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Primal Scene: a young boy is beaten by his mother
(Blanca Estrada?) when she catches him piecing together a puzzle of a
nude woman (hence, the export titles PIECES). The boy retaliates by
chopping mommy up with an axe, placing her head in the closet. The cops
break in and rush the boy away, assuming an intruder broke in and
committed the crime.
This precredit sequence, missing from some prints, is a sanguine
foreshadowing of things to come. JP Simon's PIECES, co written by John
Shadow (a cover used by Aristide Massaccesi--hey, one of the reasons I
picked up the DVD is that the name "Joe D'Amato" actually
appears on the back of the keepcase) wallows in pointless gore, drowning
its familiar plot in a sea of plasma. Talk about gratuitous violence,
after the credits the first thing we see is a curvaceous teen
skateboarding through a plate glass window. Then another scantily clad
girl is chainsawed apart while reading under a tree. A killer is
stalking the exclusive finishing school with a meat grinder and is
sawing off choice parts of female anatomy. You guessed it, he's piecing
together his own woman!
The Dean (Edmund Purdom) looks concerned. So are the cops (Christopher
George and Frank [Francisco] Brana). They even place a female decoy in
the school (Linda Day George) who, along with a helpful student (Ian
Sera), unmask the murderer. But not before a lot of footage is exposed of
terrified girls getting arms, legs, torsos cut off (one poor coed even
wets her pants in anticipation of getting the chop). Yep, this is one
sick puppy of a film. Dare I find anything of cinematic value or even a
tad of guilty pleasure in this kind of cynical blood pudding? I was
amused by hulking Paul Smith (POPEYE) who has but one acting tool in his
arsenal, a threatening glare with one eye half closed. Oh well...
The fact that Simon is able to endow the very wet proceedings with a
slick sheen somehow makes it all the more offensive. It's difficult to
comment on Juan Marine's cinematography as the Diamond DVD is anything
but clear and somewhat less colorful than the old VHS prerecord.
I also enjoyed seeing Jess Franco regular Jack Taylor as the
way-in-the-closet anatomy Prof who is the number one suspect in the
slayings. Taylor always looks cool and collected and seems to add a dash
of charm to his roles. Chris George seems to be reprising his role in
Fulci's CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD. Of course, Spaghetti Western fans will
recognize the prolific Frank Brana as George's sidekick. Linda Day
George provides unintentional delight as we get to hear her scream
"bastard" over and over at different vocal pitches.
There's no doubting Piquer's direction is leering, sexist and totally
shameless in its detailed depiction of the brutal murders of his female
cast. The victims are first sexualized, objectified and then subjected
to a period of mental torture before physical dismemberment. The entire
PRIMAL SCENE-RETURN OF THE REPRESSED aspect is finalized in an appalling
coda where our young hero (Sera) gets his genitals ripped off by the
madman's suddenly animated human puzzle. I hope Edmund Purdom had fun on
this shoot, he sure looks suspiciously content, as if he's thinking how
he's going to spend his much deserved paycheck for appearing in this
trash.
This was a lensed in Madrid, Spain with some exteriors taken in Boston.
Eurosleaze kingpin Dick Randall (the slobbish voyeur in FOUR TIMES THAT
NIGHT) put together this coproduction with some added financing coming
from Puerto Rico. I've also heard talk of an uncut Spanish version
(PIECES appears to be slightly trimmed for violence) with an alternate,
more atmospheric score than the sub Goblin cues provided by CAM for the
export version.
-- Reviewed by Robert Monell, 2002
Budget DVD ($6.99) and viewer reviews
available on Amazon.com
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Pieces
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