Inside you'll find David Harley's review of Grindhouse Releasing's two-disc Deluxe Edition of PIECES. In the film a psychopathic killer stalks a Boston campus, brutally slaughtering nubile young college co-eds, collecting body parts from each victim to create the likeness of his mother who he savagely murdered with an axe when he was ten years old! PIECES is a wild, unrated gorefest, with enough splatter and sleaze to shock the most jaded horror fan.
PIECES is a film that I've wanted to see for a really long time. “You've got to see it to believe it” is what I kept hearing from fellow genre fans over and over again. On my initial quest for a copy, I found out that the only way I could see it would be by choosing between two really awful DVD versions. I heard that Grindhouse Releasing was going to put out a special edition and considering that the better of the two releases was OOP (and a little pricey at the time), I decided to hold out. I saw what an incredible job Grindhouse did with putting together the 25th Anniversary Collector's Edition of CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST and I knew that if anyone was willing to do something really special for PIECES, it would be those guys.
Time went by and I completely forgot about PIECES until Eli Roth showed it at The New Beverly earlier this year on a double bill with TORSO. Then it all came flooding back to me: what ever happened to that Grindhouse edition? After a few emails, I was assured it would be coming later in the year, along with THE BEYOND. Long story short(er), a little over 10 minutes into my virginal viewing of PIECES, I decided that if I ever wrote a book about it, it would be called “Horror Junk Food for the Gorehound Soul.” The film is completely incomprehensible, filled to the brim with terrible dialogue, continuity errors, bad dubbing and random, over-the-top scenes of violence. But that's the charm of PIECES: its a horribly made film that manages to offer first-class entertainment.
PIECES was a script given to director Juan Piquer Simon by producers Dick Randall and Steve Minasian after he turned down LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT 2. Originally titled Jigsaw and conceived as a two-part TV miniseries, Piquer was given the task of “mak[ing] it even moderately believable.” Well, he completely failed on his end of the bargain!
The film opens in Boston, 1942, with little Timmy putting together a puzzle of a naked woman on his bedroom floor. His mother walks in and goes berserk, slapping him around, breaking a mirror and threatening to kill him. If threatening her son's life for porn doesn't strike you as odd, her asking for a plastic trash bag should, since they weren't invented until 1950. Timmy comes back in the room with an axe, gives his mother less than 40 whacks and then pulls a hacksaw out of thin air, dismembering her corpse. He finishes putting together his puzzle, amidst the distraction of a ringing touch-tone phone (which wasn't introduced to the public until 1963), before a random woman and two police officers break in, finding him in a closet telling tall tales about a brutish man murdering his mother. But what's that in the background? Is that a New England Patriots pennant flag? They weren't even founded until 1959!
And that's just the first 4 ½ minutes.
What follows is a true journey of awfulness, one where a scene with a skateboarding co-ed crashing into a large mirror being carried down the street by two delivery men (déjà vu for those of us who played BACK TO THE FUTURE on NES) can transition into a flashback sequence where a woman breaks a mirror out of anger. Women get topless more than they should (which we can assuredly thank John Shadow aka Joe D'Amato for), a “kung fu professor” randomly fights a woman because he ate “bad chop suey” and the killer hides a chainsaw behind his back without anyone noticing. As for the ending, it doesn't make a lick of sense but neither does anything else during the 85 minute runtime! Without ruining any more of the completely inept (but hilarious) moments of filmmaking that occur within, I'll just say that PIECES isn't a film for anyone looking for logic or a compelling story but rather a good time, preferably late at night with a couple of friends and a lot of alcohol.
Special Features
The Vine Theater Hollywood Experience – Definitely the most unique extra on the two-disc set, “it's exactly what you think it is.” Similar to the audience reaction track on PLANET TERROR, this audio recording features theatre patrons hootin' and hollerin' at the screen during PIECES' more infamous moments. Unlike the one on PLANET TERROR, the PIECES track wasn't recorded with people at an advanced screening; these folks are die-hard fans of the film who have seen the film dozens of times. Challenge yourself when watching PIECES for the first time: see if you can pick out all the unintentionally funny moments and then turn this audio track on to see if you missed anything.
Optional Spanish Soundtrack with Librado Pastor Score – The original score is a mix of light, melodic piano pieces and segments that sound like something I'd hear while floating down the Mississippi River on Mark Twain's steamboat. Some of the dialogue changes on the Spanish audio track, including Mrs. Weldon's request for a plastic bag changing to a trash can. Sure, it makes more sense, but do you really want PIECES to make sense? Ever?
Pieces of Piquer (55:21) – Directed, shot and produced by fellow Spanish genre superstar Nacho Cerdá, Juan Piquer briefly touches on his other films, like SLUGS and CTHULHU MANSION (a segment during which he forgets who H.P. Lovecraft is), but mainly sticks to discussing the production history of PIECES. From stories on how he fought the government to shoot in another language to giving actor Ian Sera a bag of ice to calm his erection during a nude scene, Piquer ends the interview by stating that he hopes to direct a sequel sometime soon. Only if you can bring back the kung fu professor, Juan.
Paul Smith: The Reddest Herring (57:41) – Not about PIECES in particular but an overview of his entire career, Paul Smith talks about his work on big-studio films like POPEYE and smaller, independent films like the criminally underrated CRIMEWAVE. Smith requested to not be on set for the grislier scenes in PIECES, yet didn't mind eating a cooked tongue from a dead cow in DUNE. Oh, what actors do for their art!
Galleries, featuring the jigsaw puzzle photo sessions and cover art that rips off THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE and SLAUGHTERHOUSE, and cast/crew biographies are also included on the second disc.
Finally, there are a total of eight easter eggs featured in this two disc set (most are on the second disc). They include Eli Roth introducing the film at The New Beverly, an interview with genre favorite Clu Gulager, LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT book author David Szulkin talking about the legendary ending and a candid moment with Paul Smith.
I completely forgot about this film!!! I watched it on an old, horrible transfer from a Public Domain disc, but haven't seen it in years. However, I do recall enough to want to watch this one again!!!
Great review for a great movie. I had managed to pass this one up until recently when I got my hands on a rip of the unedited version and I loved it. Not to shamelessly self promote, but we've got a pretty fantastic segment devoted to pieces over at http://www.robotronicdynamite.com/rd/2008/10/15/episode-60- is-that-a-chainsaw-in-your-pocket.html in case anyone's interested in hearing a group of movie dorks gab about Pieces.
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PIECES is a film that I've wanted to see for a really long time. “You've got to see it to believe it” is what I kept hearing from fellow genre fans over and over again. On my initial quest for a copy, I found out that the only way I could see it would be by choosing between two really awful DVD versions. I heard that Grindhouse Releasing was going to put out a special edition and considering that the better of the two releases was OOP (and a little pricey at the time), I decided to hold out. I saw what an incredible job Grindhouse did with putting together the 25th Anniversary Collector's Edition of CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST and I knew that if anyone was willing to do something really special for PIECES, it would be those guys.
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