Pieces (1982)

The Shadow knows… and slays with a chainsaw!

Someone is murdering women at a Boston campus with a chainsaw and acquiring body parts for some unknown purpose. Christopher George plays the lieutenant in charge of the investigation while Lynda Day George is on hand as a tennis instructor.

“Pieces” (1982) borrows components of previous slashers, like “Psycho” (1960), “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (1974) and the first two “Friday the 13th” movies (1980-1981), but places the story at a Massachusetts university. Yet this is actually a Euro-horror flick shot in Madrid with some exteriors from Boston. Unlike “Halloween” (1978) and “Friday the 13th,” which were state-of-the art at the time and therefore have a timeless quality despite the obsolete fashions, “Pieces” is dated and feels like an early-to-mid 70’s flick. The ambient score, which is reminiscent of “The Warriors” (1979), and an outdated rock track contribute to this vibe.

This is a Whodunit with a killer that dresses like The Shadow and prefers a chainsaw. The idea that a person can inconspicuously move about a campus in such peculiar apparel while lugging around a freakin’ chainsaw is unlikely to say the least. Another amusing quirk is when a curious Kung Fu instructor suddenly appears and just as quickly disappears.

If you can laugh with these hitches, along with the dubbing, “Pieces” is actually a serious murder mystery with a thought-out story, a decent cast, convincing gore and a good eye for women, such as the aerobics instructor and student.

The film runs 1 hour, 25 minutes. The Spanish title is “Mil gritos tiene la noche,” which translates as “One Thousand Screams in the Night.”

GRADE: B