Bells of Death is a revenge movie that doesn’t waste any time getting to the ‘revenge’ part. They even skip the whole ‘kung fu training session’ and leave it to your imagination. Throughout the movie, I was waiting for the training scene in flashback mode, but it never came - in a way, it’s kind of odd, but you once the rest of the film gets going, that little plot gap doesn’t matter.

For a movie made in 1968, Bells of Death feels more like something that was made in the late 1970s. That whole jolty camera style of the 60’s era Shaw flicks is somewhat absent; instead we get more of Westernized style which is restrained in comparison. During some of the fighting segments, the camera work becomes rough and ready, comparable to some of the newer action films of today.

The tone of the film is very grizzly and dark. The costumes, set designs and backgrounds are mostly neutral in color. Even when someone is wearing red, it appears to be darkened, with very little contrast. The tone also applies to the gloomy soundtrack, which becomes haunting at times (like most Shaw flicks, a good portion of the film’s soundtrack was probably borrowed from Western films).

Bells of Death has a good amount of satisfying action. If you like blood and gore, it’ll put a smile on your face. There are a couple of scenes where sliced heads and limbs fall to the ground and it’s shown.

Bells of Death gets the award for having the freakiest kung fu villain of all time, thanks to that stubby guy with a huge prosthetic nose and beard. As he attacks his victims, he does this eerie, horizontal head shake - and you can hear the cracks his neck makes when he does it. I think most people find it goofy, but it seems to freak me out for some reason.

Highly recommended. - Mighty Peking Man, cityonfire.com