Pieces (film)
Encyclopedia
Pieces is a 1983 cult classic slasher
horror film
and "drive-in favorite".
of a nude woman when his mother walks in. She chastises him for it. The mother orders Jimmy to get a plastic bag because "I'm gonna burn everything." Jimmy gruesomely murders her with an axe instead of getting the plastic bag. The police later arrive at the house and Jimmy is finishing the puzzle. The police break into the house and Jimmy hides in a closet. The police break into the room, they find a bloody mess and the mother's beheaded head inside one of the closets. The police hear Jimmy weeping in the another closet, so they open the door and find him covered in blood. The police question the whereabouts of the father; the nanny replies hesitantly and lying obviously that he is in Europe with the Air Force
, but Jimmy has an aunt, who lives an hour away and she will take the boy there.
Forty years later, in 1982, the Dean opens a drawer, removes a box and opens it. He takes out his mother's shoes, her dress which is covered in blood, and a photo of her, crossed out. The next scene is a girl skateboarding through town. She crashes into a giant mirror frame, which shatters to pieces. Back at the Dean's house, he removes another box, containing pieces of the puzzle of the nude woman, which he starts putting together. Then, the chainsaw-wielding psychopathic killer is on the loose on a college campus in Boston
. Tormented by childhood memories, the killer tries to create his own jigsaw puzzle made from real human body parts. Along with police lieutenant Bracken (Christopher George
) and college student Kendall (Ian Sera), Mary Riggs (Lynda Day George
) poses as a tennis instructor in order to try to uncover the identity of the maniac.
Many girls fall victim to the psychotic killer: the first girl is decapitated with a chainsaw while sunbathing; the second is drowned and then pulled out of the water, only to be sawn in pieces with a chainsaw; the third has one of her arms sawn off by the killer while in an elevator
and she bleeds to death; the fourth is stabbed to death on a waterbed
with a knife
; the last girl to be killed becomes trapped in the girls' locker room, when the girl sees the chainsaw, she hides in a bathroom stall, wets her pants, and becomes sawn in half, leaving behind her upper body.
In the end, it turns out the college Dean is the killer. He tries to kill Mary but Lt. Bracken, Sgt. Holden and Kendall are able to save her by shooting him in the head. The corpse, consisting of body parts from multiple victims, falls out of the Dean's cabinet and terrifies Kendall. The film ends with Kendall preparing to leave when the corpse inexplicably comes back to life and rips off his testicles while he screams.
and co-written by Dick Randall. It was given to director Juan Piquer Simón
by producers Dick Randall and Steve Minasian, with whom he had worked on previous films. Although the film was set in the United States, specifically in Boston, it was actually shot in and around Valencia, Spain, home of film director Juan Piquer Simón (who is now the city's film festival director).
According to the interview with Simón in Pieces of Juan (on the Grindhouse DVD version of the film), the director says that none of the female stars of the film knew how to play tennis, even though they were supposed to be portraying "professional" players. A tennis coach had to be hired so that they could learn to lob the ball in a convincing enough manner to make the film believable. Simón also reveals in the interview that he is proud of the visual effects in the film, especially that a pig carcass was used for the effect of the chain saw cutting through a young woman's stomach.
The film starred real life husband and wife team Christopher George
(of TV's The Rat Patrol
) and Lynda Day George
(of TV's Mission: Impossible
), Edmund Purdom, spaghetti-western star Frank Braña
, and Paul L. Smith
("Bluto" of Robert Altman
's Popeye
).
on August 23, 1982, followed on September 23, 1983, by a North American theatrical run. The film opened on December 7, 1983, in France.
The uncut, uncensored director's cut
of Pieces appeared for the first time in North America
on DVD in October 2008, courtesy of Grindhouse Releasing
/ Box Office Spectaculars on Ryko / Warner Bros.
label. The release includes never-previously-seen interviews with director Juan Piquer Simón (Pieces of Juan, directed by Nacho Cerda
) and Paul Smith: The Reddest Herring (directed by Alma Har'el) with an extended interview with star Paul L. Smith.
Film Ventures International
released Pieces in the United States. Edward L. Montoro
, the controversial owner of Film Ventures, working with Film Ventures' long-time advertising agency Design Projects, was responsible for the pithy copylines. The one sheet poster, title treatment and key art were art directed by Design Projects' Rick Albert, who was responsible for most of Film Ventures' advertising and posters. Mike Hashimoto photographed the model and chainsaw, which did not actually appear in the film.
The two-disc deluxe edition by Grindhouse also includes, for the first time, an (optional) restored original soundtrack by Spanish composer Librado Pastor, as well as many other extras and bonus material. Liner notes have been contributed by the renowned horror writer Chas Balun ("Deep Red"), as well as bonus "Easter egg" video interviews with "Wes Craven
's Last House on the Left book author David A. Szulkin and American horror director Eli Roth
(Hostel, Cabin Fever) as he presents a theatrical screening of Pieces to a Los Angeles
cult audience. Grindhouse Releasing
/ Box Office Spectaculars released the first North American deluxe uncut, uncensored director's cut edition of the previously out-of-print movie on DVD
on October 28, 2008, on Ryko Distribution/Warner Brothers label.
calls the film, "a masterpiece of early '80s sleaze." The notorious film carried the memorable and highly successful marketing taglines, "Pieces... It's exactly what you think it is!" and "You don't have to go to Texas for a chainsaw massacre
!"
Slasher film
A slasher film is a type of horror film typically involving a psychopathic killer stalking and killing a sequence of victims in a graphically violent manner, often with a cutting tool such as a knife or axe...
horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
and "drive-in favorite".
Plot
In 1942, a 10 year old boy named Jimmy plays with a jigsaw puzzleJigsaw puzzle
A jigsaw puzzle is a tiling puzzle that requires the assembly of numerous small, often oddly shaped, interlocking and tessellating pieces.Each piece usually has a small part of a picture on it; when complete, a jigsaw puzzle produces a complete picture...
of a nude woman when his mother walks in. She chastises him for it. The mother orders Jimmy to get a plastic bag because "I'm gonna burn everything." Jimmy gruesomely murders her with an axe instead of getting the plastic bag. The police later arrive at the house and Jimmy is finishing the puzzle. The police break into the house and Jimmy hides in a closet. The police break into the room, they find a bloody mess and the mother's beheaded head inside one of the closets. The police hear Jimmy weeping in the another closet, so they open the door and find him covered in blood. The police question the whereabouts of the father; the nanny replies hesitantly and lying obviously that he is in Europe with the Air Force
Air force
An air force, also known in some countries as an air army, is in the broadest sense, the national military organization that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army, navy or...
, but Jimmy has an aunt, who lives an hour away and she will take the boy there.
Forty years later, in 1982, the Dean opens a drawer, removes a box and opens it. He takes out his mother's shoes, her dress which is covered in blood, and a photo of her, crossed out. The next scene is a girl skateboarding through town. She crashes into a giant mirror frame, which shatters to pieces. Back at the Dean's house, he removes another box, containing pieces of the puzzle of the nude woman, which he starts putting together. Then, the chainsaw-wielding psychopathic killer is on the loose on a college campus in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
. Tormented by childhood memories, the killer tries to create his own jigsaw puzzle made from real human body parts. Along with police lieutenant Bracken (Christopher George
Christopher George
Christopher John George was an American television and film actor who was perhaps best known for his starring role in the 1966-1968 TV series The Rat Patrol. He was nominated for a Golden Globe in 1967 as Best TV Star for his performance in the series...
) and college student Kendall (Ian Sera), Mary Riggs (Lynda Day George
Lynda Day George
For other entertainers with similar names, see Linda George .Lynda Day George is an American television and film actress whose career spanned three decades from the 1960s to the 1980s...
) poses as a tennis instructor in order to try to uncover the identity of the maniac.
Many girls fall victim to the psychotic killer: the first girl is decapitated with a chainsaw while sunbathing; the second is drowned and then pulled out of the water, only to be sawn in pieces with a chainsaw; the third has one of her arms sawn off by the killer while in an elevator
Elevator
An elevator is a type of vertical transport equipment that efficiently moves people or goods between floors of a building, vessel or other structures...
and she bleeds to death; the fourth is stabbed to death on a waterbed
Waterbed
A waterbed, water mattress, or flotation mattress is a bed or mattress filled with water. Waterbeds intended for medical therapies appear in various reports through the 19th century...
with a knife
Knife
A knife is a cutting tool with an exposed cutting edge or blade, hand-held or otherwise, with or without a handle. Knives were used at least two-and-a-half million years ago, as evidenced by the Oldowan tools...
; the last girl to be killed becomes trapped in the girls' locker room, when the girl sees the chainsaw, she hides in a bathroom stall, wets her pants, and becomes sawn in half, leaving behind her upper body.
In the end, it turns out the college Dean is the killer. He tries to kill Mary but Lt. Bracken, Sgt. Holden and Kendall are able to save her by shooting him in the head. The corpse, consisting of body parts from multiple victims, falls out of the Dean's cabinet and terrifies Kendall. The film ends with Kendall preparing to leave when the corpse inexplicably comes back to life and rips off his testicles while he screams.
Cast
- Christopher GeorgeChristopher GeorgeChristopher John George was an American television and film actor who was perhaps best known for his starring role in the 1966-1968 TV series The Rat Patrol. He was nominated for a Golden Globe in 1967 as Best TV Star for his performance in the series...
as Lt. Bracken - Linda DayLynda Day GeorgeFor other entertainers with similar names, see Linda George .Lynda Day George is an American television and film actress whose career spanned three decades from the 1960s to the 1980s...
as Mary Riggs - Frank BrañaFrank BrañaFrank Braña is a Spanish film actor.Also credited as Frank Blank, Francisco Brana, Frank Brana, Frank Branya, Francisco Braña or Paco Braña, his career has been mostly based in Spanish and Italian movies of the spaghetti-western, horror and sword and sandal genres, having worked in more than 200...
as Sgt. Holden - Paul L. SmithPaul L. SmithPaul L. Smith is an American character actor. Burly, bearded, and imposing, he has appeared in films and occasionally on TV since the 1970s, generally playing "heavies" and bad guys...
as Willard - Edmund PurdomEdmund PurdomEdmund Anthony Cutlar Purdom was a British actor.-Early life:Purdom was born in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, England and educated at St. Augustine's Abbey School, Ramsgate, then by the Jesuits at St. Ignatius Grammar School and Welwyn Garden City Grammar School...
as The Dean - Ian Sera as Kendall James
- Jack TaylorJack Taylor (actor)Jack Taylor is an American actor. He first relocated to Mexico in the late 1950s/early 1960s, and later to Spain, where he has appeared in many films, mostly horror and cheesy exploitation pictures...
as Prof. Arthur Brown - Isabelle Luque as Sylvia
- Gerard TichyGerard TichyGérard Tichy was a Spanish actor of German descent, who appeared in numerous movies, including several international productions. He was born in Weißenfels, Germany, on March 11, 1920, and died in Madrid, Spain, on April 11, 1992.Tichy participated in World War II and held the rank of a...
as Doctor Jennings - Hilda Fuchs as The Secretary
Production
The short script for Pieces was written by Joe D'AmatoJoe D'Amato
Joe D'Amato, was a prolific Italian filmmaker who directed roughly 200 films, usually at the same time acting as producer and cinematographer, and sometimes providing the script as well...
and co-written by Dick Randall. It was given to director Juan Piquer Simón
Juan Piquer Simón
Juan Piquer Simón was a Spanish film director most well known for directing the cult classic horror exploitation films, Pieces and Slugs: The Movie ....
by producers Dick Randall and Steve Minasian, with whom he had worked on previous films. Although the film was set in the United States, specifically in Boston, it was actually shot in and around Valencia, Spain, home of film director Juan Piquer Simón (who is now the city's film festival director).
According to the interview with Simón in Pieces of Juan (on the Grindhouse DVD version of the film), the director says that none of the female stars of the film knew how to play tennis, even though they were supposed to be portraying "professional" players. A tennis coach had to be hired so that they could learn to lob the ball in a convincing enough manner to make the film believable. Simón also reveals in the interview that he is proud of the visual effects in the film, especially that a pig carcass was used for the effect of the chain saw cutting through a young woman's stomach.
The film starred real life husband and wife team Christopher George
Christopher George
Christopher John George was an American television and film actor who was perhaps best known for his starring role in the 1966-1968 TV series The Rat Patrol. He was nominated for a Golden Globe in 1967 as Best TV Star for his performance in the series...
(of TV's The Rat Patrol
The Rat Patrol
The Rat Patrol is an American television program that aired on ABC during the 1966–1968 seasons. The show follows the exploits of four Allied soldiers who are part of a long-range desert patrol group in the North African campaign during World War II...
) and Lynda Day George
Lynda Day George
For other entertainers with similar names, see Linda George .Lynda Day George is an American television and film actress whose career spanned three decades from the 1960s to the 1980s...
(of TV's Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible is an American television series which was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller. It chronicled the missions of a team of secret American government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force . The leader of the team was Jim Phelps, played by Peter Graves, except in...
), Edmund Purdom, spaghetti-western star Frank Braña
Frank Braña
Frank Braña is a Spanish film actor.Also credited as Frank Blank, Francisco Brana, Frank Brana, Frank Branya, Francisco Braña or Paco Braña, his career has been mostly based in Spanish and Italian movies of the spaghetti-western, horror and sword and sandal genres, having worked in more than 200...
, and Paul L. Smith
Paul L. Smith
Paul L. Smith is an American character actor. Burly, bearded, and imposing, he has appeared in films and occasionally on TV since the 1970s, generally playing "heavies" and bad guys...
("Bluto" of Robert Altman
Robert Altman
Robert Bernard Altman was an American film director and screenwriter known for making films that are highly naturalistic, but with a stylized perspective. In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized his body of work with an Academy Honorary Award.His films MASH , McCabe and...
's Popeye
Popeye (film)
Popeye is a 1980 live-action film adaptation directed by Robert Altman and adapted from E. C. Segar's Thimble Theatre aka Popeye comic strip.Marketed with the tagline, "The sailor man with the spinach can!", the film is a musical...
).
Release
The original film was first released in SpainSpain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
on August 23, 1982, followed on September 23, 1983, by a North American theatrical run. The film opened on December 7, 1983, in France.
The uncut, uncensored director's cut
Director's cut
A director's cut is a specially edited version of a film, and less often TV series, music video, commercials, comic book or video games, that is supposed to represent the director's own approved edit...
of Pieces appeared for the first time in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
on DVD in October 2008, courtesy of Grindhouse Releasing
Grindhouse Releasing
Grindhouse Releasing is a Hollywood-based cult film distribution company owned by director/actor Sage Stallone and headed up by film editor Bob Murawski...
/ Box Office Spectaculars on Ryko / Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
label. The release includes never-previously-seen interviews with director Juan Piquer Simón (Pieces of Juan, directed by Nacho Cerda
Nacho Cerdà
Nacho Cerdà is a Spanish film director best known for his controversial 1994 film, 'Aftermath'. One year after producing that movie, he was accused of being the person behind the infamous alien autopsy footage...
) and Paul Smith: The Reddest Herring (directed by Alma Har'el) with an extended interview with star Paul L. Smith.
Film Ventures International
Film Ventures International
Film Ventures International is an independent movie production and distribution company originally situated in Atlanta, Georgia during the 1970s. FVI garnered a notorious reputation within the industry for producing films which were highly derivative of many blockbusters of the era...
released Pieces in the United States. Edward L. Montoro
Edward L. Montoro
Edward L. Montoro was an American film producer and distributor known for releasing exploitation films and B-movies during the 1970s and 1980s through his company Film Ventures International...
, the controversial owner of Film Ventures, working with Film Ventures' long-time advertising agency Design Projects, was responsible for the pithy copylines. The one sheet poster, title treatment and key art were art directed by Design Projects' Rick Albert, who was responsible for most of Film Ventures' advertising and posters. Mike Hashimoto photographed the model and chainsaw, which did not actually appear in the film.
The two-disc deluxe edition by Grindhouse also includes, for the first time, an (optional) restored original soundtrack by Spanish composer Librado Pastor, as well as many other extras and bonus material. Liner notes have been contributed by the renowned horror writer Chas Balun ("Deep Red"), as well as bonus "Easter egg" video interviews with "Wes Craven
Wes Craven
Wesley Earl "Wes" Craven is an American actor, film director, writer, producer, perhaps best known as the director of many horror films, particularly slasher films, including the famed A Nightmare on Elm Street and Wes Craven's New Nightmare, featuring the iconic Freddy Krueger character, the...
's Last House on the Left book author David A. Szulkin and American horror director Eli Roth
Eli Roth
Eli Raphael Roth is an American film director, producer, writer and actor. He is known for his role as Donny "The Bear Jew" Donowitz in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds for which he won both a SAG Award and a BFCA Critic's Choice Award...
(Hostel, Cabin Fever) as he presents a theatrical screening of Pieces to a Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
cult audience. Grindhouse Releasing
Grindhouse Releasing
Grindhouse Releasing is a Hollywood-based cult film distribution company owned by director/actor Sage Stallone and headed up by film editor Bob Murawski...
/ Box Office Spectaculars released the first North American deluxe uncut, uncensored director's cut edition of the previously out-of-print movie on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
on October 28, 2008, on Ryko Distribution/Warner Brothers label.
Critical response
Pieces fan and horror film director Eli RothEli Roth
Eli Raphael Roth is an American film director, producer, writer and actor. He is known for his role as Donny "The Bear Jew" Donowitz in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds for which he won both a SAG Award and a BFCA Critic's Choice Award...
calls the film, "a masterpiece of early '80s sleaze." The notorious film carried the memorable and highly successful marketing taglines, "Pieces... It's exactly what you think it is!" and "You don't have to go to Texas for a chainsaw massacre
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a 1974 American independent horror film directed and produced by Tobe Hooper, who cowrote it with Kim Henkel. It stars Marilyn Burns, Paul A. Partain, Edwin Neal, Jim Siedow, and Gunnar Hansen, who respectively portray Sally Hardesty, Franklin Hardesty, the...
!"