"Pieces" follows a college campus where a psychopath with psychosexual problems is hacking up pretty, naked coeds with a chainsaw. How many victims will be claimed, and can an incredulous detective and an undercover cop solve the case?One of the notoriously-trashy slashers from the early eighties, "Pieces" is an unforgettable piece of celluloid (pardon the pun) because it's both an absolute disaster and something of a mild masterpiece in the realm of trash cinema. I did not like this film when I first saw it years ago, though it has grown on me. I still think it's patently bad, but it does have its charms.The narrative is a disaster-poor editing and unrefined writing are part of what make "Pieces" the bad film that it is; it's also unoriginal, cribbing elements of several of its contemporaries. What's good about the film? The main selling point is the over-the-top, gruesome gore effects, which are actually rather effective; the other is the dingy, rough-around-the-edges aesthetic the film has, which a potential viewer will either find off-putting or inexplicably attractive. I fall into the latter; the film's gritty, low-budget presentation gives it something of a hard edge that I find appealing, especially paired with the gore effects.The acting is all over the place and the film suffers from bad dubbing (this was a Spanish production with token American actors Christopher George and Lynda Day George), though the finale, as rough and abrupt as it is, is rather unforgettable (and unconscionable). Overall, "Pieces" is a mixture of both bad and good, and the kind of film that caters to a very specific audience. It's bad, but it is amusing, and I do find its atmosphere weirdly engrossing all these years later. 6/10.

When the general public thinks of a slasher film with no redeeming value whatsoever, chances are they're thinking about this movie. It is at the same time the best and worst film you've ever watched. But more importantly, it is never ever boring.Back in 1942, a young boy named Timmy was putting together a jigsaw puzzle of a naked woman. His mother, understandably, is upset and demands he get a garbage bag to throw the puzzle away. Instead, he came back with an axe to her head and then cut her up with a hacksaw. He hides in a closet and the police send him to live with his aunt, as they believe whoever killed his mother had escaped.This all happens within the first minute of this movie. Yes, Pieces packs more gore and strangeness into sixty records than most movies do in ninety minutes.Forty years later, a man in black opens a box that has the bloody clothing of Timmy's mom and a photograph of her. He opens the nude jigsaw puzzle, which is covered in blood and begins to play with it. I hope he has all the pieces! This is why we never buy old puzzles at the thrift store.Cut to (no pun intended) a girl studying outside, who gets her head chopped off by a chainsaw and stolen. Lt. Bracken (Christopher George, Day of the Animals, City of the Living Dead) and Sgt. Holden (Frank Braña, Yellow Hair and the Fortress of Gold, If You Shoot…You Live, God Forgives…I Don't!) start their investigation, meeting the dean (Edmund Purdom, Absurd, 2019: After the Fall of New York) and anatomy Professor Brown (Jack Taylor, Horror of the Zombies, Conan the Barbarian). Rounding out our suspects would be Willard (Paul Smith, Bluto from Altman's Popeye, one of the first movies that I remember hating as a child), a groundskeeper who is using a chainsaw.Then, in the library, Kendall gets a note from a girl, telling him to come see her at the pool. The killer reads the note first and chainsaws the girl to, well, pieces. Willard is arrested and the detectives find the chainsaw and the girl's body…except for her torso (no, not 1973's Torso).Read more at http://bit.ly/2zuwUTs

Wow. This has to be one of the WORST (if not severely) horror movies I've probably ever seen; there's more crud aside from this. I know everyone likes this movie, but not for me. Terrible voice acting, cinematography, gaffes and the most godawful ending in horror history - that back then when I first came to this film and watched that horrific scene - it utterly scarred me for life. After all, it's been five years since that unexpected ending had scarred me; today it's futile and I'm used to it. Especially with this movie.The only acclaims for this movie are the special effects and definitely the Spanish version of this movie - the dialogue is not as shoddy as the American one, seems to be darker in tone and the music is more upbeat. It took me this far and nearly the end of my high school career to come to this point and watch the whole film again in all it's glory. Watching it today doesn't have any effect on me like it used to - it's just downright fruitless. The only tweak I'd like to see today is have this film re-cut - not for just some of the violence, but to cut down on the inconsistencies, dialogue and certain, grueling scenes - for an R-rating. Three to four minutes could be possible. Until then, to pieces - or hell - with this!

'Pieces' is required viewing for any Giallo fan because it's almost an intentional parody of Giallo films. I mean that in a good way.We begin in Boston 1942. Like all true Giallo it pretends to be filmed in America when it's clearly not. Hence the opening caption "Boston 1942" and numerous maps of the USA hanging on walls next to portraits of President Ronald Reagan.Anyway, we begin with a flashback of an adolescent boy hacking his mother to pieces after she punishes him for playing with a pinup jigsaw puzzle. GET IT? Pieces of a woman's body in the puzzle, being hacked to pieces, hence 'Pieces' the title.All grown up the psycho killer has moved to the prime hunting ground of a Giallo college campus, where couples casually make love in the bushes, girl go skinny dipping at night, take showers in the locker room alone, and do sexy aerobics late at night. It's a serial killer's dream! The killer himself goes totally unnoticed, despite the fact that he's always wearing a long trench coat, carrying a chainsaw, breathing louder than Darth Vader, carrying around potatoes sacks of blood body parts, (not exaggerations) and doing all this while leering over girls in various stages of undress. He arouses no suspicions. Again, this feels more like a parody film.Despite the fact that girls are being chainsawed to death left and right on campus, the police choose to NOT warn the students about the killings! Instead they send a blonde cop in undercover to lure the killer out. But with some many students doing things nude and at night it could be long time before he gets around to her.We'd think the students would have picked up on the large number of blood crime scenes and students disappearing all on their own. Then again, since they don't notice a guy with a chainsaw casually walking the halls maybe they really are that stoned.The biggest laugh is Flatfoot (Paul Smith) as the campus custodian. Logically he's a suspect. He too carries a chainsaw around campus. Again, no one seems to notice.SPOILER WARNING!!! In the end it turns out the killer has been using the body parts of his victims to build his ideal woman. Of course we all saw that coming.But just as the closing credits are about to roll the composite corpse reaches out and literally rips off the hero's genitals! There's no explanation for why this happens, the closing credit just roll.I really enjoyed this film and so will anyone whom enjoys Giallo or enjoys making fun of Giallo.