Plot: a writer seeks to record the happenings in war-torn medieval China. He goes to investigate reports of homicidal butterflies at a remote castle. His researches uncover a convoluted plot to take control of the martial arts world.

An innovative blend of SF, horror, fantasy, and martial arts film which was Tsui Hark's debut film. Rooted in Chinese martial arts fiction yet defies that tradition by having a writer as hero. Here bizarre devices replace Tiger Claw techniques in the martial arts battles, with the film's McGuffin revealed only at the end. Surreal images such as the castle covered in butterfly nets.