Welcome again to Retro Flashback. Today we will be looking at the 1982 slasher classic Pieces. Get ready for ample amounts of blood and nudity in this exploitation flick. Watch out for randomness and absurdity as the plot has no idea what its main objective is. How will a film like Pieces rate in your horror education? You can scroll to the bottom, but you'd miss the ride.
“The most beautiful thing in the world is smoking pot and f***ing on a waterbed at the same time.”
In the beginning...
Within a fair two-story home in Boston, is where we lay our scene. Young Timmy sits on the floor, putting together a naughty puzzle. He is intent on finishing, only a few empty spots remain. It is then, his horrible mother enters the room. She not only disrupts his puzzle time, but also wishes to burn his filth. It is at this point we must ask ourselves what we would do in this situation. You know who else wished to burn material seen as obscene – Nazis. Basically, his mother is a member of the Third Reich and her soul duty is to impose a censure on various books and objects. Timmy sees this for exactly what it is, an awful dictatorship in which he has become unknowingly enslaved. When Timmy's mother yells at him and tells him to get a bag to throw out all of his “obscenities,” it is the last straw. An uprising has been building within the child. Instead of a bag, he brings with him a symbol of freedom, an axe. In a series of fatal strokes, he ends her reign of terror. Only when she has died and he has finished cutting her into pieces, may he return to his puzzle undisturbed. If he did not view his mother as a Nazi, why would he chop her up? We will never know, simply because all of the men in charge of this production believed in stringing together a series of unrelated scenes.
Unrelated and bizarre scenes:
If you need more proof that the producers, director, and writer created a film with unrelated material lets look at a few scenes that make no sense:
-First up is a random scene about a girl on a skateboard running into an oversized mirror. Only if we view this sequence as an event that triggers the killer's psychosis does it work. In Giallo films, the killer normally sees something that re-ignites their dormant past. We just have no idea if the killer saw this or not. The only evidence to help make a case for this is the cross-cutting between the Glass & Mirror Co. workers to the killer pulling out an old shoebox filled with his mothers bloody clothes and of course the puzzle. As if the scene was written while watching Looney Toons; the workers pull a giant sheet of mirror out of their truck and cross the street with it. The girl, having a great time on her skateboard, cannot stop when she sees it. The moment she's about to smash into the mirror, the film cuts to Timmy's mommy smashing a mirror in his bedroom. If this is the trigger, it is pretty weak.
-Secondly, Lt. Bracken constantly makes comments about not having enough men to work the case. So, he enlists the help of their first suspect Kendall – the local, college geek Casanova - his job is to keep an eye out for any strange occurrences on campus. Then he becomes the bodyguard for Mary, who is, get this, a former tennis champion turned detective who goes undercover as, you guessed it, a tennis instructor. Kendall is also the only one who finds an actual clue.
-Third, and this is a good one: a martial arts instructor comes out of nowhere and assaults Mary. He does a few fancy moves and then she kicks him in the balls. When he comes to, he says: “I am out jogging and next thing I know I am on ground. Something I eat, bad Chop Suey, so long.” This scene is dumbfounding in and of itself, and wouldn't fit in any film. It turns out that the instructor is none-other-than Bruce Le. That is not a spelling error, he is Le not Lee, an imitator that producer Dick Randall was using in his Kung-Fu films being made at the same time. The story is, he made Simon write the scene in on the spot and it shows.
-Fourth, and this happens right after Bruce Le, the next victim gets on an elevator with the killer. It could happen to anyone right? Maybe if you're blind and did not notice the huge chainsaw that the fedora wearing, black gloved guy was trying to hide behind his back. He stops the elevator, somehow starts the chainsaw in the confined space, and in some magical way is able to hack off just her arms all while standing a foot away from her.
-Fifth: a few scenes involve the killer stalking a disco boogie class. When it shows the women, we can't tell if they are supposed to be dancing or if it is a workout class, or if some of the women are dancing while others are just stretching. In the end, the scene really has no place other than to feature “modern music.”
-Sixth and final: lets chalk this up to all of the classy dialogue that the script features. Lt. Bracken tells his Sargent to take some uppers to work the case. Maybe this is a perfect place to shine a light on all the great lines. Everyone's favorite is: “While we were fumbling with that music, that lousy bastard was in there killing her. Bastard! BASTARD! BAAASSSTAAARRDD!!!” While this line spoken by anyone can send an audience into a laughing fit, it is the over-the-top scream queen emphasis that Lynda Day George gives it that truly sells it. When the sergeant is getting confirmation over the phone that may help in uncovering who the killer is, he tells the records man, “I'll send you a case of lollipops.” That's the perfect incentive to do anything, right? During one of Kendall's various sexual encounters, the girl tells him, “what if you gag me, I wouldn't make any noise then?” I guess we are to assume, that he was put off by her screams of ecstasy. Also, of note, if you look closely behind the co-ed there is a poster for Friday The 13th. This was another blatant advertisement, this time producer Stephen Minasian was promoting one of his company's films. Kendall has some great lines of his own, “Well I don't know the killer, or do I?” Another great line from the sergeant: “We're just out buying clothes without labels and trying them on for size.” How is it that Pieces hasn't garnered the same midnight experience as The Room or Rocky Horror Picture Show? One more, Lt. Bracken is at one of the crime scenes. The cut up body is right next to a bloody chainsaw. He brings in professor Brown and asks him, “Could that have been done with a chainsaw?”
You Don't have to go to Texas for a chain saw massacre!
The unconnected moments of sloppy filmmaking actually provide for most of the charm that Pieces provides. With all of the anachronisms, illogical events, hammy acting, terrible dubbing, and blatant advertising Pieces is still great slasher film. From its disturbing prologue to shock ending, the ride is an intentionally comedic and gory endeavor. Basilio Cortijo's special effects and buckets of blood are incredible. By using a pig carcass and real chainsaw, the flesh cutting scenes truly stand out. While the comedic aspect comes from the illogical nature of the scenes, it is also the actors giving it their all in a straight manner that produces the film's fun factor.
It is exactly what you think it is!
The other tagline for the film perfectly sums up your expectations. It is an exploitation film in every regard. There are three pairs of breasts, female and male genitalia, male and female butt, corpse breasts, a shirtless geek, red herrings galore, inept cops, a masked killer, phallic weapons, and psycho-sexual motives. Though the killer's look seems like it comes straight from Giallo films, it was actually stolen from The Shadow comics. You know, “the shadow knows.” The killers identity is hidden through a shroud of potential suspects, each one with their own red herring moment. At one point in the film, after the aerobics instructor gets her arms chopped off, all of the suspects are in one shot. Lt. Bracken stares at each of them and gives us the opportunity to make a guess. Almost as if we were watching Blues Clues, “you know. I think I'm really going to need your help today, trying to figure out...” who the maniac is?
Let's get deep
I am certain that Pieces was not originality conceived as a comment on sexuality, nor would it have been created from the feminist writing of Laura Mulvey. It is possible that at least one of the men responsible for the film had glanced at an abstract detailing the male gaze, but again, highly unlikely. If we turn our attention away from Pieces as exploitative trash, we can have a little fun and view it as an experiment in feminist thought.
Laura Mulvey put forth the idea that there are three forms of the male gaze in film. The first is how the men perceive the women within the film. The second is how the audience views the women. The third is a combination of the two. By providing an ample amount of nudity, Pieces objectifies the women featured in the narrative. There are two culprits of objectification: the killer and Kendall. The killer is sexually repressed and has an Oedipal complex. Through matricide and an unhealthy obsession with puzzles, he exemplifies the theory of dismemberment or fragmentation. In advertising, women are fragmented into separate sections that represent ideal beauty. It conveys a disturbing point. It not only objectifies but shows that women are just things with sexy body parts. In many ads, they fail to incorporate the head. This can emphasize that a woman's intellect is not valued. The killer literally chops women up for their “best parts.” He then sews the parts together in order to create, not a perfect woman, but a mother. Kendall, on the other hand, is a sexually overt man-slut. He sees women as conquests, rather than real people with intelligence, dreams, and desires. He hops from bed to bed without any remorse. Kendall represents the theory of commodification which frequently showcases women as nothing but pleasure providers. It seems only fitting that in the end Kendall battles the killer. It is the sexually repressed vs. the sexually overt. Though Kendall wins the fight, the victory is short lived. The fragmented women that the killer put together, becomes whole and seeks vengeance against men like Kendall. She grabs his crotch and claws his testicles, leaving him castrated and unable to continue his mistreatment of women.
How does it rate?
Master's Degree - Pieces is not required reading, which means you can still function as a slasher fan without seeing it. I would recommend it, because it is a fascinating film within cult history. As for reasoning stated above such as the amount of gore, its exploitative nature, and the comedic elements it rates much higher. I would obviously sift through the piles of slashers and a bit from the giallo column prior to getting to Pieces. With a background in 80's splatter, you can advance to this film. Make sure you've earned your Bachelor Degree first.
Here's a breakdown of the categories:
True Landmark
Absolutely essential.
Certified Geek
For a more seasoned viewer.
Esoteric Necessity
Difficult to find, but worth the search.
PHD
You may begin prescribing horror.
Masters Degree
Cult cinema for higher education.
Bachelor's Degree
Horror snobs begin here.
Associate's Degree
Shot well with a few scares.
Trade School Certificate
One or two learning moments.
Copycat Junk
There's no point.
Scraping The Bottom
When there's nothing else.
The who's who list:
Producers:
Stephen Minasian produced Sean Cunningham's faux porn doc Together (1971). With Dick Randall they produced Slaughter High, Don't Scream: It's Only A Movie, and Don't Open Till Christmas.
Writers:
Secretly written by Joe D'Amato.
Actors:
Lt. Bracken Christopher George's horror career began with Lucio Fulci's City Of The Living Dead in 1980. He went on to do The Exterminator, Graduation Day, and Mortuary.
Mary Riggs Lynda Day George was married to Christopher and worked with him again in Mortuary. She was also in the not-so-terrible TV movie Ants.
Sgt. Holden Frank Brana was Simon's right hand man, he appeared in nearly all of the director's films.
The Dean Edmund Purdom was in Joe D'Amato's Absurd and worked with Simon again on The Rift. The producers of Pieces – Stephen Minasian and Dick Randall – provided Purdom with his sole director's credit with Don't Open Till Christmas.
Kendall Ian Sera worked with Simon on Mystery On Monster Island, Sea Devils, and The Pod People.
Willard Paul L. Smith is a great character actor with an eclectic resume: Midnight Express, Popeye (he was Bluto), Dune, Crimewave, Red Sonja, and Haunted Honeymoon among other lesser known titles.
Professor Brown Jack Taylor was most recently in Grand Piano. He also had a role in The Ninth Gate and Conan The Barbarian. Taylor worked with Simon on Where Time Began.
Music:
Stelvio Cipriani has an extremely long list of compositions but his re-released tracks on the Amer and Death Proof soundtracks are superb. As a note, he also scored Mario Bava's Bay Of Blood.
Director:
Juan Piquer Simon began his filmmaking career in 1964 making short documentaries. In 1977 he was given the opportunity to direct his first feature film. Where Time Began was Spain's answer to Jules Verne's Journey To The Center Of The Earth. Simon worked with Jack Taylor and Frank Brana who would one day have roles in Pieces. While making Where Time Began, Simon created a fantastic and surreal world with the use of actors in costumes, matte photography, and painted backgrounds. Though the world of special effects adapted to updated technologies, simon preferred a more classical style. He went on to direct Don't Panic AKA Satan's Blood, Supersonic Man, Mystery On Monster Island, and Sea Devils. In 1982 he made Pieces which eventually provided him cult fame. After Pieces he made The Pod People which was lovingly riffed in Mystery Science Theater 3000. Dirty War, Slugs: The Movie, The Rift, Cthulhu Mansion, Devil's Island, and Manoa: The City Of Gold followed. Simon may not be a household name, but for fans of the slasher genre, Pieces is a title that stands out.