I saw this and THE GATES OF HELL last night at the monthly Retrofantasma double feature at the Carolina Theatre in Durham, NC. With GATES, I knew what to expect, as I'd seen HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY in its original theatrical run and own the tin case DVD of THE BEYOND. PIECES, however, was a jaw-dropping surprise. Sure, I'd heard "it's so bad, it's funny!", but I've been told that before about various films that ended up only providing some mild chuckles, if that. Not so with PIECES. I've not laughed so hard at an intentional comedy in years, and have never laughed so hard at a deliberate slasher spoof.

A few SPOILERS follow.

So, there's a chainsaw killer stalking the campus of a university in Boston. Do the authorities shut down the school? No. Does the Boston PD assign every available cop to the case? Only if "ever available cop" consists of Christopher George, his Leslie Nielsen lookalike partner, and tennis pro turned undercover policewoman Linda Day George. When it comes time to go through the personnel files of the faculty in order to search for clues, George's partner is the only cop available for the task (when he complains about not getting any sleep, George snaps "well, take some uppers!"). Fortunately, there's helpful campus stud Kendal, who's slept with all the murdered girls yet somehow avoids being a suspect (we know the murderer has to be in his lat 40s, due to the prolog, but the cops don't).

And then there's Linda Day George's heartfelt cry of "bastard!" And the attack by the "kung fu professor" who then explains his behavior on "bad chop suey." And the way that George just stuffs his pistol into his belt without bothering with a holster.. And how, when the good guys finally know who the murderer is, and that the heroine is probably in his power, they show up in two unmarked cars without any apparent backup.

So, the obvious question. Did anyone INTEND this film to be so funny?

Sounds like a winner. :P I need to put on it on my Netflix queue.

"Bastard! Bastard! Basssssssssstaaaaaaaaaaard!"

Judging from J.P. Simon's other work, I would say that is a hearty NO! SLUGS is another masterpiece of unintentional hilarity.

Greatest superfluous kung fu fight ever.

PIECES is one of the ten funniest films ever made. There's one great scene where all the red herrings just happen to be standing around the site of a recent murder, all looking incredibly shifty when the camera pans across them.

If anyone ever figures out the significance of the skateboarding-through-glass scene, please let me know.

That's quite a double feature. I haven't seen PIECES in years and although I've got it on VHS somewhere around here I've been waiting for that long-ago announced DVD to revisit it.

I've always winced during the big swinging bookcase reveal at the end of the film where it appears that Christopher George is inadvertently about to get his arm crushed between the wall and the bookcase. That had to hurt.

Also, the tennis scene contains some of the worst faked tennis ever put to film.

Anyone remember the very funny interview Film Ventures president Edward Montoro did with Fangoria when this movie was released? He singled out the tennis match as one of the funniest things he had ever seen.

Isn't it the event (the breaking glass) that sets the killer off and on his murderous path? That is why they show the flashback to the mom smashing the glass mirror.

Here's a bigger mystery: why is the French title LE CRI DU COBRA? There is also an alternate more appropriate French title: Sadique à la tronçonneuse but I've seen the SECAM VHS cover with the Cri Du Cobra title.

Yeah... I've been eagerly awaiting Grindhouse's SE for ages.

Is there any indication that the killer sees this happen?

He pulls out the naked woman puzzle in the next scene.

And therein lies Simon's genius.

There's a Spanish DVD out now. I think its letterboxed and it should be uncut since its post Franco era (no English audio, though).

October 28th - Grindhouse delux edition!!!!!!!!
http://www.grindhousereleasing.com/pieces_dvd_info.html


...A new DVD release of Fulci's The Beyond as well:
http://www.grindhousereleasing.com/beyond_dvd_info.html

YES!!!!!

I like how the selling points claim that it opened ahead of RETURN OF THE JEDI. I think it's a safe assumption that JEDI was out for quite some time before PIECES hit theaters.

Man....BEYOND THE DOOR in September, PIECES in October, and a probable November release for Code Red's THE VISITOR!

(Note to self....cool it....must remember the implied, unwritten rule that all major EuroCult releases must have, at the VERY least, one delay/street-date change before actually becoming available. Just plan on BEYOND THE DOOR for Christmas, PIECES in February, and THE VISITOR for next summer, and you'll be pleasantly surprised if they hit the streets before that)

Yeah, I'd heard the reputation of PIECES but wasn't prepared for just how funny it was when I saw it at a Exhumed Films showing. Great movie to see with an audience!

I saw this when it came out (at a mall multiplex of all places) and was dumbfounded. Probably about time to watch it again.

But Pieces isn't bad...It's Exactly What You Think It Is!

Is this up for preorder anywhere yet? I keep checking Amazon and Deep Discount but don't see anything there yet.

It is up for pre-order now at Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Pieces-Christopher-G...20740120&sr=8-1

Grindhouse is showing PIECES in some theaters in October. I'm assuming these are midnight showings, but the complete details are TBD.

I'll be at the Emagine in Novi on 10/11! YES!!!

And I'll be sure to not eat too much chop suey beforehand...


Bastard!.....Bastard!!!!!!.....BASTARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just got an email from the guys doing the screening at the Emagine-Novi and it IS a 35mm print (not a DVD projection), to be (right now anyway) shown at 11pm. Unfortunately, I won't be able to attend the Novi screening now because I have to go to the ROCK N SHOCK convention.

I, too, love this film and can't wait for the release of what promises to be a great DVD--finally!

In the 9th and 10th grades I attended a boarding school in Chattanooga. Being trapped in a campus dorm Monday through Friday made some type of escape on the weekend absolutely necessary. Not being overly interested in drugs and only marginally interested in alcohol I usually spent a few hours each Saturday in a movie theater sucking up whatever Hollywood would throw at me. But on this particular Saturday night I was in for something a bit more…..odd.

Several of us had spotted the newspaper ads for PIECES and were taken aback by the forwardness of the rather lurid image. By this time I had heard of THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE but had yet to see it so this seemed even more dangerous. If this was striving to top that film what might be sprayed across the screen? A few of us teenage boys made plans to see this sucker no matter what. Understand- we were under no illusions about the nastier elements of the film. Hell! That’s why we were daring each other to go! We saw PIECES as a test of our masculinity, a rite of passage that without experiencing might point towards us becoming less than we were capable of being. We were men in training and we could handle anything this film could throw at us! Take your best shot!

Needless to say we were appalled by what we saw. Stunned. Shocked. Sickened. Grotesque on a level none of us had seen before we were reduced to trying to ‘man up’ by making fun of the gore and pretending we weren’t scared when the sounds of a chainsaw (or, in a smart cheap scare, a motorcycle) roared out of the screen. Luckily there were enough ridiculous moments to allow us the respite of humor to salve our raw nerves. I’ll never forget one of my buddies stunned reaction to the killer getting into a small elevator with an intended victim while hiding the chainsaw under his coat. His ‘Is that woman blind’ was one the biggest laughs I’ve ever had in a movie theater to this day.

Although I didn’t know it at the time this was a turning point in my love of the movies. Not immediately but over the next few years I began to return to the horror genre more often and found that I preferred it to all others. The thrills of scary movies have remained my favorite viewing and exploring the European horror films has been the most fascinating area of this most frowned upon hobby of mine.

So bring on the special edition DVD! My childhood memories need a kick in the ass!

Any metro Detroit-area Mobians heading to the Emagine in Novi Saturday night? I've had four friends--all able to hold their own when it comes to MST3K-level heckling--decline my invite to what promises to be the Bad Movie Event of 2008, for reasons ranging from "The wife said no" to "Why? I'm buying the DVD in three weeks," but I don't care---I'm going.

There were more people there than I thought would be--maybe 30 in all. Almost everyone seemed to laugh ahead of time, obvious PIECES veterans who knew what was coming (one guy even had a PIECES T-shirt!). One couple did walk out--I'm not sure what they were expecting.

I have to admit, I'd seen this (I think) three times before tonight (over the last 20 or so years), and I never really paid attention to that priceless moment when ALL of the suspects are suddenly together in the library, looking at each other with shifty, suspicious eyes. Why is Paul Smith there? He's the GROUNDSKEEPER!!!!

The biggest crowd reactions, in no particular order: the waterbed comment; the chainsaw cleverly hidden behind the killer's back in the elevator; Smith's poolside Hulk-out; Christopher George asking Jack Taylor if, in his opinion, it's possible that a chainsaw could've dismembered the body they're examining, even as a bloody chainsaw is SITTING RIGHT NEXT TO THE BODY; Frank Brana's "I'll send you a box of lollipops"; the immortal Kung-Fu Professor; and, of course, "BASTARD!!!!!" There's gotta be more I'm forgetting.

It was a 35mm print with some expected minor scratches, but otherwise in outstanding shape, and there were some DVD-projected Grindhouse trailers ahead of the film itself: THE BEYOND, SHEITAN (for some reason), and GONE WITH THE POPE. I haven't seen the GONE WITH THE POPE trailer in a while and forgot how funny it is. Sage Stallone and Bob Murawski need to get that one out soon. It looks like it might very well be the greatest film ever made.

DVDManiacs has the first review up!

http://www.avmaniacs.com/review.php?id=493

Fangoria has a review up now too:

http://www.fangoriaonline.com/gore/reviews...pieces-dvd.html

Hm, my Amazon shipment has been delayed with no ship date stated. Dagnabit. :angry:

DiabolikDVD.com has it listed as "in stock" now.

Got mine today. B)

Me too! I can't believe it finally exists. I haven't been this giddy since the Bava book arrived.

I expect us to all awkwardly gather together like the suspects in the pool scene and discuss this one to death!

Is there an emoticon for the Paul Smith Stinkeye?

Wow...did I just come up with a great band name, or what?

Yes, you did. Use it wisely.

Now shipped and received. Yay! These Grindhouse releases take so excruciatingly long they're a real event when they actually show up.

Needing a bad-movie fix, I threw the Grindhouse DVD on this evening and, as usual, was not disappointed. Hell, it's been six months since I last watched it. It was time!

Has anyone actually attempted to watch this with the Spanish track that features Librado Pastor's score? It's unbearable. It's the most overbearing, intrusive piano score you've ever heard. The CAM tracks and Ed Mannix's voice coming out of Paul Smith's mouth are the ONLY way to go with this!

I prefer the Cipriani/CAM tracks too. The Spanish score doesn't suit it at all (and the disco aerobics song is missing).

I'm afraid to ask this....but is that aerobics/disco song available as an MP3 anywhere....?

I'm not even sure it's a Cipriani tune (most of the film's cues come from RING OF DARKNESS) but Cipriani was capable of composing that horrid disco piece for the "hit" aerobics TV show in NIGHTMARE CITY.

LOL!