(1988)
1
Fred Beldin
This routine slasher thriller offers familiar motivation for its villain's gruesome deeds; his mom was a slut who drank too much and sexually humiliated him as a child. Ho hum. Aside from a curious interest in male strippers (there's ample footage of scantily clothed beefcake), Bits and Pieces adds nothing new to a tired formula. The tone is suitably grim, however, and director Leland Thomas dodges a paltry special effects budget for his unsettling murder scenes by keeping the focus on the faces of the killer and victims. Spattered with blood and overcome with emotion, they provide an intensity that rubber prosthetics can never match. It doesn't change the fact that every woman in the film looks exactly the same (blonde, blue eyes, pretty, early twenties), making it hard to keep track of who is getting offed and when. As Arthur, S.E. Zygmont tries to channel Harry Dean Stanton's twitchy authenticity and fails, never nailing down whether psychosis or rage is the root of his character's violence. Also, Arthur seems to have an endless supply of white shirts and skinny black ties that he can just throw out and replace after getting soaked in gore. It certainly isn't his mom keeping up with the laundry, since Arthur apparently murdered her at some point before the narrative begins (frequent flashbacks and nightmare sequences fill us in on Arthur's troubled past). Hardcore slasher film fans should be satisfied with Bits and Pieces, though they'll feel like they've seen it all before. Thomas is not known to have directed another feature, though his lumbering image is captured forever in a brief cameo as the "Large Stranger," and he delivers the film's best line ("Watch where you're going, apple ass!").
Bits and Pieces on AllMovie
Bits and Pieces (1988)
