MCBASTARD'S MAUSOLEUM: KILL BUTTERFLY KILL (1983) (Neon Eagle Video Blu-ray Review)

KILL BUTTERFLY KILL (1983)

2-Disc Special Edition

Label: Neon Eagle Video

Region Code: Region-Free

Rating: Unrated

Duration: 87 Minutes 2 Seconds (Kill Butterfly Kill), 88 Minutes 29 Seconds

Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles

Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.40:1)

Director: Yu-Lung Hsu

Cast: “Tattooer Ma” Sha, Juliet Chan, Mike Abbot, Mark Miller

Here we have Kill Butterfly Kill (1983), the inaugural release from Neon Eagle Video, a new boutique label that teams-up Cauldron Video with Mondo Macabro's Jared Auner, forming a new label that promises to specialize in the "trashier side of Asian cinema, highlighting exploitation, action, horror, and other ‘cult’ films that have been neglected in the High Definition era". Sure 'nuff, their first release right out of the gate is my favorite sort of release - one I have never even heard of! Oh yeah, this Taiwanese rape-revenger gem comes by way of the vaults of Hong the Kong-based IFD Film Arts & Services, which I know nothing about, and I believe marks the film's HD/widescreen debut here in North America. On top of that we get 3 (three!) different cuts of the film; the original Mandarin release from '83, the English Export version, and a wild-assed re-cut from 1987 that somehow wedges this in with the American Commando franchise!

The first disc is the English-dub Export version of Kill Butterfly Kill (1983), directed by Yu-Lung Hsu (King of the Snakes). It opens a young woman named Donna (Juliet Chan) walking along the railroad tracks at night during a blustery downpour, taking shelter in a nearby building she is discovered by a drunken group of five men who attack her, she fiercely attempts to fight them off but outnumbered they overpower her, rip of most of her clothes, brutalize and rape her. Afterward she is distraught and attempts suicide by throwing herself off a bridge into the river, where she rescued by a stranger ("Tattooer Ma" Sha) who dives in after her and pulls her to shore. Six years later Donna works at a massage parlor and reunited with the stranger, his name is Richard, and he's just been betrayed by a gang boss who cheated him out on a killer-for-hire payday after he exterminated the competition. It turns out that this particular gang boss is one of the men that raped Donna, so what else can they do but to team-up, alongside some lethal lady-friends and get their revenge!

Wow, this is fast-paced and action-packed, it never really let's up and I was plugged in from the get-go. Visually I thought it was quite striking as well, the opening scene of Donna walking through a stormy torrential downpour brought to mind the opening of Suspiria just a bit, and a later scene of Donna and her lethal lady friends tormenting one of the rapists has a surreal nightmarish quality about it, the cover art for the Blu-ray is a great representation of this scene with demon-masks and Donna bathed in Mario Bava-esque green gel-lighting, it adds an almost supernatural/

psychedelic element to this exploitation flick. I also love the rampant use of star filters on the lenses, the flick is lousy with them and for some reason they remind me of my childhood watching TV programs in the early to mid-70s, it's a small thing but I do like the aesthetic of it here.

The rape at the start of the film is pretty vicious and over-the-top in just how mean-spirited it is but there's no actual nudity strangely, it's quite chaste for a rape-revenger, though I spied one nip during a later bathtub scene. The rapes are further elaborated upon later in the film when Donna is having her revenge upon the men, she asks each of them "do you remember me", and then we get a prolonged sequence of each of the men having their violent way with her in a flashback, adding humiliation to the degradation by way of choking her, dousing her beer, pouring melted candle wax and throwing leeches (or maybe eels) on her bare skin while they're brutalizing and raping her. The revenge against the men is also quite well done, with the help of Richard she tracks the men down, traps or lures them to a secluded spot and then unleashes her fury upon them. Kills come by way of electrocution, a fall from a building, a stiletto heel through the jugular, and a final show down in a shipyard with multiple impalements, not to mention use of multiple bladed-weapons and there's a dang chainsaw thrown into the mix!

We also get two more version of the film, on disc one we get the original Mandarin version, the “Underground Wife” cut, this runs 85-min, presented in an SD version which has burned in Chinese and English subtitles. The two curs aren;t wildly different in regard to the story but there are minor differences. Onto disc two we get one of the crazier re-cuts I may have ever seen, the American Commando 6: Kill Butterfly Kill version. This version takes the rape-revenge story and re-edits it and adds new framing and action scenes shot by Godfrey Ho (Undefeatable) that involve special agents Aaron Nolan and Rick Hammet who are on the trail of notorious crime boss Garvino, and through some not-so-editing they rope in Donna's rape-revenge story because they guys who raped her were working for Garvino. It's an uneasy mash-up that will leave you scratching your head for sure, but the new footage looks great and as action-packed. My preferred is the English Export cut by a wide margin, I just love the style, atmosphere and viciousness of it. I was highly satisfied with this flick, and I hope it's an indicator of the type of wild action-insanity we can expect from Neon Eagle Video going forward. Their second release is available now, the crime-thriller Zero Woman: Red Handcuffs (1974) is currently available in a limited edition slipcover version - buy it here: https://www.cauldron-films.com/collections/neon-eagle-video/products/slipcover-no-booklet-zero-woman-red-handcuffs-limited-blu-rayneon-eagle-video-pre-order

Audio/Video: The U.S. export cut of Kill Butterfly Kill (1983) arrives on region-free Blu-ray in 1080p HD widescreen (2.40:1), advertised as being "Presented here in a new 4K restoration from the best surviving elements is the export English language cut of the film prepared by the notorious IFD Films.". This version has some significant source related issues, there's photochemical blemishes, emulsion staining, minor debris, some frame judder in spots, and a general softness, but colors are deliver well enough, though contrast and depth are fairly weak. That said, the imperfection did not ruin my enjoyment of the exploitation gem, this flick is awesome.

The re-cut version titled American Commando 6: Kill Butterfly Kill is advertised as being "Presented here in a new 4K restoration from the best surviving elements is the export English language cut of the film prepared by the notorious IFD Films" look quite similar, thought he new footage look far superior to the original footage, while the rest of it looks quite similar to the Original IFD version, imperfections and all, but as they excised some footage and added new stuff some of the worst looking footage from the original version is not present.

Audio on both version come by way of uncompressed English DTS-HD MA 2.0 with optional English subtitles. The tracks on the English-dub HD versions sounded fine, it's a bit flat and unremarkable, but dialogue was never a chore to discern and the score credited to Hsin-Yi Chen sounds great.

Onto the extras, on disc one we get an Audio commentary by Kenneth Brorsso and Paul Fox of the Podcast on Fire Network that does great work getting into the sub-genre of Taiwan Black Movies - an exploitation sub-genre I have never even heard of before, so I appreciated the introduction; as well as pointing out the differences between the various versions of the flick. As previously stated we als get the 86-min “Underground Wife” Cut in standard definition from what looks like a SD tape master, in Mandarin with burned-in subtitles in both English and Chinese, plus the 3-min Kill Butterfly Kill Trailer and a 3-min Image Gallery chock full of home video release, promotional artwork, stills and press kits for both versions of the film.

Onto disc two we get the American Commando 6: Kill Butterfly Kill Trailer in HD, plus a 32-min IFD Trailer Comp featuring SD trailers for American Commando 2: Hunting Express, American Commando 3: Savage Temptation, American Commando 4: Dressed to Fire, American Commando 5: Fury in Red, Kill Butterfly Kill, American Commando 7: Sweet Inferno, American Commando 8: Naked Revenge, two different ones for Guns to Heaven, Angel's Blood Mission, Final Mission Final, Die to Love, and Sweet Inferno. We are warned that these aren't in great shape, pretty cruddy VHS looking trailers that have severely blown out whites The 2-disc release arrives in a clear keepcase with a Reversible Sleeve of Artwork featuring a new illustration by Justin Coffee for Kill Butterfly Kill and what looks like it may have been a American Commando 6: Kill Butterfly Kill VHS artwork.

Special Features:

Disc 1: Kill Butterfly Kill - Original IFD Edit (87 Minutes)
- Audio commentary by Kenneth Brorsson and Paul Fox of the Podcast on Fire Network
- “Underground Wife” cut (SD) (85:42)
- Kill Butterfly Kill Trailer (HD) (2.35)

- Image Gallery (3:22)

Disc 2: American Commando 6: Kill Butterfly Kill - Alternate Cut (88 Minutes)
- American Commando 6: Kill Butterfly Kill trailer (HD) (2:14)
- IFD Trailer Comp: American Commando 2: Hunting Express, American Commando 3: Savage Temptation, American Commando 4: Dressed to Fire, American Commando 5: Fury in Red, Kill Butterfly Kill, American Commando 7: Sweet Inferno, American Commando 8: Naked Revenge, two different ones for Guns to Heaven, Angel's Blood Mission, Final Mission Final, Die to Love, Sweet Inferno(SD) (31:28)

Screenshots from the Neon Eagle Video Blu-ray:

Kill Butterfly Kill (1893)