Pieces (1982) d. Simon, J.P. (Spain)
“You don’t have to go to Texas for a chainsaw massacre!” screamed the ad line, and boy, they weren’t kidding. This legendary Spanish splatterfest doles out the gore by the bucketload, but what really sets it apart are the astonishing lapses in narrative logic and the wealth of buh-rilliantly inept performances by Christopher George, Susan Day George, Edward Purdom, Paul Smith...heck, pretty much everyone involved.
In addition to the already loopy plot about a killer assembling a dream girl from hacked-off sections of his victims, viewers are treated to jaw-dropping onscreen moments that include the most random kung fu attack in cinema history and Day George’s immortal line reading of “Bastard! BAAAAAASTARD! BASTARRRRD!” Seriously must-see material for gorehounds and bad movie lovers alike.
Pieces is a sanguinary Euro-trash slice of dubbed crap cinema gold. From the bizarre Frankenstein like modus operandi of the trench coated killer collecting the body parts from his sexy & buxom coed victims, to the distinctly early 80's synth score, to the jaw-droppingly gross out finale that is more "Ballsy" than today's so called Horror films, Pieces delivers!
ReplyDeleteAmen, brother. AMEN. Well said.
DeleteI got to see it on the big screen last year around this time in Milwaukee. Frickin' AMAZING seeing it with a crowd of people - some who had seen it before, some for whom it was their first time. So good.
A runner up for the sheer insanity of Pieces is the late Bruno Mattei's Hell of the living dead, equally as gory & it doesn't skimp on the trashiness like Pieces.
DeleteOh, I've seen HELL OF THE LIVING DEAD. Mattei will never be called a "good" filmmaker, but he definitely knows how to throw a good trashy party. We watched RATS: NIGHTS OF TERROR last November - what a riot.
DeletePieces satisfies in the sleaze/splatter quota, it's a pity though the one female student that didn't bare any flesh, the one who proclaims "nothing is more beautiful than smoking pot & fuc*ing on a waterbed at the same time.", had such limited screentime, she had nice boobs.
ReplyDeleteAgreed, but we're bountifully blessed with so much other great stuff, I can hardly complain!
ReplyDelete