bits and...

Pieces is a curious ol' slasher that's got quite a rep as a piece of misogynist crap- so much so, that I was wary to check it out despite the fact that it stars the '70s and '80s superteam of Christopher George and Lynda Day George (Day of the Animals). There came a point recently when I could no longer resist Les Georges, however, and I popped in this notorious early '80s flick. So is it misogynist crap?

Well, it's certainly crap, I'll give you that one. It's crap...but the best kind of crap, if you know what I mean. It's not frightening, the ending makes no sense whatsoever, the acting is hilarious ("Bastard! Bassstard! Basssssstarrrrrrrrrrrrrd!"), and there are countless ludicrous sequences to keep you entertained in that "so bad it's good" way.

Is Pieces misogynist? I suppose one could argue that it is, given that the film has exclusively female victims who are chopped up in the killer's quest to create a lovely lady puzzle. Yet the film didn't feel hateful to me, and I think that's the key here. It's a fine line in horror films, and I believe the "horror is inherently misogynist" card is played far too frequently. Yeah, women are killed and act like idiots in slasher films, but so are the men. That might not be the case in Pieces, but I think the film still lacks that mean streak that might raise my hackles. In fact, Pieces shows that women can do anything- just take a look at Lynda Day George as a tennis pro turned police detective posing undercover as a tennis pro!

Alright, that's a stretch. Pieces is a bad movie, to be certain, but it's also fun. It's silly, it's gory...and it's got a rep it maybe doesn't deserve. Maybe I'll print some t-shirts saying something to that effect.

To read more about what I thought of the film, CLICKEN ZE CLICK CLICK.