Tsui Hark's directorial debut is this very obscure kung fu murder mystery with death scenes and stylistic touches that are seemingly drawn from the Italian giallo genre. In essence, the setting is a spooky, cobwebby old castle, whose corridors and secret passageways are haunted by a mysterious figure clad in black armour who kills with butterflies. There's some further intrigue and back story about past conspiracies but essentially what you see is what you get with this one.
THE BUTTERFLY MURDERS is a weird film indeed and one that's not entirely successful, although I give Hark credit for making something so unlike any other film I can mention. The stone-faced heroes seem as brutal and unforgiving as the villain of the piece while at times the bloody fights are shoehorned into the plot to give the viewer an action kick. On a visual sense this film works very well and the villain looks fantastic; the effects of the butterflies work well too and as others have noted, bring back a frisson of excitement from THE BIRDS. Overall, I find that it doesn't hold together particularly well, and at times the pacing is perhaps a little too slow and unfocused, but fans of generally weird cinema will get a kick out of it.
THE BUTTERFLY MURDERS is a weird film indeed and one that's not entirely successful, although I give Hark credit for making something so unlike any other film I can mention. The stone-faced heroes seem as brutal and unforgiving as the villain of the piece while at times the bloody fights are shoehorned into the plot to give the viewer an action kick. On a visual sense this film works very well and the villain looks fantastic; the effects of the butterflies work well too and as others have noted, bring back a frisson of excitement from THE BIRDS. Overall, I find that it doesn't hold together particularly well, and at times the pacing is perhaps a little too slow and unfocused, but fans of generally weird cinema will get a kick out of it.