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Movie Review by The Undertaker
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10.23.03
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This late 60's Shaw Brothers Studios swordplay drama kicks some major ass and spills some major blood. A woodcutter's family is slaughtered by a group of three bandits, kidnapping his sister in the process. The man swears revenge, picking up his dead mother bracelet of silver bells and hitting the road to kill his enemies. The bells of death shake through the movie as he tracks down and executes the murderers. Our hero here ain't no master swordsman though, until he meets an old master, following him and convincing him to teach him some skills after sharing his heart-breaking story. Once he learns though, this guy is awesome. You won't believe some of the shit he pulls off. The movie can basically be broken down into the three fights with the three assholes that have wronged our man. All of 'em offer blood, chopped off heads, arms lopped off, and plenty of people split right across the face with sword blades. What Bells lacks in the spraying blood department of say Shogun Assassin, it more than makes up for in the drama and tension department. This movie is very gripping and engrossing. Seeing the guy finally kill that last fighter leaves a nice warm feeling inside. Though this ain't a horror film, it sure packs a ton of cool scenes and blood. The first evil bandit gets impaled on sharp bamboo stakes. Messy. The second guy is perhaps the ugliest Asian man I have ever laid eyes on, plus he does the this neck thing that looks like he's break dancing. The clicking sound effects during the neck wiggle killed me. The leader of the bandits dies lastly and the whole end fight leaves bodies everywhere. The woodcutter even keeps fighting when a female friend's life is in peril. Several times he's told to put down the sword or the girl dies, he never stops though. I found this pretty interesting considering the chivalrous nature of most of these period films. Looking for some good bloody swordsmanship with lots of drama and a storyline that will suck you in? Look no further, Bells of Death delivers. These older Shaw swordplay films have a much different feel than the hand-to-hand kung-fu films that followed in the 70's. Most were bloody as hell and filled with style and honor. Remember, this shit was many, many years before Kill Bill and Tarantino's ass ain't the only one who's stolen ideas fro the Shaw Brothers. The funniest moment in this film has to be some bad guy talking about the brothel. He says of a whore trying to run off that she has a great job and that every girl in town would love to work there
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Rating: 6.0 out of 10.0 - 1 vote cast total
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