Body Puzzle (1992)

Body Puzzle is something of an atypical giallo in so far as that the face of the killer is seen from the outset. The rest, as they say, is business as usual, with director Lamberto Bava delivering a convoluted murder mystery with a beautiful woman in peril (Joanna Pacula), a tough cop trying to crack the case (Tomas Arana), and several elaborately staged, mean-spirited murders.Pacula plays widow Tracy, who begins to receive gruesome gifts from a serial killer: body parts from his victims. As the murderer goes about his business, police detective Michele (Arana) tries to figure out the motive for the slayings, thereby leading him to uncover the killer's identity. It all gets a little tough to follow at times, but Bava's stylish direction and the grisly death scenes ensure a good time for giallo fans.Gory highlights include the vicious murder of a pastry store owner (who loses his ear) and the chopping off of a woman's hand in a toilet cubicle, but the most ingenious killing has to be that of a teacher in a classroom full of blind children, the psycho committing his crime as the kids happily listen to a recording of 'Peter and the Wolf'. Fans of italian horror will also get a kick out of seeing genre favourite Giovanni Lombardo Radice as camp stable owner Morangi, who supplies Michele with a vital clue.

I actually enjoyed this more than i thought i would, this being 90's Lamberto Bava- whom i was never a huge fan of (Delirium aside). Despite an incoherent plot it manages to stay engaging, doubtless aided by the wonderful cinematography of Luigi Kuveiller (A Woman in a Lizard's Skin, Profondo Rosso). The ending is quite charming as well. All around fun , especially for a giallo made in the 90s. Better than most of Argento's output during that decade.

Police officer Michael (Tomas Arana, "The Church") has his hands full while investigating a serial killer who's been leaving parts of the bodies of the people that he's been murdering at the house of one recently widowed, Tracy (Joanna Pacula). Mike has to find a way to stop the bodies from piling up, while perhaps finding love in the process.A feeling of the 'giallo' films of yore pervades this film, even though we know who the killer is from the get-go, and the film contains a few good set-pieces (a scene later in the film set in a school for the blind being particularly memorable), but it doesn't make all that much sense when all is said and done either. All in all, not nearly as good as Bava's earlier "Macabre" nor his first two "Demons" films, but enjoyable enough if you can forgive the rather outrageous plot twists towards the end of the film. A pity the Image Entertainment DVD lacked extras of any kind, as I would have been interested in some.My Grade: C-

A psychopath, who uses a musical score playing when he sets off to methodically kill his victims, torments a "widow" by leaving the removed body parts(from those he kills, with a large, sharp butcher knife) in her home or near her parents' house. Her past, what supposedly occurred to her husband and brother, is a piece to the puzzle as is a certain motorcycle accident caused by the quietly deranged killer(..we see this "accident" take place in the memory flashback of the killer at the very beginning of the film). Detective Michael(Tomas Arana, of Michelle Soavi's "The Church")is the one burdened with trying to find the killer and François Montagut is the killer he's pursuing. Joanna Pacula is Tracy, the female protagonist whose life is possibly endangered by the psycho leaving her the parts.Incredibly convoluted murder mystery(the identity of the killer, for example, yields a few twists)with a rather tasteless premise, stylishly executed by Lamberto Bava. I thought it was professionally made and not overly gory despite the killer's methods of destruction & removal of organs and limbs. There's a particular disturbing sequence where a schoolteacher, for the blind, is killed by the psycho while teaching class(..blood even sprays on a kid's face!). The victims chosen by the killer have something in common..there's a motive behind the killer's madness, so to speak. The theme of identity crisis plays at the heart of the film as to why the killer is committing his grisly deeds.I thought it was kind of cool seeing Joanna Pacula in a giallo type of mystery and felt she was fitting as a book editor paranoid and frightened by what is revolving around her..her husband's body was even removed from his grave to fuel her fear and horror(..although, even that sick event plays within this macabre plot as it plays out). Gianni Garko(..of Lucio Fulci's "Seven Notes in Black), looking quite suave in his tailored suits, has a nice little minor role as Michael's demanding Police Chief wanting the brooding detective to solve the complex case as bodies start to mount. Can not forget Giovanni Lombardo Radice as a flamboyantly gay aristocrat with ties to the killer and Tracy's husband. Erika Blanc portrays the coroner whose expertise come in handy as Michael pursues the killer, trying to piece this delicate puzzle together.