NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Neon Eagle Video Blu-ray (November 2023): Neon Eagle Video have transferred Yu-Lung Hsu's Kill Butterfly Kill to Blu-ray. It is cited as being the "Original IFD edit" and "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 slightly better cut differs from the original Mandarin language version known as UNDERGROUND WIFE, which is also presented here in a 4:3 'fullscreen' SD print."

So... this is complicated. This all started with 1982's Taiwanese exploitation film Underground Wife (included in this release as an SD 1.33:1 version with the original Taiwanese-language and kinda, sorta hard English subs) SAMPLE:

This film was then purchased by IFD Films & Arts Ltd. (known as "Intercontinental Film Distributors Limited") out of Hong Kong and released in this package's main feature; an English-dubbed version called Kill Butterfly Kill. More or less the same film (albeit 2.4:1 widescreen... with an English DUB adding a few gruesome and naughty bits, longer assault etc. that didn't make the original 85-minute cut.) About 5 years later, IFD added ninja footage (I'm not joking), as it was all the rage, with Mark Miller + Mike Abbott, and titled it Advent Commando 4: Kill Butterfly Kill (1987) or American Commando 6: Kill Butterfly Kill (or are they different films? anyway, 89 minutes) referred to as "Cut-and-paste" movies. What.ever. The latter title, another hybrid, is also included here on a second Blu-ray. It's generally better with the newer footage and the original is about the same quality as the main feature (a shade brighter.)

So let's just talk about the Blu-ray title feature, Kill Butterfly Kill. I'm in the camp that the damage marks are... campy - not dissimilar to Grindhouse. I've included a few examples of the damage below - so - peruse the larger versions and you will get an idea. To be fair, there is a disclaimer: "Please note: The best surviving elements were used for these restorations and some scenes are not ideal. We hope that doesn't hurt your enjoyment of these films." The overall 1080P image is quite pale (muddy contrast) and soft as well, but I was not deterred. "It comes with the territory." There was also inconsistency with some deeper black levels inbetween the egregious damage - which was often in a green hued mist infiltrating the the visuals in erratic waves. I still enjoyed Kill Butterfly Kill... very much - warts, or boils, and all.

NOTE: We have added 76 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Neon Eagle Video use a DTS-HD Master 2.0 channel track (16-bit) in the post-DUB'ed English language. Kill Butterfly Kill has a huge amount of aggressive conflicts that come through with effect-compromised depth (a shade tinny - which may be accurate.) The score was credited to Hsin-Yi Chen (far more credits as an actor /stunts - and was even in Hsiao-Hsien Hou's Good Men, Good Women.) Anyway, it's a bit funky - which is cool - and a smidgeon better than the video although there were notable warps that distorted the sound like a dance DJ might 'scratch'. More charismatic imperfections.  Neon Eagle Video offer optional English subtitles (see sample below) on their Region FREE Blu-ray.

The Neon Eagle Video Blu-ray offers a new commentary by Kenneth Brorsson and Paul Fox of the Podcast on Fire Network. They discuss Chi-jan Hou's Taiwanese Black Movies documentary from 2005. They discuss the differences between the Mandarin (Underground Wife) and English (Kill Butterfly Kill) versions. The talk about the Taiwanese film culture before and after these "Black Movies," the martial arts in the film etc. It was good and their commentary helped clarify much of the history that I was not aware of. As mentioned, included is the “Underground Wife” cut in SD - barely watchable. Also is American Commando 6: Kill Butterfly Kill (Alternate cut) in AVC - 1080P on the second Blu-ray. There are trailers, a gallery and a 1/2 hour IFD trailer compilation that was quite amusing with exploitation films of psychological thrillers, horror, fantasy, ninja sub-categories. The package has reversible sleeve. 

We have definitely entered the category of "so bad it's good". I LOVE finding a genre that I knew very little about. This one is classified as a “Taiwanese Black Movie”. They surfaced in 1979, after a period of strict censorship, and appear to be heavy based in rape/revenge or 'femme-avenger' plots - just as Kill Butterfly Kill. Black Movie titles include “Female Revenge”, "Pink Thief", "Lady Piranha" and “Queen Bee". This continues to flashback to the sexual assault(s) - reliving the trauma for our protagonist (played by Juliet Chan.) There is a crossover of fetishism with our gal stabbing a baddie in the throat with one of her high heels. Like, I presume much of the genre, Kill Butterfly Kill is a 'B', low budget entry, characterized by exploitation, but it has a certain... style. Even without the gals collecting kicking ass - there is a 'Pinky Violence' vibe (see Arrow's Stray Cat Rock and Female Prisoner Scorpion Boxsets) that many will find addictively appealing. The a/v imperfections smack of watching this via a midnight showing in a dingy theater. The anomalies really only add to this presentation. The Neon Eagle Video Blu-ray has three versions and a commentary plus the 1/2 hour IFD trailer compilation - which is a hoot. For those that don't mind traveling on the wrong wide of the tracks this is certainly recommended.

Gary Tooze