Body Parts (1991): Deep Cuts #24

I have so many great memories of renting VHS tapes, first from the local mom and pop store back home, then from Blockbuster and Family Video once they had taken over. One of those memories involves being on that dreaded waiting list for a new release movie. The mom and pop would get like one copy of the new movies and there would be a list that sometimes could go for weeks. It was like Russian Roulette. You knew you were 7th on the list, but if someone in line in front of you didn’t come to get the movie, and your turn came up, you had to be ready. Screw your plans, whatever you had going on, you’ve been waiting for 2 weeks to see Body Parts! Get your ass up to the store and get it before they gave it to the person after you!  

Synopsis: 

After losing his arm in a car accident, a criminal psychologist has it replaced with a limb that belonged to a serial killer. 

IMDb:5.6 

Rotten Tomatoes: 42% 

Tagline: It will scare you to pieces. 

Eric Red directed this, and this guy has an interesting tale to tell. He wrote Near Dark and The Hitcher and directed this and Bad Moon. However, in 2000, he ran his truck into a bar, killing 2 people. He exited the vehicle and attempted to kill himself by slicing his throat with a piece of glass but survived. He didn’t face criminal charges but lost a civil suit to the families of the dead men. He only has 2 more credits in the business after the accident, instead choosing to be a novelist. 

The film was released in August of 1991, and a little event happened in July of 1991, which hurt the marketing of this film, especially in Wisconsin: The arrest of Jeffrey Dahmer. Needless to say, the film made less than its budget, and is largely forgotten. 

The opening music, orchestral with swelling stringed instruments, plays very much like a Hitchcock film, with crooked letters for the main titles, and red tinted medical pictures of skinless bodies. It sets the mood perfectly.  

One thing I had not even considered, which is brilliant, is the part where Bill has his fingerprints on his donor arm run. It shows all his murders, his death sentence, and the fact that he was executed. Not sure how that would come up should he commit a crime. There would need to be some addendum in the system, stating there was a transfer of fingerprints or something. 

Brad Dourif plays the other recipient of the murderer’s arm, and the two of them bond over the visions they see straight from the killer’s eyes. He is amazing as always, amping up the neurotic level of the film. There is yet another person, Mark, who received the killer’s legs. Soon enough, the body horror goes completely off the rails and the film reaches bat shit crazy level 10 by the time the end credits roll.   

I can’t stress how magnificent the music is. Loek Digger did the music, a composer that I had never heard of, nor had I heard of any of the movies he scored in the past. But it truly lifts this film from B movie obscurity and gives it a legitimacy that it probably doesn’t deserve. 

Jeff Fahey is a lot like Eric Roberts, in that he appeared in so many movies there for a while, that he was seemingly the most popular actor in America. But here, he is at the height of his career, in my opinion. He looks great. He acts great. He oozes charisma and embodies the movie star qualities that can carry a film like this. Another actor might not have been able to carry a film like this, an obvious B movie with a ridiculous concept.  

The effects are great here, as its gory and bloody, but it also has that remarkable trait to make you squirm. In the hospital, he is trying to control his Frankenstein arm and the way it moves is a bit jarring. The sounds during the physical therapy also can make you wince.  

I loved this film. Everyone takes their role seriously, even though body parts are seemingly doing their own thing independent of their owner, and the absurdity of the plot is masked by the expert performances. I just cannot stop talking about how much fun this movie is! Watch it! Buy it! My stream was 720, so I am anxious to overpay for a Blu-ray of this film. Maybe I will ask for it for Christmas. I hope you’re listening, Santa! 

 8.0/10 Stab Wounds  

 

 

 

About RetRo(n) 84 Articles
I like the 80s, slasher films, Italian directors, Evil Ed, Trash and Nancy, Ripley and Private First Class Hudson, retro crap but not SyFy crap, old school skin, Freddy and Savini, Spinell and Coscarelli, Andre Toulon, and last, but not least, Linda Blair.