Hey look, this film has my name on it! Well, almost. I'm missing a word.

The first thing that surprised me was the theme song. Guess who was singing it? George Lam, starting out and attempting to sound like Lor Mun.

And now to the film. It has all the hallmarks of later Tsui Hark films-multi-layered plots and lots of characters. And it's the latter that's frustrating with "The Butterfly Murders". It's not that there's a lot of characters in the film, it's that they're all introduced rather hastily and some drop in and out of the action. As this is basically a mystery whodunit film, understanding the character's motives and why they are present plays a large part in understanding what's happening. And, as it's a challenge to even sort out who's who, it takes a few viewings before the story (which I found was slightly convulted with some motives not explained properly) becomes clear.

The quality of the print didn't help. A lot of parts are very dark, which is just brilliant </sarcasm> as most of the action takes part in a cave!

This is a film that requires a few watchings, but it's worth it. Besides, it IS Tsui Harks directorial debut. 7/10