The opening scene where the young boy is caught with the dirty puzzle is as disturbing today as it was in 1982. There is a lot of unforgettable imagery in Pieces. Randall and Simón prove that a lot of money is not needed to create an entertaining film. What Pieces lacks in production value is made up for in sheer gore and a surprisingly clever plot. Pieces was cheaply made, and has the look and feel of a student film, complete with bad jokes, horrible dialogue and bloody effects. It’s a foreign film that pretends to be American, and it takes influences from both American and Spanish horror as well as the Italian “giallo” cinema popularized by Dario Argento. Most of the crew is Spanish, but most of the actors are American and the locations are generic, so the film has an authentic feel. Pieces was shot in Simón’s home town of Valencia in Spain, although it is set in Boston.
Pieces 1982 puzzle movie#
The movie is a mystery disguised as a slasher film, as the entire film is more of a who-dun-it than a we-gotta-get-away. In many ways, Pieces is brilliant – the jigsaw puzzle and the missing body parts is a great plot device, making the movie part Frankenstein and part The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Respected Spanish director Juan Piquer Simón ( Slugs: The Movie, Mystery on Monster Island) added a lot of blood, guts and a couple of his go-to actors, and one of the most unforgettable horror films ever made was born. The script for Pieces was a collaborative effort between producer Dick Randall ( The Mad Butcher, Slaughter High ) and “John Shadow,” one of the dozens of aliases used by the prolific Joe D’Amato (who wrote The Hobgoblin and Rocco’s Ghost as well as several of the erotic Emanuelle movies). Girls are dying left and right as the motley group of investigators tries to catch the murderer before he strikes again. With no leads, they plant an undercover female officer named Mary (television staple Linda Day) in the school to help flush the killer out. One of the first things that they notice about the bodies is that none of them are complete each one of them is missing a body part. A couple of policemen, named Lieutenant Bracken (Christopher George from Graduation Day and City of the Living Dead ) and Sergeant Holden (Frank Baña from Return of the Evil Dead and The Pod People), are assigned to the case, and they quickly enlist the help of a student named Kendall (Ian Sera from Mystery on Monster Island and The Pod People) to assist with the investigation. Forty years later, a psycho killer with a chainsaw is stalking young women on the campus of a Boston college. When the police arrive, the boy hides in a closet, pretending to have been in there during the entire murder. The mother yells at the boy and starts to gather up all of his filthy magazines and books, but the young boy stops her with an axe to the head. Pieces starts in 1942, when a young boy is caught putting together a jigsaw puzzle of a nude woman by his mother. Such is the case with 1982’s Pieces, a schlock-gorefest that brought together some of the most creative yet understated minds of low budget filmmaking, and it should be considered essential viewing for any horror fan. When legendary directors, writers and actors all put their talents towards a common goal, the results are usually cinematic classics. There is such a thing as a perfect storm in filmmaking.