The Bloodstained Butterfly

[peteyt]

It’s been a while since I reviewed a Giallo film, mainly due to work. I also prefer to watch horror films at night but I’ve been doing a mix of late shifts and early shifts so just not had the time. However I managed to get a months free trial of Amazon Prime and noticed a film I’d wanted to see forever was on the Arrow Video prime channel with a weeks trial available. For those unaware Arrow Video, sometimes called Arrow Film is a film distributor often dealing cult, art, world and horror films.

The film I’d wanted to see for so long was The Bloodstained Butterfly. In my previous review, I and others noted how a lot of Giallo’s can be very similar. Often once you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all. That’s not to say there aren’t great examples, but a lot of the good ones often get elements copied. One of the things that excited me about this film is that it apparently did things a little different.

I went in excited but also kind of expecting to be disappointed as often happens when I go into a film with high expectations. I will admit it wasn’t exactly what I’d thought it would be, but it was still interesting. While most Giallo films have police, investigators etc. the main character tends to be an innocent bystander. Often they witness something e.g. a murder, and in turn become targeted by the killer. Due to this, they often tend to start investigating, trying to find out who the killer is, Dario Argento’s Deep Red being a prime example of this. I think this method works best because it is more interesting throwing someone into danger who is not used to it unlike someone working for the police or something similar who may have some experience in similar situations. The innocent bystander is thrown into a world they are not used to, and in a sense we can relate with the character and wonder how we would possibly deal with the situation if it happened to us. One reason I wasn’t keen on Argento’s Four Flies on Grey Velvet was that the lead character didn’t really do much, which I found not as interesting.

In this film however, there’s a lot more time dedicated to the investigation itself, and for a change, I found this very refreshing. We get to see the investigative process, see them exploring the crime scenes, interviewing witnesses etc. What also makes this film stand out, is the fact that we also see the case in court. Basically a TV reporter ends up being arrested and we see him and his attorney as they try to fight for his innocence.

The film itself is also not very violent – the kills aren’t really the main part so we don’t see a lot, and most of what we see is the aftermath e.g. the body discovered, the investigating of the body etc. The film is more of a thriller but it mixes this up by also being a police procedural, a court drama and general drama but with also a little hint of the Italian spaghetti western. The film also has a few twists.

The only thing I’d criticise it for is I felt the second half dragged a little, and the film is I believe just under 2 hours. I’m not sure if it was because I was trying to watch it in a rush as my trial was nearly over and I was tired, but there’s some subplots and stuff, but I found some bits confused me at the end and I’d maybe need to re-watch at some point. Oh and there's a weird sex scene where it's hard to tell how much the two shown are enjoying it or being hurt by it. I've read it kind of makes sense at the end so will have to re-watch and see.


One thing I will say is I really found the film interesting. I think people who aren’t too keen on Giallos will also enjoy it mixes enough genres.