Pieces (1983)

PIECES gives the viewer a rarely seen glimpse into the mind of a depraved killer. As a psychologist, I found this documentary quite fascinating. It raises many questions about why serial killers behave the way they do. Why would a person want to kill and dismember young women and collect their body parts? You will find out in the shocking conclusion of this film, but I will will not post any spoilers here. You should watch PIECES and see for yourself.Great fun for the whole family! Gather the little ones around the t.v. set for this delightful tale of a young boy's quest to complete a jigsaw puzzle. When his mother interrupts his fun with her shenanigans, hilarity ensues! You'll crack up over the "skateboard" scene! And if the "women's locker room" and "waterbed" scenes don't just make you wet yourself, the surprise ending will leave you in stitches! But don't expect me to go into any details here. Buy a copy of PIECES for yourself, and prepare for a delightful cut-up of a movie.

This little movie doesn't have the best ratings, but it deserves a better rep. The soundtrack is creepy and the acting isn't too bad, the plot is eerie and overall it's a classic Eighties slasher.Pieces begins with a little boy viewing his father's pornography when his mom walks in on him. The father is away in the air force and the mom is pretty abusive, not just taking away the pornography but slapping her child and smashing her bedroom mirror. She tells her son to get a bag so they can gather the porn and burn it, but her son comes back with an ax instead and murders mom, leaving an extremely bloody and disgusting scene behind. He then gets sent away to live with an aunt (no one suspects him of the murders). Now that the little boy has grown up, he's decided to go on a murder massacre with a chainsaw as the murder weapon, killing women and taking their body parts to make a puzzle out of.Pieces isn't one of the better slashers out there, nor is it very popular, but it's not bad and it's one that any horror fan should check out.

Back in the year 1942, a young pervert in Boston named Timmy gets chastised by his mother for trying to finish a jigsaw puzzle of a naked woman. The boy snaps, and chops her to death with an Axe. Two bumbling cops let Timmy go free. Forty years later, in a campus on Boston, the students are turning up dead, one by one. A serial killer is desiring to form a human jigsaw puzzle with body parts. It is up to Lt. Bracken (Christopher George) a student named Kendall, and former tennis pro, Mary Riggs (Lynda Day George) to try to stop himI've seen this countless times over the years. It was one of the very first horror movies I ever bought, back when I was first discovering my love for horror films. I wore out the DVD. Last night was the first time I had seen it in almost five years. Did it manage to give me entertainment still? Yup. This is European, so we have to put up with some horrible dubbing. Let me get one thing out-of-the-way. This is not a good horror movie. It is laughably bad at times, with horrendous acting, but i'm a lover of cheesy films, especially horror. The killer himself is rather average looking. He's hidden for the most part with a trench coat and a hat on. The gore is a different story. There are some truly nasty things in this movie. A student is cut in half, a woman gets drilled with an Axe repeatedly. Someone gets decapitated with a chainsaw, and much more. My favorites are the water-bed death, and the last scene, which I won't spoil. Ever see a woman pee herself during a stalk scene? You'll see it here. With movies like this, I tend to ignore the plethora of plot holes, but there is one I couldn't ignore. The two cops in the beginning are inexplicably stupid. How is it that there is no conjecturing, whether the boy could be the culprit? They let him go free without even looking into it. He was the only one in the house when his mother was killed, so you would think they would look into the boy being the murder. The acting is what you would probably expect. Christopher George is enjoyably corny as the Lt. His gruff persona was at least fun to watch, if nothing else. Lynda Day George is certainly sweet, and very easy on the eyes. She overdoes the hysterics in a big way, though. (Here is an example. BASTARD, BASTARD, BASTARD!!!!!) Ian Sera is OK as Kendall, but it is hard to rate his performance, since he is dubbed. Edmond Purdom is pretty poor as The Dean. His thick English accent felt out of place. The killer is very easy to predict. I'll be shocked if you don't figure out who it is, early in the movie. They try to throw you off guard, but it doesn't work. The shock ending is utterly pointless in every way. It is unrealistic and absolutely laughable with what they do. Very gory, but very stupid as well. Another carp I have with this film is that it does get a bit talky sometimes. I wouldn't call it boring, but it definitely becomes less interestingFinal Thoughts: If you love cheesy horror movies like I do, you'll most likely find things to enjoy about this film. If you are expecting Schindler's List, you may want to get your head examined. What can I say? I have a soft spot for this film, and I am not ashamed of it5.4/10

This movie is fun. That's all that can be said. If you take it seriously you will probably be offended, but if you go into it with the right attitude and sense of humor you will come out entertained. The premise, execution, and gore is so over the top its impossible not to enjoy. The film has that 80s excess and lack of subtly that frankly I find myself missing in today's super serious horror films. The best part really is the over the top deaths. I won't give any away, but they have to be seen to be believed and they just keep getting better as the movie progresses. Top this off with some funny dubbing and you have a grindhouse classic!