Synopsis: The co-eds of a Boston college campus are targeted by a mysterious killer who is creating a human jigsaw puzzle from their body parts.
Let me set the scene. The Pieces title card reads “Boston 1942”, we open in what seems to be a peaceful home. There’s a child quietly playing a jigsaw puzzle. The mother walks in and the puzzle is revealed to be a rather “R” rated picture of a naked woman. Furious, she scolds the child, accusing him of being a “pervert like his father” and begins rummaging through his things in search of other racy material. She sends him off to grab a trash bag and he returns with an ax. The child takes her head clean off and continues to butcher her body. The police break down the door and find the child covered in blood, hiding in the closet. Cut to the main title.
That right there is how you start a classic slasher film. You grab the viewer’s attention right off the bat before the title of the film even touches the screen. This film is pure 80’s trash and that’s said in a loving way. These are the types of films I grew up on and I’m rather shocked that this one has never crossed my path before. A quintessential 80’s trash film involves, a killer stalking young co-eds, buckets of blood along with cheesy gore and of course tons of gratuitous nudity. This flick has all that covered plus some. It’s basically the perfect storm of chaotic filmmaking and pure schlock.
There are quite literally scenes in here that make little to no sense. For example, once we get past the main title screen we flash 40 years later, there’s a scene of a woman riding a skateboard across campus and terribly at that. The scene ends with her riding full speed into a rather large mirror being carried by two men. I couldn’t quite figure out the reason for this shot other than to establish that we are on a college campus. This is followed later in the film by a scene featuring a cameo from a Bruce Lee double appropriately named Bruce Le, encountering an undercover cop and subsequently getting his ass kicked by her. Then we close on one of the oddest freeze frames I’ve ever witnessed. You just have to see it for yourself. Every single instance, no matter how confusing, just meld to create a cult classic of a horror film.
A shadowy killer, stalking young women? Check. Obvious misdirection? Check, check. Over the top blood and gore coupled with copious amounts of nudity (even some male nudity for you ladies out there)? Check, check and check. I mean, this is one that should absolutely be seen by genre fans. It’s trashy 80’s cinema at its best.
As of this writing, you can find this gem streaming on Tubi.
