Movie Review: Pieces (Two-Disc Grindhouse Edition)

As much as I enjoy watching genre flicks, there are few that I can say that I've watched more than ten times. Juan Piquer Simon's amazingly stupid but infinitely enjoyable splatter epic known simply as Pieces is one of those select few that I can revisit a ridiculous amount of times. Grindhouse Releasing has put out some of the coolest cult classics over the past decade (Cannibal Holocaust, I Drink Your Blood and Cannibal Ferox) so seeing that the company has gone all out with a two disc special edition with all the fixins is no surprise.

Pieces begins in 1942 (or is it 1982), where we see a young man putting together a puzzle of a naked woman only to be interrupted by his angry mother. The little fellow does what any disturbed child would do - plant an axe between his mother's cranium and continuing on with his puzzle. Fast-forward to the present day where a killer is on the loose - complete with a trench coat and chainsaw - mainly targeting the women at a college. His goal : To put together the perfect women, piece by piece.



Christopher George plays Detective Lt. Bracken, a crusty lawman determined to find out who's cutting up the young women on campus. George's then wife, Linda Day, plays Mary Riggs a hot-to-trot tennis teacher who aids the Lieutenant in his search of this "bastard". Red herrings galore folks: Veteran euro-trash actor Jack Taylor (Succubus) plays an oddball professor, Edmund Purdom ( The Fifth Cord, Don't Open Till Christmas) plays the dean of the college and Paul Smith (Midnight Express, Popeye) who manages to bust out the red herring performance to top them all as "Willard" the groundskeeper.

Grindhouse Releasing presents Pieces in it's uncensored form. All the stabbings, eviscerations and decapitations that you've come to know and love are presented here without any noticeable cuts. The murders and Pieces are very graphic and over-the-top. The FX are actually fairly impressive too, but it's so hard to be impacted by the gore because of the horrendous dubbing and the acting. For instance, Jack Taylor,  is dubbed terribly, but in actuality he's a very well-spoken man - hardly in any need of assistance. I will add that it does give him an even more lecherous persona in the film than if he wasn't.


The extra features are spread out across two discs with the bulk of the fantastic supplements on disc two. Lengthy interviews with director Simon and actor Paul Smith are the highlights on the set. Simon talks about his time on set, his hammering out of the script and Smith covers plenty of ground with some Pieces anecdotes. Overall the quality of the sound and picture quality is better than any available release (including the recent Arrow release). This release is an absolute no-brainer for fans of 80's splatter and should be added to the collection of anyone who can appreciate the inept genius that Piquer's film embodies. Highly Recommended!