The Shaolin Death Caves

Movie
German title	The Shaolin Death Caves
Original title	dié biàn
Country of production	Hong Kong
original language	Cantonese
Publishing year	1979
length	88 minutes
Age rating	FSK 16
Rod
Director	Tsui Hark
script	Lum Chi-Ming , Fan Lin
production	Ng See-yuen , Sijian Wu , Quan Zhang
music	Frankie Chan , Piu Chan
camera	Chin-yu fan
cut	Zhixiong Huang , David Wu
occupation
Siu-Ming Lau : Fang Hongye Michelle Mee : Green shade Shu Tong Wong : Tian Feng Guozhu Zhang : Shen Qing Qiqi Chen : Lady Shen Jiang Wang : Li Eddy Ko : Guo Xiaoling Xu : Ah Zhi

The Shaolin Grottoes of Death ( Chinese  蝶变 , Pinyin dié biàn , Cantonese  Dip bin ) is a wuxia film with mystery and horror elements. The Hong Kong production is director Tsui Hark's debut film .

action

Deadly butterflies are said to be responsible for several deaths in a palace complex. A scholar and several fighters, each with their own special skills, take on the matter. The showdown takes place in the grottoes under the palace. In the end, it turns out that the butterflies weren't responsible for the murders.

reception

The Lexicon of International Films describes the production as a "wild, difficult to understand and extremely dark Kung Fu film full of brilliant fight scenes, which is particularly convincing due to its sense of atmosphere."

On the list of the 100 best Chinese films drawn up on the occasion of the 24th Hong Kong Film Awards , The Shaolin Grottoes (The Butterfly Murders) came 34th.

Web links

• The death caves of Shaolin in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• The film at Hong Kong Cinemagic

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The Shaolin Death Caves. Lexicon of International Films, accessed August 15, 2010 .