Set in the United States to accommodate actress Brigitte Lin’s schedule and written by Patrick Tam’s longtime collaborator Joyce Chan, Love Massacre (1981) follows college student Ivy (Brigitte Lin) as she tries to help her friend Joy (Tina Liu), who is depressed and delirious after a breakup. Ivy soon becomes inadvertently involved with Joy’s married brother, Chu Chung (Chang Kuo-Chu). Suffering from a hereditary mental illness, Chung eventually spirals into violence as he breaks into Ivy’s dormitory and goes on a killing spree.

The film’s relentless shifts in genre—from drama and romance to thriller and slasher—not only showcase director Patrick Tam’s remarkable talent, for which he was much-lauded during his television career, but also his intuition in making a film that is completely contemporary, single-handedly transforming Lin’s previous image as the golden girl of Taiwanese romantic dramas. This unsettling and visually striking Hong Kong New Wave gem—thanks to William Chang’s debut as art director—exudes its experimental spirit, using bold colours to express emotions on screen.

Restored in 4K by M+ in 2025. The restoration was made using the original 35mm picture negative found in 2025, a 35mm workprint preserved at the Hong Kong Film Archive, Leisure and Cultural Services Department, a 35mm release print preserved at the University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, and the Cantonese soundtrack from the DVCAM tapes provided by Patrick Tam. The restoration reflects the director's cut as shown at the film's Hong Kong release in 1981, and is presented in the intended 1.66:1 aspect ratio.

The restoration advisor was Ross Lipman, who also completed the version conforming for this project. The digital restoration was undertaken at Colorlab, with colour correction completed at Digit Digit with the guidance of Brian Lai. The audio restoration was completed at Audio Mechanics.

Love Massacre is one of the films under ‘M+ Restored’, an initiative supported by CHANEL.

The screening on 30 November will be followed by a talk with the cinematographer of Love Massacre Brian Lai, assistant director and actress Tina Liu, moderated by Li Cheuk-to, M+ Curator-at-large of Hong Kong Film and Media. This talk will be held in Cantonese.

Patrick Tam (b. 1948, Hong Kong) started his career in television at TVB. The first feature film he directed was The Sword (1980), an innovative wuxia film that helped usher in the era of the Hong Kong New Wave. His knack for visual flair continued to flourish in Love Massacre (1981), Nomad (1982), and Final Victory (1987). He is also known for editing films such as Wong Kar-Wai’s Days of Being Wild (1990) and Ashes of Time (1994). He was awarded Best Director and Best Screenplay at the Hong Kong Film Awards for After This Our Exile (2006).