Pieces (1982)
"Mil gritos tiene la noche" (original title)

Young co-eds are being cut up by a chainsaw killer on a college campus. The killer is attempting to put together a human jigsaw puzzle made from body parts.

Director:

Juan Piquer Simón

Writers:

Dick Randall (screenplay), John W. Shadow (screenplay),

Stars:

Christopher George, Lynda Day George, Frank Braña

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Christopher George	...	Lt. Bracken
Lynda Day George	...	Mary Riggs (as Linda Day)
Frank Braña	...	Sgt. Holden
Edmund Purdom	...	The Dean
Ian Sera	...	Kendall
Paul L. Smith	...	Willard (as Paul Smith)
Jack Taylor	...	Professor Brown
Gérard Tichy	...	Dr. Jennings
May Heatherly	...	Mrs. Reston
Hilda Fuchs	...	Grace - the Dean's Secretary
Roxana Nieto	...	Virginia Palmer, 1st victim
Cristina Cottrelli	...	Jenny, pool victim (as Cristina Cottrel)
Leticia Marfil	...	Mary, elevator victim
Silvia Gambino	...	Neighbor
Carmen Aguado	...	Carla, aerobics instructor

Storyline

While playing with a puzzle, a teenager is repressed by his mother, and he kills her and severs her body with an ax. Forty years later, in an university campus in Boston, a serial killer kills young women and severs their bodies in parts, stealing body pieces from each student. Lt. Bracken makes a deal with the dean of the campus, and infiltrates the agent Mary Riggs as if she were a tennis teacher and together with the student Kendall, they try to find the identity of the killer.

---

Plot Keywords:

serial killer | co ed | university | chainsaw | mercilessness | 

---

Taglines:

Pieces... It's exactly what you think it is!

---

Genres:

Horror | Mystery

---

Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

Spain USA Puerto Rico Italy

Language:

Spanish English

Release Date:

23 September 1983 (USA)

Also Known As:

Pieces

Filming Locations:

Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Almena Films, Film Ventures International (FVI), Fort Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

85 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The "look" of the killer was based on the comic book character "The Shadow", not as is often thought Italian 'giallo' cinema.

---

Goofs

In the scenes where the tennis pro is playing tennis, it is obvious that her skill level is that of a beginner.

---

Quotes

Prof. Arthur Brown: I guess I'm so used to bodies... dead ones... that I'm callous.

---

Connections

Featured in Pieces of Juan: An Interview with Director Juan Piquer Simón (2008)

User Reviews

Lovable gore movie from a great, great director

Thank you, Juan Piquer Simon! First I'm delighted by your wondrous "E.T." rip off "Pod People", then your amazing killer slug movie, the aptly titled "Slugs". But now I've seen the one that tops those classics and then some: your take on the chainsaw massacre genre, "Pieces". What an amazing, totally hilarious, totally entertaining movie!

After seeing a little kid hack up his mother with an ax (and the subsequent arrival of the police who have no reaction whatsoever to the woman's severed head lying in a closet), we jump to "forty years later" at a college campus in Boston. We know it takes place in America, because there are American flags, maps of the United States, and pictures of Ronald Reagan everywhere. It's obviously NOT Spain. Anyway, this totally-American-and-not-Spanish-at-all killer is on the loose, collecting various body parts for his human jigsaw puzzle. There's tons of great gore as the unseen killer's chainsaw rips through necks, arms, torsos, you name it. But what's just as good is all the scenes between the gore scenes in which the cops try to hunt down the killer.

First of all, one of the cops is the guy from "Slugs" who yelled "You don't have the authority to declare Happy Birthday!". He gets an equally stupid line in this movie with "Right now we're just buying clothes without labels and trying them on for size." He enlists the help of Kendall, a well meaning student who is played by the guy who says "It stinks!" in "Pod People".

Kendall is of no help at all except for the fact that he stumbles on the corpses minutes after the killer leaves the scene and he romances the tennis pro/cop who's hunting the killer undercover. These scenes are creepy because the actress is old enough to be Kendall's grandmother. Watch for the scene towards the end where she's lying down and Kendall touches her face, then in the next shot he's in the middle of the room, nowhere near her.

Also enjoy the fact that the cops find the killer's bloody chainsaw, but he somehow magically has it back for the next killing. Enjoy the scene where a girl on a skateboard smashes through a mirror for no reason, and is never heard from again. Enjoy the scene where a character we've never seen before jumps out of the shadows, does some kung-fu moves, and then leaves, never to be seen again.

But most of all, enjoy the out-of-nowhere insanity of the film's closing moments. I won't spoil it here, but it has to be seen to be believed- actually, even then you might not believe it. "Pieces" is a totally enjoyable movie going experience if you are a fan of enjoyably bad movies and good gore.