of The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires that he did which was named Vampire Hunters. The only time that I saw that, I wasn't fully prepared for what I got. That is one I need to revisit, having broadened my taste more.

Synopsis: a journalist trying to solve a mystery in 'Martial World' enlists the aid of a master fighter and a woman named Green Shadow (Michelle Yim). They go to a mysterious castle where they come across poisonous butterflies and a black-leather-clad killer.

Now I'm not going to name all the characters as they went fast and I watched this in its native language with subtitles. What I did catch is that there have been major wars within a 36-year period. Many died and they're now in a quiet period. We see a man walking through a desert before shifting over to a pond. We follow a man from it who wants to get the memoirs of Fong published. He was supposed to be great at the martial arts. After the wars, there is less that known. The publisher is interested, but he points out this is a fake. He is then murdered. The man accused flees.

We then shift over to Fang Hongye (Siu-Ming Lau). He meets with No.10 of the Red Flags (Kuang-Li Hsia). This group fights under the banners of Tian Feng (Shu-Ton Wong). They're summoned as something has happened at Shen Castle. They are to get to the bottom of it. The rumor was that poisonous butterflies came and killed everyone. They're joined by Green Shadow.

Arriving at the castle, the spy they sent is found dead. There are tiny bites all over him. As they search the castle, they discover a servant who appears to be deaf and mute. She leads them to a secret tunnel where the residents are hiding. They're led by Shen Qing (Kuo-Chu Chang). Tian and his group try to solve the mystery of these killer butterflies. The truth of the matter will expose secrets that are hidden within the labyrinth that is under the castle.

That should recap the story and introduce some of the characters that we are working with. Where I want to start is that we have an odd blend of a martial arts movie with eco-horror. This has a fantasy feel with the minimal cast that we get. I like this setting up that this could be taking place in our world, but it also doesn't pin-point an exact location. The fantasy elements also come from the fight sequences we get in the movie. There aren't a lot of them and most of that is near the end of the movie. I'll be honest, I used to hate movies like this. People flying around while fighting and what not. I've come to appreciate it and visually it makes things more interesting.

There is an interesting mystery here. Tian and his crew are called in to get to the bottom of what happened at this castle. There are talks of a curse, which piques my interest. The aftermath of when they attack someone looked good. Butterflies aren't something that is scary and I'll be honest, this is the first movie I've seen utilize that. I like the idea though of a poisonous version at the crux here. We learn more about why they're attacking and it fits with what I know about movies from the area. They love to have characters in tune with nature and that works for me. I'm a fan of eco-horror so this fits in that.

Something else that I found interesting while on the Internet Movie Database page. They have giallo and Hong Kong giallo listed as keywords. I can see that. At the most basic concepts, we have a murder mystery here. There isn't a black glove killer, but we do get one that is in a black leather outfit. When this character shows up and a fight sequence happened, it made me think of the martial arts films I love growing up. This fighter seems unstoppable and no one can harm him. This moves into more mythology about an elite group of four called 'The Thunders'. They were secret and the best at what they did. Their lore comes into play for the end of the movie as well.

That should be enough for fleshing out the story elements. I'll take this over to the filmmaking aspects then. The first will be the acting. I thought that we had some distinct characters that were interesting. It is hard to sync them up by their names via the IMDb page, but while watching this I knew who everyone was. I did enjoy that and I'd say across the board they were good. This movie is shot well. It doesn't use a lot of the over-the-top fight scenes with wire work, but we do get some of that. The effects we do get are solid enough. What impressed me most out of this though was the soundtrack. Looking back, I could see gialli elements there. It stood out in a way that I enjoyed.

In conclusion, this is a wild movie and one that I'm glad I can say I've seen. We aren't getting the most complex story, but the elements we get work. I can even see how some could consider this a Hong Kong giallo. We have a killer in black leather who is picking off different people in this castle. There is a mystery to solve as to their identity. I think this is well made as well. The acting is solid. The effects we get are good, including the fight sequences. Soundtrack though impressed me the most there. I would say that after this first viewing, I'd say this an above average movie. I will come back to this one though with how much fun I had.

My Rating: 7 out of 10.

Butterfly Murders This is an early Tsui Hark film with a neat mystery at its core. The basic story concerns the investigation of a series of death said to have been caused by deadly butterflies. It's a investigated by a journalist who enlists the aid of a couple of monks who then journey to a monastery to see what's going on. There's more to it than that, a clash of clans and a newly discovered manuscript of an important writer also figure into the mix. As a mystery this is quite good. The idea of killer butterflies is more than enough to intrigue even the most jaded mystery lover, heck it hooked me. The film also boasts some very good martial arts sequences, especially a villain in a unique suit of armor. The problem is that the two halves don't really mesh. There are times when both the mystery and the martial arts seem out of place. It's as if Hark didn't know which way to turn and put in a fight or a plot twist because he had to move things along. The seeming uncertainty makes the pace of the film uneven with moments where it moves along a good clip and others where you look at your watch wondering when its next going to move forward. Still it's a good movie. Certainly worth a look if you want to see a mystery with a unique twist or a martial arts film that's not your typical run of the mill.

Who would have thought that this movie would open the door for one of the most legendary movie directors in Hong Kong film history. Although this movie came out almost 25 years ago, but it is like an old wine vintage that only gets better in time, the movie does not feel dated at all.

I checked out this movie to get a feel of what Tsui Hark was like in the beginning, I was not disappointed at all.