The Butterfly Murders

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.