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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.

The film debut of legendary Hong Kong director and producer Tsui Hark, The Butterfly Murders is a blend of everything and anything into what I'm going to say is an 88-minute new-wave wuxia murder mystery spectacle. If I'm honest, whatever you thought going into this film with a title like that, will not be what you get. Hark's visual style and later hallmarks are on clear display but also tangled up in a plot so confusing that if you look away for a second or even blink, you'll miss vital details and thus the whole story. There is one thing you can infer from the title, however... the butterflies do indeed kill people.

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.

The movie begins with the mysterious death of a the paper mill owner, causing the attention of the Tien Clan into the incident. In the meantime, the owner of Shum Castle invited the people of Tien Clan and Fong Hung Yip (a chronicler of jiang hu history) to stay in their castle, telling them about the butterfly murders that has been going on there. But before Fong and Tien had found out why the butterflies are out killing people, the owner of Shum was murdered by those butterflies. As a result 3 more Jiang Hu leaders were called to the Shum Castle and the mystery of the butterfly murders gradually unfolded.

The story was filled with twists and turns, and the middle of the movie was like a detective story as Fong and the Green Shadow (an unexpected guest at the Shum Castle) were investigating the murders. An extremely interesting and entertaining plot. The set decoration was done exquisitely, especially the labyrinth-like underground tunnel and the place where butterfly specimens were displayed. Unlike other movies in the same genre, the weapons used by the characters (no swords involved) and their costume were all creatively designed. So there is a certain degree of novelty in the movie, even though it was shot in 1979. In fact to some extent, a lot of the recent Hong Kong jiang hu movies had copied the art designs of this movie.

The butterfly invading the Shum castle scene as well as the butterfly killing people scenes were beautifully shot, and reminds me a lot of Hitchcock's The Birds (the difference between the two movie is that this film explains towards the end why the butterflies are killing people).

This film was said to have opened the new page for the Hong Kong New Wave movement in movies. It also proves that Tsui Hark is quite an expert with jiang hu movies. In fact this one is better than some of his later works, like the Blade.

This is an extremely worthwhile movie for the Jiang Hu martial arts fans to watch, especially those who like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.

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.