Better mounted than many of its recent Italian counterparts, BODY PUZZLE has many of its genre's usual drawbacks, but some compensation is provided by startling set-pieces and neat plot twists.
Successful book editor Tracy Grant (Joanna Pacula) is spied on by a mysterious man (Francois Montagut) who has already murdered a local chocolatier. She later finds out that someone has dug up the grave of her husband Abe, who died in a motorcycle accident. After discovering a disembodied organ
in her refrigerator, Tracy calls in detective Michael Lavet (Tomas Arana), who begins to investigate. The killer butchers a local woman, and Tracy, hiding out at her parents' house while they're away, finds a severed hand attached to the door. She later tells Michael that shortly after she and Abe
were married, her husband's best friend, Tim, had violently harassed them.
Investigating further, Michael visits a psychiatrist (Erika Blanc), who tells him that Abe had sought psychological help for Tim, who broke down after he married Tracy. It soon transpires that the organs the killer is removing from his victims are parts of Abe's body, removed for organ
transplants after his death; the killer--evidently Tim--is seeking to reclaim them. Another recipient, schoolteacher Kate (Ursula Von Baechler) is killed. Later, Michael visits Tracy (with whom he has become involved) and she tells him that a photo he assumed was of Tim is actually one of Abe; he
then realizes that Abe is alive and committing the murders. He manages to save another potential victim from Abe, who then attacks Tracy at the house. After a confrontation with Michael, Abe takes off on a motorcycle, and as he flees the pursuing detective, he crashes into a car and dies.
Directed by Lamberto Bava, son of the late horror master Mario Bava (BLACK SUNDAY), BODY PUZZLE is less similar to his father's work than to the murder thrillers of Dario Argento, who produced Lamberto's previous DEMONS. As in some of Argento's films, this one's police procedural and romantic
scenes are often pedestrian; what really counts is the unfolding of the twisty plot and the staging of the murder scenes, which play like little movies of their own. These sequences show off Bava's technique at its most stylish, ranging from shockingly brutal (the bathroom attack, ending with the
startling amputation of the victim's hand) to diabolically dark-humored (Kate's murder in front of a class of oblivious blind children). Throughout, Luigi Kuveiller's photography is a slick, evocative asset.
The plotting, while contrived, is engaging enough to hold the attention past the slow spots, and the motivation behind the butchery is satisfyingly morbid (not to mention surprisingly similar to that of the contemporaneously made BLINK). Nonetheless, the script ultimately becomes too convoluted
for its own good, with the revelation of Abe as the killer raising a few more questions than it answers (if Abe took Tim's place after the fatal accident, how did he pass off Tim's body as his own?). The climactic action, however, holds enough good jolts to forestall plausibility questions until
after the movie is over.
Though it would have helped if the characters had been fleshed-out, the cast is generally decent, even if it's clear some of the Italian players are speaking phonetic English and were post-dubbed. And, confusingly, the characters' names as spoken on screen don't always correspond to those listed
in the end credits. (Graphic violence, nudity, sexual situations, profanity.) leave a comment