Woman Chasing the Butterfly of Death Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		2.5

Woman Chasing the Butterfly of Death Blu-ray Movie Review

A quality release with a 4K scan and an abundance of extras

A visual extravaganza, Woman Chasing the Butterfly of Death is a fascinating genre production by acclaimed South Korean filmmaker Ki-young Kim (The Housemaid, Touch-Me-Not). With the involvement of legendary producer Jin-woo Jeong (Fire Woman, Love in the Rain), the film is undeniably kinetic and exhibits unique creativity in spades. For fans of offbeat cult films, it's a memorable creation which is bursting at the seams with strange wonderment.

A morbidly offbeat story, Woman Chasing the Butterfly of Death follows the events of Young-gul: a morbidly depressed and anti-social young man who contemplates suicide on a regular basis while living out his seemingly mundane life while only eating cheap ramen noodles. The average lifestyle Young-gul lives seems too mundane for his erratic mind. Contemplating his life as being pointless, the consistently morbid Young-gul soon meets an elderly man whom he initially befriends before deciding that he will actually murder him. After the man is horrifically killed, Young-gul is greeted by the man in the form of a skeleton ghost: his victim aims to remind him of the power of the “will to live” beyond death.

Looking for abandoned skeleton remains of decomposed bodies, Young-gul finds a full set of bones around earthy outdoor grounds. Taking the complete skeleton collection home with him in glee, the reconstructed skeletal frame transforms before his eyes into a real-life, fleshy woman. The beautiful woman before him was originally transformed into a comatose skeleton under a magic spell.

The girl was told by a sorcerer that she had to eat a human liver within a few days in order to prevent turning into ash. She was also told she would meet a man and fall in love. The two unexpectedly hit it off and the strangely odd story unfolds even further... leading to a much more bizarre conclusion. Will Young-gul remain forever morbid or will he find true love with the reincarnated corpse woman? Will wedding bells chime: “I now pronounce you deranged man and psycho ghost-woman”?

"It's alright. Things work out in the end. Look at me? I was a corpse a few minutes ago."

Strange and consistently nonsensical (with doses of humor thrown into the mix), Woman Chasing the Butterfly of Death is a rare example of filmmaking which displays grand absurdity on every level. It's the type of storytelling which is best to not take too seriously (even though the themes might suggest otherwise). With a screenplay written by Mun-woong Lee (The Ring of Death, The Afterworld), the story fails on virtually every level with regards to character-development or a reasonably structured narrative. Instead, it's an odd experience which seems strung-together mainly for shock value and to entertain viewers with the assortment of bizarre visual effects on display.

The visual component of the production is one of the most interesting and effective elements. The film has gorgeously lit cinematography by Seong-chun Lee (Death Song, Staking One's Life) which uses a nice range of colors to help give shape and meaning. With eerie and surrealistic art direction created by Bong-seon Lee (Gold Madam, Two Dreamers), the experience of viewing Woman Chasing the Butterfly of Death is a heightened one that delivers. There is just something strangely effective about the bizzaro visuals and special effects. The eeriness is matchd by the effective music score by Sang-gi Han (Elegy of Ren, Defiance of a Teenager).

Ki-young Kim directs Woman Chasing the Butterfly of Death as if it is merely an outlandish independent film (and not something one would describe as a “cult” or genre picture). However, the final product is so undeniably weird that one cannot help but label it as a genre production nonetheless. The frenetic (and sometimes illogical editing) by Hui-su Kim (Hot Wind, Mister Zero) either adds to the film's charm or adds to viewer frustration, depending on who one asks (or dependent on the mood of viewers). While it isn't possible to truly call Woman Chasing the Butterfly of Death a must-see genre film, it's a interesting one that is worth seeking out for fans of outlandish, off-the-wall cinema.

Woman Chasing the Butterfly of Death Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Arriving on Blu-ray from distributor Mondo Macabro, Woman Chasing the Butterfly of Death features a 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high-definition presentation in the original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1 widescreen. The feature-film has a new 4K scan which was taken from the original camera negative. To discuss the positives of the presentation: details in the image are quite strong with clear improvements in resolution seen as a result of the high-quality scan. The 4K scan certainly adds much to the presentation quality. The bad news? There's more of that. While having a 4K scan is a nice aspect of the presentation, the transfer still retains noticeable print damage during many scenes (such as thin scratches, occasional splotches, and even some burns on the print). This release is far from being an "immaculate" presentation even if the 4K scanning itself greatly improves the quality.

Then there's something even more troubling about the Blu-ray release. At the 1 Hr. 33 min. mark in the presentation there is a serious encoding error which causes the image to freeze altogether and skip to the 1 Hr. and 35 min. time-stamp. This was an awful quality-control error which never should have been overlooked. Perhaps, there are some faulty pressings floating around retail. A disc exchange program is strongly encouraged and if one is announced by the studio, the review will be updated accordingly. To reiterate and clarify: two minutes of the feature-film are completely inaccessible. I tested the disc on multiple Blu-ray players and experienced the same results.

UPDATE:

A replacement disc was received. I can confirm it was a bad pressing and not an encoding error as initially reported. The label representative assured me that "anyone with a faulty disc can get it replaced" by contacting the label.

For more information (and thoughts on the release), please refer to my final thoughts on the release.

Woman Chasing the Butterfly of Death Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The release features a Korean DTS-HD Master Audio presentation. The lossless audio clarity is quite strong for the most part. Dialogue is clear and easy to understand throughout. The release does have occasional pops and minor hiss on the soundtrack which is a distraction at times. While this is not a perfectly clear and crisp audio presentation, it's a decent one which ultimately works for the feature film. English subtitles are excellent and are free from any glaring spelling or grammatical errors.

Woman Chasing the Butterfly of Death Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Audio Commentary by Kenneth Brorsson and Paul Quinn

Interview with Darcy Paquet (HD, 14:59) is an interview with film critic Paquet about his views on director Kim Ki-Young and his filmography. Known for his insights into Korean cinema, the award winning journalist Darcy Paquet offers his compelling insights in this highly educational and richly informative piece.

Examining Woman Chasing the Butterfly of Death (as well as countless other films produced in Kim Ki-Young's career), the history of the director is discussed in great detail while Paquet examines the auteur style of the director as well as some of the central themes which are seen throughout the filmmaker's body of work. A fascinating piece which is well worth a watch.

Interview with actress Lee Hwa-Si (HD, 11:22) features an engaging discussion with the muse of director Kim Ki-Young. Having starred in several of his productions over the years, she was one of his most frequent collaborators and inspirations. In this piece, actress Lee Hwa-Si delves into her views on Woman Chasing the Butterfly of Death and her experiences with fans of the filmmaker (from attending film festivals) to her memories of working with the director. A frank conversational piece which is well worth watching for fans of the film (and its leading actress).

The release contains an in-depth interview with producer Jeong Jin-Woo. This detailed interview in broken down into two segments (and there is no "play all" option on the interview). The piece has individual sections with discussion on his own body of work as producer and director as well as an interview regarding his thoughts on Woman Chasing the Butterfly of Death filmmaker Kim Ki-Young.

Part One: Jeon on Jeong (HD, 16:06) features the producer discussing his long history of work in the industry and his experiences as a filmmaker. Of particular interest in the in-depth insights gained by producer Jeong Jin-Woo about the obtacles faced in producing many of the feature-films he was associated with. Given the history of censorship in South Korea, Jeong Jin-Woo delves into the complications met based on regime-changes.

Part Two: Jeong on Kim (HD, 12:59) is an engaging and insightful interview in which the producer recollects on his memories of working with the director of Woman Chasing the Butterfly of Death. Delving into the filmmaker's approach and his style, the piece is worth a watch for fans.

Interview with Koo Jong-Mo (HD, 6:26) features the acclaimed cinematographer of Woman Chasing the Butterfly of Death discussing his contributions to the film and what the process was like to work with director Kim Ki-Young and other filmmakers from the era.

Lastly, the release includes a compilation trailer (SD, 13:50) showcasing other releases from Mondo Macabro.

Woman Chasing the Butterfly of Death Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Woman Chasing the Butterfly of Death is a compelling experience. The film is utterly bizarre at every turn of the story. For viewers seeking a coherent storyline, look elsewhere. For audiences wanting a visual extravaganza, the film delivers in spades. Genre film fans certainly have something to look forward to here.

However, the Blu-ray release is unfortunately problematic. Though the release features a nice assortment of extras and a new 4K scan, the encode has a very serious encoding problem which resulted in two-minutes of the film being inaccessible (at least on the copy received for review). A examination on multiple players returned the same results.

A replacement disc program should be created for anyone experiencing the issue with the release. If I hear anything about a replacement plan being created, the review will be updated accordingly. As it stands now, I recommend fans hold off on the release and hope for something better to come along (perhaps from a foreign distributor). Proceed with caution.

UPDATE:

A replacement copy was received from a representative from Mondo Macabro. Having checked the disc and discussed the matter with the label representative, it appears the issue was an authoring one (rather than an encoding issue overlooked from the label). Due to an error in the replication, a faulty disc (which was badly pressed) was received for review. The representative informed me that should any buyers encounter a similar issue the label will replace the disc for buyers. In their own words: "anyone with a faulty disc can get it replaced" by contacting the label.

As a result, I am updating my original assessment to a recommendation for the Blu-ray release. Mondo Macabro deserves to be commended for their prompt response to the quality-control issue and for remedying it for me (and potential buyers can feel rest assured the label will be there for them should any disc with this anomaly be received).