Body Puzzle

"Body Puzzle" is a typical Italian thriller,not exactly a masterpiece,but it delivers some surprising twists.The death scenes are pretty vicious and graphic,especially when the woman has her hand chopped off.Director Lamberto Bava creates a reasonable amount of suspense and Luigi Kuvellier("Deep Red","Blood for Dracula")does the slick photography.Polish horror queen Joanna Pacula("Warlock 2","The Kiss" and awful "Haunted Sea")is pretty good as a widow in peril.It's also very nice to see Giovanni Lombardo Radice("House on the Edge of the Park","Gates of Hell","Cannibal Ferox")as the epicene Morangi.Overall this one is worth a look,if you like Italian giallos.

A cop is investigating a weird series of murders that don't add up. Parts are being removed like trophies but not the same part. He races against the clock to save the next possible victim and solve the body puzzle.

'Body Puzzle' isn't a great movie by any stretch of the imagination but I didn't find it as bad as many reviewers suggest. It's not all that flashy as a Giallo or as well thought out but the acting isn't too horrid and the direction kept me zoned in. The plot is a bit far fetched but hey it's a slasher! What can you do? I give it a 3 of 5 for keeping me entertained and an interesting character or two.

An absorbing giallo , with an above -average screenplay; sometimes one thinks of the golden hour of Dario Argento (roughly 1967-1980) Gore is kept to the minimum and this story of body parts is not a remake of "les mains d'Orlac" or the poor adaptation of Boileau -Narcejac 's "body parts" .

The story is labyrinthine and definitely off the beaten track ; it deals with split personality ,homosexuality and mistaken identities ; the trick of the photograph is so simple (and so effective) that one wonders why it had not been used before .Lamberto Bava never equalled his father Mario's best horror films such as " I tre volti della paura" ,but here,he delivers the goods .

I recently came across this movie after seeing a review for it on a certain Horror website (who gave it a positive review) & after finding out that Lamberto Bava directed it, I instantly thought to seek it out after enjoying some of his other movies such as 'Demons' & 'Rabid Dogs' & well I was disappointed by this rather lacklustre effort.

The plot follows a detective on a trail of a serial killer who leaves his victims body parts in a young widow's home, all of which seems to be connected to her late husband's death.

Initially this title sounded a little bit highbrow & yeah, I'd say it is, but that doesn't make it better, despite a promising premise. There's no mystery as to who the killer is as its revealed right from the start, but you don't know why & that could have made for an interesting set up. But as the movie goes on it all becomes muddled with a very unsatisfying twist, that not only comes across as ridiculous, but makes the detective incredibly stupid.

However, there were some cool scenes & some well-maintained tension, but overall, there was a lack of flourish and comes off as very generic with a lack of interesting cinematography, tones & lack of style, coming across as very on the nose. The performances were also very stilted & stuff, despite both actors giving far better performances in other projects.

Overall 'Body Puzzle' isn't one of the better Giallo movies & you can see why this genre died out as by the 90's, the genre clearly run out of gas.

"Body Puzzle" is a genuine example that the gialli were still brought to life with style in the 90's. Features a high end cast, a nice plot twist and better score than most other 90's (and late 80's) gialli. I would say that this one and Argento's "Stendhal syndrome" are the two best giallo thrillers from the 90's. Well done, Bava Jr.