Kill Butterly Kill

As physical media uncovers more obscure titles, it also opens up unexpected cinematic borders.  Case in point, Kill Butterfly Kill (1983), a Taiwanese rape/revenge/martial arts flick that was part of the wave of  “Black Movies” ushering in action, gangster and related exploitation during the late ‘70s and early ‘80s.   Very few of these ever made it out of Taiwan and even fewer received subtitles.  So the Blu-ray premiere courtesy of Neon Eagle Video is quite a coup, and even includes a couple of alternate versions for good measure.

In a cut-to-the-chase opening sequence, Donna is laboriously raped by five men in a drunken stupor.  Six years later, she’s ready for revenge, teaming up with a hired assassin to carve her pound of flesh from each of the culprits, now successful figures in various facets of the criminal underworld.  With the element of surprise, her plan seems almost foolproof.  But once the bad guys realize they’re marked men, the hunter becomes the hunted once again.

 

Surprisingly chaste in terms of nudity and violence, Kill Butterfly Kill feels seedier than it really is.  The English dubbed theatrical version on disc one (originally released through distributors IFD) rearranges the opening rape scene, cutting to flashbacks each time Donna confronts another victim.  It’s a major improvement over the Mandarin-language version, Underground Wife, which is also included as an SD extra.  Here we get a much more satisfying narrative with occasional kung-fu beatdowns for good measure.  If not exactly edgy, Kill Butterfly Kill arranges all the pieces on the board with no wasted moves, delivering a fast-paced bit of imported exploitation artistry.

 

Four years later, IFD recycled a good portion of the film as American Commando 6:  Kill Butterfly Kill, which turns Donna’s revenge into a subplot, focusing instead on two special agents (Mike Abbot and Mark Miller) tasked with taking down a drug cartel.  It’s just as corny and contrived as you might imagine, but the original footage works into the whole better than you might think.  Either way, it’s a completely different experience, which makes this essentially a double-feature.

 

Each version (except the aforementioned SD cut) gets the benefit of a 4K restoration.  Bear in mind, there’s only so much that can be done with Kill Butterfly Kill, which still suffers from blemishes and stains from time to time.  That said, it looks pretty terrific in widescreen format with the segments from American Commando 6looking even better.  Kenneth Brorsson and Paul Fox provide a commentary track as an introduction to Taiwan Black Movie history, which even they admit is still a bit difficult to sort out.  But it’ll definitely have you looking forward to the next title Neon Eagle uncovers!

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