Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		5.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		5.0
Overall		4.5

Pieces Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf February 3, 2016

“Pieces” is a tale of murder and the assembly of a particularly macabre puzzle, offering filmmaking that’s just as challenging to put together. It’s a weird, wild effort from 1982, with director Juan Piquer trying to both pants and celebrate the slasher genre, using giallo training to create a suspenseful journey into absurdity, with a black-gloved killer the star of this lively show. “Pieces” isn’t cohesive, more about chasing whims than telling a story, but it’s undeniably fun, with patient genre fanatics rewarded with another gory chainsaw massacre, and one built with intriguing self-awareness, knowingly making a screen mess with familiar cinematic elements.

In the 1940s, a young boy putting together a nudie puzzle is reprimanded by his overbearing mother. Instead of throwing away the sinful game, the child takes an ax to his parent, with cops soon discovering the grisly scene. Decades later, a chainsaw-wielding maniac is loose on a New England college campus, cutting through select students, keeping select parts of their body. Lt. Bracken (Christopher George) is determined to find the killer before panic sweeps across town, relying on fellow cop Mary (Linda Day) to go undercover as a tennis coach to keep an eye on the innocents. Also assigned detective duties is Kendall (Ian Sera), a Casanova who’s discovered a few of the bodies, joining the case to save his friends and lovers. As the bodies pile up, suspects, including oafish groundskeeper Willard (Paul Smith), are investigated, while The Dean (Edmund Purdom) hopes to maintain calm, fearful of another gruesome death on his watch.

“Pieces” is a brew of genre extremes, with Piquer trying to play into then-modern slasher trends by serving up nubile victims for the slaughter, but cutting the mimicry with decidedly Euro sensibilities, including the introduction of a sexually frustrated killer who dresses head-to-toe in black, building a Frankenstein’s Monster of sorts in his room, stitching together body parts collected from numerous women. The murder’s endgame is easy enough to follow, and “Pieces” provides plenty of brutality to keep fans engaged, with the ghoul using his chainsaw to shred a victim inside an elevator, while another is beheaded in broad daylight on campus grounds. Another scene highlights the use of a pool skimmer to capture a young blonde, while later in the movie, a knife attack takes place on a waterbed, turning the whole event into one big red, wet mess. Violence is imaginative to a certain degree, and while a few mistakes remain, Piquer handles aggression with enthusiasm, building a reasonably effective mystery with a handful of red herrings, including Professor Brown (Jack Taylor), who’s sexually is as iffy as his alibi.

Although “Pieces” eventually evolves into a whodunit, it’s a fairly active head-scratcher, finding Piquer unconcerned about basic logic or eventual editorial decision. An especially pronounced question mark is found in the beginning of the movie, where a college student riding blissfully on a skateboard accidentally smashes into a large mirror being carried across a busy city street. Who this woman is or why this event is important is never addressed, and it takes some serious stretching to tie it into the killer’s overall motivation for murder. It’s just a non sequitur in a feature filled with them, including a late night encounter for Mary, who’s slapped around by a furious martial arts instructor who ultimately admits he didn’t know what he was doing due to “bad chop suey.” Miraculously, what should encourage eye-rolls instead brings uncomfortable laughs, taking “Pieces” in a few unusual directions that add to the effort’s insanity. Not that Piquer should be rewarded for subversive touches, but his mistakes and weaknesses end up benefiting the picture, giving it a punch-drunk vibe as it returns to the business of slaughtering nude women.

Included on the Blu-ray are two cuts of the movie: “Pieces” (85:32, HD) and “Mil Gritos Tiene La Noche” (86:52, HD), the “original uncensored director’s cut,” presented in Spanish.

Pieces Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The AVC encoded image (1.66:1 aspect ratio) presentation for "Pieces" is quite an achievement, rescuing a horror effort from obscurity, delivering an outstanding viewing experience. It's an extremely bright, clean transfer, pulling out exceptional detail when the original cinematography allows it, offering touchable textures on fabrics and close-ups, while gore zone visits are crisply explored. Colors are bold and wonderfully refreshed, with dazzling primaries that show no sign of fatigue. Bloodshed is deep red, skintones are accurate, and campus greenery is preserved. Delineation makes sense of limited lighting and evening encounters, with true blacks sustaining shadow play. Source is cleaned-up to satisfaction, making the feature look brand new.

Pieces Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 2.0 DTS-HD MA sound mix takes inherent source limitations to the limit, finding new life in a slightly thicker, dubbed track. Dialogue exchanges are never challenged, remaining clear and easy to follow. Scoring retain genre flavor and instrumentation, supporting the action without steamrolling over it, also retaining a deep bass thump. Atmospherics are appropriate, while sound effects are emphasized, keeping chainsaws loud and screams sharp.

Pieces Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• CD Soundtrack contains 16 tracks from the film.

• Booklet (six pages) supplies essays from Rick Sullivan and Chas. Balun.

• And a small replica of the nude puzzle is included in the first 3,000 copies.

Disc 1

• Commentary features actor Jack Taylor.

• "Vine Theater Experience" presents "Pieces" with a full audience immersion, using 5.1 Dolby Digital audio from a 2002 screening. A brief video intro (1:53, SD) is included, offering a glimpse of the theater and the event.

• Galleries include "Production Stills" (18 images), "Publicity Materials" (20 images), "Video Releases" (37 images), "Bits and Pieces" (58 images), and "Juan Piquer Still Show" (7:58, SD), which joins the director in an undated meeting, where he chats up "Pieces" and shows off props and box office charts.

• And a Theatrical Trailer (:32, HD) is included.

Disc 2

• "42nd Street Memories" (81:47, HD) is a documentary exploring the legacy and film history impact of New York City's notorious theaters, featuring interview participants such as Lloyd Kaufman, Joe Dante, Frank Henenlotter, Larry Cohen, and Veronica Hart. It's rowdy, informative work from director Calum Waddell, especially when the gathered personalities share numerous anecdotes about the area and its rough clientele. It's extremely entertaining.

• Interview (2:59) with producer Steve Minasian is an audio-only conversation about the feature's untrustworthy distributor and the overall financial success of "Pieces."

• Interview (57:46, SD) with Paul Smith is a 2007 chat that meets up with the hulking actor in Israel, where he graciously shares his acting history, which includes significant co-starring parts in "Popeye" and "Dune." Talk of "Pieces" is offered, with Smith excitable in his praise for the film.

• Interview (55:25, SD) with Juan Piquer also provides a career overview, which eventually leads to a conversation about "Pieces," including its style and influences.

Pieces Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

"Pieces" often plays like a mild retread of "Psycho," but it mostly remains in the shadow of Dario Argento's work, supported by a jazzy score and fetishistic close-ups of gloves and death machines. Piquer actually finds momentum with the picture, and while "Pieces" retains its share of lunacy (how much is intentional is up to the viewer), it also offers a few worthwhile shocks (the ending is absolutely perfect) and a steady rhythm of investigative encounters that help to separate the feature from so many similar efforts.