#26 - PIECES - Horror Countdown to Halloween

This October we here at Dark of the Matinee are counting down our 31 favorite horror films. Join us daily as we countdown from #31 starting on October 1, 2012 leading up to #1 on Halloween!

#26 – PIECES (1982)

Dir. Juan Piquer Simón

The first week of October’s over and we’ve already listed some awesome films. Today we’re getting into something a little more gritty and Spanish. Pieces came in at number 26 on our countdown and I think that says a lot. We saw this film pretty recently and I think we’re all pretty excited to watch it again.  Because when you see a movie blurb that says, “Don’t have to go to Texas for a chainsaw massacre!” you know you’re in for a treat.  

"Hmm, now where does this piece go?"

This 1982 slasher film starts with a 10 year old boy playing in his room. He’s putting together a puzzle which we can see is a nude woman. The kid’s mother comes in the room and sees the puzzle; she flips out starts yelling at him. She tells him to get a plastic bag so she can burn the puzzle. Instead, the kid gets an axe and chops his moms head off. Fast forward forty years to a college campus. It’s a normal college campus, young adults studying, playing sports and having sex. Normal college campus. But before long a serial killer is on the loose hacking up college girls with a chainsaw and a knife! We eventually learn he’s taking certain body parts from each of his victims. Almost as if he was putting them together like some sort of puzzle….

Pieces is a fantastic film. The gore was done very well and the story wasn’t bad. There were some over the top performances that will stick with us forever; one in particular where the supporting actress (Linda Day George) yells bastard in true dramatic fashion. It definitely benefits from a group screening so everyone watching it can look at each other and say “umm did you just see what I saw?” There are some random scenes that don’t necessarily add to the plot, but I think the oddness of some of the film really helps it stick out in my mind. I’d say this one is worth finding for sure.

It's just a puzzle, Mom. No need to lose your head over it.

The movie also has a definite element of mystery. The cops are on the trail of the killer, led by a no-nonsense detective played by Christopher George, but we don’t know who he is and we get to follow the cops pursuit of this killer with the help of one of the students. There are a few possibilities of who the killer could be. Is it the crazy janitor who’s always carrying around that menacing chainsaw? Is it the teacher who always seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time? Or maybe it’s that crazy old dean? I’m not going to tell you, so you better watch Pieces and find out.

If we don't have you convinced, then take Eli Roth's word for it:

"One of my top horror films of all time! Not only is this the ultimate chainsaw movie, it's the ultimate slasher film. It has everything you could possibly want, by the bucketful. Full on chainsaw violence, absurd amounts of nudity, and the greatest ending in horror history. A masterpiece of early 80's sleaze."

This is a drive-in style, grindhouse classic that all horror fans should see.

-Brett O. Walker

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