O Quebra-Cabeça

Very decent horror/thriller, not quite falling into the 'giallo' category as few of the classic ingredients are present, except perhaps plot holes and inefficient policemen, but let us not be churlish. This is a grisly tale with more than a few twists and killings. It is more what happens after the kills that is particularly grisly and then we have various bits being sent to the leading lady. Joanna Pacula plays throughout the movie a heroine in peril and pretty well too. Stylishinteriors at the start remind one of A Blade In The Dark and whilst this is not as consistent as that film it is nonetheless a decent ride.

Body Puzzle is something of an atypical giallo in so far as that the face of the killer is seen from the outset. The rest, as they say, is business as usual, with director Lamberto Bava delivering a convoluted murder mystery with a beautiful woman in peril (Joanna Pacula), a tough cop trying to crack the case (Tomas Arana), and several elaborately staged, mean-spirited murders.

Pacula plays widow Tracy, who begins to receive gruesome gifts from a serial killer: body parts from his victims. As the murderer goes about his business, police detective Michele (Arana) tries to figure out the motive for the slayings, thereby leading him to uncover the killer's identity. It all gets a little tough to follow at times, but Bava's stylish direction and the grisly death scenes ensure a good time for giallo fans.

Gory highlights include the vicious murder of a pastry store owner (who loses his ear) and the chopping off of a woman's hand in a toilet cubicle, but the most ingenious killing has to be that of a teacher in a classroom full of blind children, the psycho committing his crime as the kids happily listen to a recording of 'Peter and the Wolf'. Fans of italian horror will also get a kick out of seeing genre favourite Giovanni Lombardo Radice as camp stable owner Morangi, who supplies Michele with a vital clue.

"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.

After a man loses his lover in a motorcycle accident, he learns that the lover's organs have been transplanted into several different people. So he does what any reasonable person would do, and hacks up everyone, believing he can rebuild his lover and bring him back. Lamberto Bava directs this film with confidence, creating exciting and suspenseful scenes all the way until the wonderful surprise ending. Mario would have been proud!

There once was an era, approximately from the late 60's up until the early 80's, during which nearly every Italian director delivered his own personal giallo-movie and they featured the craziest plots and the most far-fetched red herrings. What great times they were! After this, however, the magnificent sub genre almost got extinct and there were only TWO directors that regularly attempted to breathe new life into the formula of mad black-gloved killers and sleaze-laden twists. Dario Argento is the king even to this day and the other one is Lamberto Bava, who was responsible for some truly underrated giallo-efforts like "Delirium: Photos of Gioia" and "You'll Die at Midnight". "Body Puzzle" is yet another criminally neglected film that features all the giallo's extraordinary trademarks, although that sadly also includes the major holes in the plot. "Body Puzzle" serves the absolute most implausible story I've ever beheld, but there are plenty of sadistic & gore-soaked murders on display and the absurd screenplay hints at some controversial topics like hidden homosexuality and schizophrenia. Lamberto Bava doesn't really bother to keep the killer's identity secret, as we immediately witness how a handsome young man brutally stabs an anonymous candy store owner to death. Several more grisly murders are committed before police inspector Michael discovers that the victims have one thing in common. They all received donor organs from a pianist who died in a motorcycle accident and the mysterious killer tries to puzzle him back together. The inspect is much quicker when it comes to falling in love with the deceased pianist's wife, played by Joanna Pacula. "Body Puzzle" completely stops to make sense halfway, but you've got to love Bava's enthusiast direction and his desperate efforts to maintain the suspense. The music and camera-work are more than adequate while the cast features some familiar faces. Giovanni Lombardo Radice briefly appears as the exaggeratedly gay acquaintance of both the killer and the dead pianist. Italian horror fans will certainly recognize him as the poor sucker who always dies sensationally ("Cannibal Ferox", "City of the Living Dead", "Cannibal Apocalypse"…).