PIECES (1982)

Director: Juan Piquer Simón

Writers: Dick Randall, Roberto Loyola (as John Shadow), Juan Piquer Simón (uncredited)

Producers: Dick Randall, Stephen Minasian

Cast: Christopher George, Linda Day, Edmund Purdom, Ian Sera, Paul L. Smith, Frank Braña, Jack Taylor, Isabelle Luque, Cristina Cottrel, Leticia Marfil, Silvia Gambino, Carmen Aguado, Paco Alvez, Roxana Nieto, Hilda Fuchs, May Heatherly, Gérard Tichy, Alejandro Hernández, Alejandro de Enciso, Hugo Astar, Emilio Linder, Victor Iregua, Nicholas A. Burd, Mario De Barros, (and uncredited cast) Pilar Alcón (woman pictured in puzzle), Bruce Le, Juan Piquer Simón 

In 1942 Boston, Massachusetts, a young boy (Alejandro Hernández) is putting together a jigsaw puzzle of a naked woman. When his mother (May Heatherly) surprises him in the act, she slaps and scolds him. As the mother is searching the boy’s bedroom for other “filth” to dispose of, the boy returns with an axe and murders her. Then the boy proceeds to saw his mother’s body into pieces. Forty years later on a Boston university campus, the now adult killer is conducting a fetishistic ritual of murder. He severs various pieces from his women victims to add to the grisly, human jigsaw puzzle he is assembling. 

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The Spanish-U.S. production Pieces is a notorious example of the slasher film that is adored by fans of the genre as an absurd exploitation spectacle. For critics of the genre, it is an extreme example of just how crass they consider such films. Ultimately, Pieces thumbs its nose at both sides of the slasher film merits debate.

Like many real-life serial killers, the killer in Pieces has a sexual hang-up that is at the root of his murderous behavior. In this case, it rather neatly ties in with the killer’s MO. A nudie jigsaw puzzle creates the conflict leading to matricide and probably obsessive guilt that can only be assuaged by more killing to recreate a jigsaw corpse stand-in for the killer’s mother. This sort of psycho setup is one of my favorite aspects of slasher films. I am sure that psychologists and criminal profilers will find such a scenario to be much too simplistic. However, this is not much more deranged than the motivations and triggers for many real-life serial killers. If one wants to interpret more motivational depth into the killer of Pieces, it could also be assumed that the pornophile kid had some other issues before mom tried to dispose of his stash of smut.

There, I am glad I got that off my chest. I feel pretty damned proud about attributing more narrative and psychological integrity to Pieces than anyone else has in the past forty years. And you thought this flick was about nothing more than gore and naked chicks? Well, hang in there, I’m just getting warmed up... 

The killer in Pieces has to be the stealthiest maniac ever. I can only surmise that dressing as The Shadow somehow allows him to cloud babes’ minds so they cannot see him. Of course, when they finally do notice him it is too damned late. The killer even possesses such sleight of hand prowess that while sharing an elevator with someone he can conceal his chainsaw behind his back. 

You’ve got to admire police procedure in Pieces when it is this methodical and does not jump to conclusions. Lt. Bracken (Christopher George) asks for a professional opinion from the university anatomy teacher Professor Brown (Jack Taylor). When discovering the chopped apart remains of the poolside victim next to a bloody chainsaw, Bracken asks, “Could this have been done by a chainsaw?” 

You’ve also got to hand it to Lt. Bracken for thinking outside the box. Apparently, cute coeds being butchered in rapid succession on a Boston campus does not allow Bracken to get the manpower he needs to secure the campus and catch the killer. So he is counting on mild-mannered student and chick magnet Kendall James (Ian Sera) to be his on-campus informant and to keep an eye on beautiful tennis star and undercover policewoman Mary Riggs (Linda Day). This kid is so popular that he can’t even be bothered to finish balling his latest horny honey before he takes off after Mary in the middle of the night just because he spots her wandering around the campus. 

As all of the best exploitation films do, Pieces alerts us to an oft-ignored public safety concern. While the drug PCP was the trendy ’80s scapegoat for inducing irrational violent behavior, this film exposes the threat of bad chop suey causing spontaneous kung fu rages. 

The outrageous extremes of Pieces have made it revered among trash film fans. Along with its madness, nudity, and gore, the film’s often out-of-left-field sense of humor and loopy characters distinguish it. 

Topping the cast is the husband-wife acting team of Christopher George and Linda Day. As Police Lt. Bracken, George is that establishment hero that we expect to save the day. He surprises us with his choice of assistants in his investigations. Not only does he get a kid on campus to pitch in, he also has tennis star-turned-police officer Mary Riggs go to the university to operate undercover as a tennis coach. Sure, it’s unlikely but necessary. Without Linda Day as Mary Riggs on the job, we would not have that Oscar-worthy moment of histrionics when she discovers another campus corpse. I could quote her every time I encounter a plugged up men’s room toilet. 

Paul L. Smith plays the hulking, chainsaw-cherishing university groundskeeper Willard. As if this does not make him look guilty enough, his face is afflicted with stink eye paralysis. It looks positively painful. 

Edmund Purdom is the smooth and polished university dean. He manages to make everything he says sound reasonable while being completely ineffectual. He would go on to star in and begin directing the producers’ next fright flick Don’t Open till Christmas (1984). 

Producers Dick Randall and Stephen Minasian set out to create something typical of the slasher genre and, accidentally or by impish intent, gave the horror fan something extra. Pieces is a lurid thriller flaunting its bad taste to achieve a campy intensity. It almost reaches the level of a parody without ever seeming quite so deliberate. Because we are not quite sure what the intent was with some of its goofier aspects, this film has become something unique. Randall and Minasian apparently captured lightning in a bottle with Pieces. Their next slasher Don’t Open till Christmas is lacking the crude, cockeyed fun found here and is merely unsatisfying. 

Like many slasher films, Pieces has been labeled misogynistic. Of course, any film about a killer targeting women is dealing with misogynistic behavior. Does portraying such acts mean the filmmakers and their audience are misogynists? If so, then just what does this film’s ball-busting finale mean? It is perhaps the most outrageous WTF climax to any horror film. I think it is a dual-purpose bit of movie mischief that is tweaking the noses of the misogyny accusers at the same time it is flipping the bird to the male audience drawn to the sex-and-violence buzz of Pieces. If you can figure out a better reason for that ending, I’ll send you a case of lollipops.

THE RETURN OF THE VAMPIRE (1943)

Director: Lew Landers

Writers: Griffin Jay, Kurt Neumann, Randall Faye

Producer: Sam White

Cast: Bela Lugosi, Frieda Inescort, Matt Willis, Miles Mander, Nina Foch, Gilbert Emery, Roland Varno, Leslie Denison, William Austin, Ottola Nesmith, (and uncredited cast) Jeanne Bates, Sydney Chatton, Harold De Becker, Billy Bevan, Sherlee Collier, Donald Dewar, Frank Dawson, Jean Fenwick, Stanley Logan, Nelson Leigh, Olaf Hytten, Audrey Manners, George McKay, Marianne Mosner, Clara Reid 

In 1918 London, England, the vampire Armand Tesla (Bela Lugosi) is at large. Professor Walter Saunders’ (Gilbert Emery) young granddaughter Nikki (Sherlee Collier) has become one of Tesla’s victims. Saunders and his medical colleague Lady Jane Ainsley (Frieda Inescort) track down Tesla to find him at rest in a crypt, drive a spike through his heart, and bury him in an unmarked grave. Twenty-three years later during World War II, a German air raid bombs the graveyard where Tesla was buried. Tesla’s coffin is unearthed by an explosion and discovered by two civil defense workers (Billy Bevan and Harold De Becker). They remove the spike from Tesla’s chest and rebury him. Tesla soon returns to life and seeks revenge. 

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During Universal Pictures’ B-movie horror heyday of the ’40s, Columbia Pictures decided to compete with their own take on contemporary horror. While The Return of the Vampire has some of the tropes and stylistic trappings that Universal had established, it is most interesting for its peculiar deviations from them.

Of course, casting Bela Lugosi in the title role just screams Universal style horror. The first supernatural horror film of the sound era was Universal’s Dracula (1931) starring Lugosi. He had starred in many more horror film roles for Universal over the years including the recent Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943). Columbia must have wanted some of that moneymaking monster mash action, so they got Lugosi to play a Dracula-styled vampire along with a werewolf slave to do a lot of his dirty work. That may sound pretty derivative, yet for all the aping of the Universal style, there are interesting variations that probably were meant to keep Universal’s lawyers from claiming any sort of plagiarism.

While most of the ’40s Universal Pictures horror films occurred in modern times, they often seemed to be striving for a timeless feeling that was isolated from the concerns of World War II. Columbia’s The Return of the Vampire takes place in London, England, and its characters are dealing with the dangers and intrigue of the war. 

An odd variant on the vampire killing technique is the use of a metal spike, which is supposed to have been preferred by the Romani people, rather than a traditional wooden stake being driven through the monster’s heart. 

Most Bela Lugosi fans are happy that the actor most identified with the Dracula character gets another full-blooded vampire part to play here. The character of Armand Tesla is certainly a vampire in the image of the Dracula role Lugosi portrayed in the classic Universal film. This Columbia Pictures movie is one of Lugosi’s classier productions of the ’40s. Lugosi gets top billing and is certainly the major selling point of the film. This production does well by Lugosi giving him plenty of screen time, dialogue, and that most impressive vampire accessory of fog that he even brandishes indoors. In many scenes Lugosi’s face seems to be radiant with evil glee. His hypnotic whispers from afar are also a very nice touch. 

The object of Tesla’s lust is the late Professor Saunders’ granddaughter Nikki. This was the first film role for 19-year-old Nina Foch who is playing a character that would have to be about a decade older. Foch gives a nice performance in a very limited role. She would return to horror the following year as the title character of Columbia’s Cry of the Werewolf (1944). 

Matt Willis plays Armand Tesla’s underling Andreas. Tesla’s evil vampire influence turns him into a werewolf. In his werewolf form, Andreas is similar to the furry, fanged, bipedal creatures Universal pioneered in Werewolf of London (1935) and, most famously, in The Wolf Man (1941). However, Andreas is quite talkative and intelligent in his monstrous state and capable of carrying out Tesla’s orders. Willis’ performance ranges from dread of Tesla’s potential to corrupt him again to evil enthusiasm when under Tesla’s control. Willis’ ability to speak so clearly with a mouthful of fangs is quite impressive. In more variations from the standards established by Universal’s Wolf Man character, silver is not required to wound this werewolf and full moons are not needed for his transformations. 

The Return of the Vampire has another quite unique innovation from the Dracula formula. Initially, it seems that this film’s stand-in for Dr. Van Helsing will be Professor Saunders. However, once the time shifts to the ’40s, the female doctor Lady Jane Ainsley replaces Saunders as the main protagonist. It is her burden throughout most of the film to convince the skeptical Sir Fredrick Fleet (Miles Mander) of Scotland Yard that there is a vampire at large in London. Frieda Inescort brings a mature beauty, determination, and intelligence to her role in a film that does not have much time to develop any character depth. 

Despite the film’s familiar horror situations, it is distinguished by its theme of recurring evils often conflicting with each other. It was Armand Tesla’s scholarly obsession with the occult that led to his becoming a vampire. Ironically, Tesla’s published text on the occult arm his foes with the knowledge they need to combat him. Not only does the evil vampire Armand Tesla return to life, but also the recurring evil of war is responsible for his unearthing and then repeats to provide something of a deus ex machina element in the climax. Tesla’s return again exerts the evil influence over the reformed Andreas to turn him back into the vampire’s werewolf minion. Tesla’s return also allows him to prey again on the now adult and beautiful Nikki Saunders. Ultimately, these recurring evil forces swirl inward upon each other. 

It seems that many horror films may have succeeded in the ’40s because they could vent audience fears and anxieties with make-believe menaces to distract from real world concerns about the war. Contrarily, The Return of the Vampire is set in wartime London beset by German air raid bombings. The heroine Lady Jane is even involved in activities to help fellow doctors escape Nazi oppression. Rather than distract its audience from contemporary concerns about the war, The Return of the Vampire’s action occurring in the midst of war may have given them reassurance. If the recurring evil of the supernatural could be overcome, perhaps the recurring evil of world war could be defeated as well.