What happens when you take a Spanish company, ask them to attempt an Italian ‘Giallo’ movie, but seemingly the only films they’ve seen are ‘Friday the 13th’, ‘Black Christmas’ and ‘Bloody Moon’? Well! You get ‘Pieces’ a somewhat delirious mix of a movie that balances the slowburn vibe of a Giallo with early buddings of the ‘Slasher’ genre into something that, while ultimately flawed, is definitely moving in the right direction.
The film (set in America, but shot predominantly in and around Valencia Spain) opens in 1940’s Boston as a young child who, seemingly, has a porn addiction is piecing together a ‘nudie’ jigsaw puzzle. When his clearly ‘end of her teather’ mum catches him, she scolds him and his father for leaving that stuff about, beats the child and demands he go and get a trash liner so they can throw all the filth away.
On return however, the kid, rather than bringing a trash liner, has bought an axe! and promptly chops his mother into tiny pieces. When a neighbour drops in, but doesnt get an answer at the door, she calls the police who find the kid covered in blood, hiding in a closet crying.
We then flash forward 40 years into the far off future of 1982. and we’re on a college campus And students are ‘studenting studily’, when we’re introduced to Kendall, a mary sue if ever there was one. Kendall is a bookworm, who hangs around with pervy nerd friends. Who also happens to be an enigmatic and irrisistable lover AND class A Detective who’s banging any woman who happens to meet his gaze.
Indeed, in the opening of the film, Kendall is going somewhat steady with a blonde bombshell cheerleader who’s invited him that night to sneak into the colleges pool to do some skinny dipping and try ‘doing it’ underwater.
However; when our cheerleader arrives at the waterside. Its not Kendall there to meet her, but a mysterious man dressed all in black with a broad black hat, weilding a chainsaw, who promptly pulls her ashore while strangling her with a pool net, and once poolside again he promptly carves her up into tiny pieces with a chainsaw.
When Kendall arrives, he sees some of the carnage and flees, but not before he’s spotted by the groundskeeper. Indeed, this isnt the first incident to date of a mysterious killer stalking the campus picking off women with a chainsaw, chopping them into small pieces and taking some of the parts with him.
The dean calls the police and his senior staff into his office alongside Kendall, as they try to figure out exactly whats going on, and the Dean (in private with the police) decides the best course of action ultimately will be to introduce some undercover female agents to his staff because the killer seemingly is only going after women, so it makes sense that if they put a trained cop on the beat indiscriminantly, eventually she may bump into the killer.
This undercover cop turns out to be non other than our OTHER Mary Sue for this movie Mary Riggs! a loved by all undercover cop who’s good looking, smart, sassy…oh and a world tennis champion to boot! She’s assigned as the schools new sports teacher and naturally Kendall and Mary end up running into each other with erotically charged…but ultimately professional results.
With the bodies piling ever higher and time running out, will Kendall and Mary manage to figure out the killer?! will the groundskeeper end up winning 1982’s “Mr. Don Delouise of the year” award for the 3rd year running?! and will the Dean FINALLY see the end of ‘chug-a-lug house?!’ well…all this and more WILL be answered if you check out ‘Pieces’.
And is this script coherent? absolutely not. But is it entertaining? for sure. Much like a jigsaw ‘Pieces’ doesnt give the audience the clues it needs to figure out the killer in any kind of order that would naturally slot together. you get breadcrumbs of ideas dotted across the runtime in such a way that, on first watch, you’ll think its nonsensical. But on a rewatch, you’ll realise the pieces were all there, the film was just being a git in giving them to you in an order that makes no sense.
And while that aspect can be somewhat frustrating, I actually kind of loved it for that. it takes the traditional slowburn ‘Giallo’ pacing and plotting and with that, spices it up somewhat, giving it an almost fever nightmare vibe thats kind of remeniscent of movies like ‘Tenebrae’
Now, you could argue that an incoherent Giallo is a bit like a bike with square wheels I.E Whats the point of a murder mystery where the mystery element is purposfully obscured to the audience to the point that i think very few people would ultimately guess the killer first time around. but thats kind of what draws me to this one a bit more than the others. Its the fact that it feels like your watching a ‘Giallio’ through the prism of a dream world. and that surreal vivid imagery will stay with you from start to conclusion and beyond ultimately.
The pacing is a little bit slower than i’d personally have liked, this films definitely a contender for ’10 minutes shorter probably would have significantly improved things’. But the tone mixes a deadly serious thriller with softer slightly more campy/jokey moments, which I feel works quite well.
The characters are all a bit odd, but they do a good job of giving them just enough backstory to keep them interesting, but not enough to make them feel overly planned out. the act structuring, I feel is a *little* bit lopsided with a shorter 1st and 3rd act and an overly bloated 2nd act that is the cause of a lot of the films slowdown.
Dialogue works on two different levels, the original dub is dramatic, sharp and works really quite well delivering a rawness. But the English dub has a slightly campy edge that helps excentuate the sillier moments of this film and tilt it just enough to make it feel like its working with contrasting styles. Which I quite enjoyed.
On the direction? well, its kind of sort of just okay for me. Juan Piquer Simón clearly knew how to command a film crew and the end results range from striking, to snoozeworthy. And thats kind of the biggest problem this film has, it feels like when Simón was engaged with a scene and switched on, he could deliver sequences that are the envy of most of the horror genre from that time…But when it came to more pedestrian (but necessary) sequences…he comes across (to me at least) very much as a ‘just get it shot and lets go home’ type of director…which isnt really the best way to play the game and very much drags down the good work he does with this film.
Same goes for direction of the cast really. when its a key scene, a big reveal or a murder…he’s in his element and really seems to get the absolute best out of the cast, making them go big, work with their set space and props and genuinely putting across the terror of the situation. But when he’s NOT doing that. it feels like the interview segments of an episode of ‘Dragnet’ slow, stuffy, overly cool, overly basic…really not my thing.
On the cine front, again its a bit of a game of two halves. on the one hand the sequences where they’re clearly playing for style REALLY scratch an itch with me, there are moments here that are just SO brilliantly put together with even subtle moments like a sequence near the 3rd act where one of our characters walks from a dark room into a light room (we can see them from the dark room through a glass panel in the door) when suddenly from the dark room the flicker of reflected light off a blade of a long knife informs the audience that that lady…is FAR from alone. Is just a wonderful touch. and there are loads of these little moments across the runtime that really show the passion and creativity that went into moments from this film.
Unfortunatley, the film also falls afoul of a big problem within the Giallo genre, which is it gets incredibly bogged down with exposition scenes (because the film needs the auidence to know all the pieces of the puzzle to try and crack the mystery) but rather than do anything intereresting with these scenes, the majority of them are either mid-wide two shots. or back and forthing talking head sequences. They’re flat, lifeless with next to no depth of field creativity. they drain the energy out of the production and left me on the verge of clock watching at times…Put it this way, if I can close my eyes while watching your film and not miss ANYTHING important to the plot…somethings gone wrong.
The dealbreaker for me (and probably the biggest thing that holds this back from being a truely great movie) is a kind of apathetic edit. you’ve got some tremendous shots, and a woozy script. which, even with the middle of the road direction could have led to something quite remarkable. and its just…kind of basic. It cuts where it needs to, it (for the most part) moves the sequences with a decent clip. But it just doesnt go extra. it doenst push the film just that little bit further into being something I was genuienly enthralled by. doing a good job IS enough in some cases. But this film needed just a little bit more energy behind the cuts to get it there…and it just doesnt quite meet the challenge for me ultimately.
As for the performances. I think the real stars of the show here are Lynda Day George as Mary, Ian Serra as Kendall and Paul L. Smith as the demented looking groundskeeper ‘Willard’ I single these folks out specifically because their performances here are the most ampliphied, they seem to get the meatiest moments in the film and they absolutely give their all throughout the film to really try and sell you on the horror of the situation. I think they all give tremendous physical performances (Particularly Smith, who constantly looks like he’s on the verge of an anurism) I very much enjoyed them.
The supporting cast do fine enough, but they just arnt quite as memorable or engaging. While I think it would be a compliment to say they reminded me of the supporting cast in ‘Friday the 13th’ the fact that I personally found them kind of just…there, and a bit dull. also didnt really help this films case.
BUT! tying this whole film together is an INCREDIBLY good soundtrack, largely all original compositions it only enhances the dreamy style of presentation with synthy plinky plonky moments combined with some quite nice minimal orchestral pieces. Its timed excellently to the events on screen, sounds amazing and I can understand why this films had multiple vinyl pressings and soundtrack releases in its time. I really liked it!
I absolutely understand why ‘Pieces’ is as well recieved as it is by wider horror audiences. It kind of has something for everyone, whether you after a more Giallo fueled time. Your up for some slasher-time gore, you want terrifying surrealism, or just a ultrea hardcore slice of 80s horror. Its a very versitile film that, while imperfect (in my opinion) does still manage to deliver a hell of a punch to the beans and rice. If you havent seen it before and you like the early proto-slasher era of horror cinema. You’ll probably feel more than at home with this one.
TYTD Reviews 