Body Parts (1991)

Other than Jeff Fahey's over the top performance, this is a silly film. Basically an updated Hands of Orlac, where a killers body parts are used in a transplant and begin taking him over, since he wants to get put back together, there isn't much originality. Barely even a popcorn film.

After losing his arm in a car accident, a psychologist finds that his replacement came from a serial killer and is aiming to continue its owner's violent tendencies which forces him to extreme measures to protect his loved ones and stop the blood-soaked rampage.This turned out to be quite an enjoyable effort. One of the better parts to this is the amount of care given to the storyline showing his dealing with the new arm, from the exercise and family life to the different lifestyle choices slowly creeping into his personality. That last bit is where this really makes the most of itself by not only featuring creepy hallucinations of the killers' memories and the growing paranoia about that history which gives this one some of its best moments as the genuinely freaky visuals are based on some really frightening images of his previous kills. There's a fine sense of creepiness added to the growing mystery of the strange behavior he and his fellow recipients are experiencing, along with the film's other big plus in the frenetic action put around that behavior to readily enhance the paranoia. Once the identity and historical significance of the donor is revealed, the incidental behaviors rapidly shift to far more dangerous actions around them quickly escalate into rather exciting action scenes from the brawl in the artist' loft that leads into a rather exciting car crash that mixes a clever notion of handcuffing the two together while having to dodge traffic inside the linked cars. Finally, the shootout confrontation in the finale makes for a rather grand lasting impression with a lot of bloody violence and frenetic actions, which is enough to overcome the few flaws in here. The biggest issues here is the absolutely banal quality of having to spout off the dubious ethics and morality in justifying the reason for the choice of donor for the surgery and how to con the others into going along with the rationale, which isn't all that well-thought-out. That also extends to the other patients who unnecessarily warm up to the benefits of the procedure without really taking into account the side effects and disturbing behavior he brings up even after several visits this never changes their minds and they have no reaction to it. This all tends to make the first half here go on far too long before anything of any real horror shows through. That makes for a difficult time of this getting going and what really holds this back the most.Rated R: Graphic Language and Graphic Violence.

Effectively uses it's gruesome premise... Jeff Fahey is a great actor, calling him awful is just plain ignorant. Awful actors don't get to be in 118 different features. He is not one of my absolute favourites, but I have always appreciated his laid back, yet edgy style of acting. Brad Dourif! Dourif by name, somewhat dour-looking by nature! Brad is one of my all time favourite horror actors. It is always great to see him, even in small parts in movies like this. I found it really cool to see him and Jeff Fahey acting together, as they are two actors I really like, and they usually play intense, occasionally mad dudes. Brad plays it with his usual manic flair, and Jeff mostly plays it straight, but I love it cause' I know that Jeff could outdo Brad in terms of insanity if he wanted to. People moan that the film copies golden oldies like The Hand and The Hands Of Orloc...So? Know a lot of films about evil body parts, do you? Because I could count them on one hand(!) There's not enough body-part themed horror movies out there... I love the music theme that plays at the beginning, a few times in between, and right at the end. It starts out kind of silly, and then becomes booming and ominous. To me the music represents the film's grotesque sense of fun, and it's shock value. The film has a very good, slow build up of tension. In my opinion it is not until approximately 44 minutes and 38 seconds in that something actually happens. This film is certainly gory, but not very. It doesn't have too many bloody moments, but the one that I find really gross is at the beginning when Bill has had his operation. The way that his arm looks, all freshly stitched, raw and pink...ew!!! I thought it was an okay, average horror movie for quite a while, but my interest had a boost when it came to the scene where Bill discovers that someone has been grafted new legs.(I know that that one is still an impossibility) The film's main antagonist is the dastardly Doctor Agatha Webb. It is made very clear early on that Dr.Webb has her own dark agenda. It is indeed confirmed later on that Webb is indeed a real psycho bitch who will not give up no matter what and cares not a damn that people have to die for her experiment to reach it's insane conclusion. The two kids in the movie are not very interesting or effective, as they were both such bad little actor's! I remember the boy from Are You Afraid Of The Dark? There is a sequence in a bar that's pretty cool. The three transplantees are philosophizing. Brad and Jeff are sitting there with the other guy in the middle, which struck me as funny, as everyone knows who the other two are and no one knows who he is. Sorry other guy, you were good, too! I actually thought he was kinda cute, despite those ears! There is also an awesome fighty bit where Bill, responding to the pestering and insult of a drunk,(Ouch! That one would get anyone ticked off!)proceeds to take on all newcomers with his super-strong evil arm!!! When it comes to the big finale at the end, I don't agree that it's crap, but it does seem to run out of steam a bit. They could have done it better. It turns out that the evil mantis doctor of death Dr Webb's master plan has been, in layman's terms, to amputate the arms, legs, and head(?)of a serial killer?!, transplant them to "lucky" recipients, while still keeping the original torso alive, to later restore, whether the current owners like it or not, the parts back to the original body. Furthermore, she has an enforcer for this, in the killer, who she has kept alive as a head on an unidentified body. All this is for the purpose of proving some great medical advancement in body part manipulation procedures, or some-such. The seen is very impressive because you see all the reclaimed parts strung up in a chamber around the still breathing disembodied torso, awaiting reattachment. I saw what I thought was a very similar and for me far more effective scene in another surgery based horror movie that came out 15 years after this one, and that movie was Autopsy. I bet a lot of people hated or were very unsatisfied with the ending, and I could see why, but I personally loved the ending. I thought it was a different and perfect way to end the picture. It ends like this: the nightmare is over and Bill and his wife are relaxing in a peaceful outdoor scene. He is writing in his journal,(Something that is kind of interwoven that I thought added a lot)reflecting on his experience, and how the arm is now finally truly his. Anyway, they're just sitting there and...nothing happens. No big, last minute fright,(A very nice change)and the credits begin rolling, while lingering on the two, to the film's theme tune. And it's bizarre, and funny, and creepy as hell, and to me it really brings it home that the film was never meant to be taken too seriously. A cool, weird little movie, one that makes you wish you never lose a limb and become ensnared in the evil machinations of a mad doctor! Right on the limb!

Happy family man (Jeff Fahey) is in a horrible car wreck and loses an arm. It is replaced with a "donor's" arm. He soon finds out his arm belonged to a vicious executed murderer--and has a mind of its own!I saw this film in a theatre back in 1991. I had no interest in seeing it originally (I personally can't stand Fahey) but some critics gave this rave reviews (!!!). After seeing it I couldn't imagine WHAT they saw in this crap. It hasn't improved 14 years later.OK--this has been done before most notably as "Mad Love" back in 1935. But that film wasn't even remotely serious. This one expects us to believe various body parts can be grafted onto other people AND retain the personality of their owners!!!! It's a stupid premise and we're supposed to take it seriously! That's the main problem with this--it's too ridiculous to take seriously. Also the explanation at the end made little sense. I'm still not sure what was going on--or why.Acting doesn't help. Fahey is good but he's TOO good for such a dumb movie. Kim Delaney is great as his wife--but given little to do. Lindsay Duncan is HORRIBLE as the evil doctor--in a way she's so bad she's kind of fun to watch. Only Brad Dourif is any good. He (wisely) doesn't take his part too seriously and adds a funny spin to his lines.Also this is pretty boring. It moves at a snails pace (even at just 88 minutes) and there's no blood and guts till the last half hour. Unfortunately the "special" effects are unintentionally hysterical--get a good look at the obvious dummy when Dourif is thrown out a window!Silly, dull and REALLY idiotic. This has been mostly forgotten--let's hope it stays that way. I give it a 1.