Bits and Pieces (1985) User Reviews

Perhaps the quintessential so-bad-it's-good flick...

[betamaximum · 4/10 · 19 August 2005]

Generally, the slasher sub-genre has certain rules of logic. Sure, there's bad slasher movies, but I can usually expect them not to detour too far from the basic conventions of reality.

"Bits and Pieces" breaks the mold. The characters do and say things that are so wildly implausible, I was compelled to see what crazy stuff would happen next.

If you care, there are spoilers ahead. Okay, after a college girl loses a close friend to a deranged killer, a detective at least fifteen years her senior asks her if she wants to spend a day at the beach. That should give you some idea where we're at here. And there's more. Much more.

Now, the plot is standard. A kid was traumatized by seeing his mom get it on with some dude--plus, they dress him up in drag as punishment for being a pervert. Weird, yes? Anyway, long after the mom is dead and communicating from beyond the grave, the son is murdering young ladies and dressing them up like what mother did to him. When he misses a chance at a potential victim, the crazy man-child starts stalking her.

But it's not the plot that will keep you from hitting stop or fast forward. It's the terrible dialogue, unrealistic situations, and the actors that have to make do.

Is this a good movie? No. Is it scary? No. But it is worth watching, oh yes. If only because it is so effin' wacky. Just when you think the dialogue can't be more forced or corny, it is. Just when you think it will start making sense, it doesn't.

Like the subject line implies, this is so bad that it transcends its badness. It, in fact, reaches a new plateau of bad, which actually might be good. It's just that nutty.

Trust me, true believer. If you're looking for something that is brazenly below average in every conceivable way, and yet thoroughly watchable, this is the movie for you.

It could give "Plan 9" a run for its money.

Has some bits and pieces

[trashgang · 5/10 · 8 October 2008]

Already starting with an aaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrghh moment, male strippers,I thought, this is going to be shitty, but it has his moments. Made in 85 we were at the end of the stalker/slasher period. We had seen everything, any possible way to kill somebody was already done. So they came with this flick. We already had a thousands of movies concerning a child abused by his mother who is a whore. So he became a psychopath killing all girls. The good moments are the moments with the manikin as his mommy telling to kill the girls. Putting a wig on them and painting their faces they look like his whore mummy. So he kills them. The killing is never gory, they don't show the knife going into the flesh, so we have a low budget. Blood is splattered allover that only makes it a horror one. Stalking and slaughtering the women is the good part, the bad part is the romance between the copper and a girl becoming a victim. Too many love scene's, what the hell with the beach scene,... that's bad, they could have made this one better. Due the fact that this one is made on the end of an era and is still unreleased (only old VHS) it is still worth watching. Seen worser.

One of the trashier integrants of the 80s slasher canon.

[EyeAskance · 14 February 2004]

Unsophicticated and unpraiseworthy psycho-slasher romp serves up the usual gore murders, nudity, and unintentional chuckles in a featureless and automatonic fashion. The dead-in-the-water story concerns yet another mother-fixated nut case who sweats a lot and kills random females. So, what else is new? Nothing here, that's for damn sure.

Highlights(?) include the forced feminization of a little boy(in one VERY laughable flashback sequence), some acceptably graphic girl slaughtering, and the scrawniest male stripper ever allowed to dance on a stage. All things considered, this is an entirely unnecessary jaunt, but if slashers are your bag then I suspect you've probably seen worse.

3.5/10...compare to "Killer Workout" for quality. 'Nuff said?

Stupid !

[Phroggy · 1/10 · 10 April 1999]

Here comes your average psycho, traumatized by his mother (yawn) who picks the wrong victim. This is ugly, badly acted, badly made. See "Maniac" or "The love butcher" instead.

Great Laughs and Lots of Nudity!

[ScreenJunkies · 10/10 · 22 February 2002]

What else could you want in a slasher flick than naked people, laughs and gore? You can just tell that this crew had a ball making this film, "Bits and Pieces" is a cult 80's classic. After his mother tortures and torments our lead psycho, he grows up to torture women and leave them in bits and pieces in the dumpster. This film is a great ride. Who will survive, and who will be chopped up into bits and pieces? Find out for yourself and catch Leland Thomas's wonderful gorefest!

A suitably grim serial killer obscurity.

[BA_Harrison · 7/10 · 8 May 2020]

The serial killer in Bits and Pieces is a woman-hating weirdo with mummy issues (is there any other kind?). Humiliated by his mother and her lover when he was a child, Arthur (S.E. Zygmont) has grown up more than a little cranky, the loner abducting attractive young blondes, tying them up in his torture dungeon, and cutting them into pieces, disposing of the body parts in dumpsters.

The remains of victim number seven are found by a bag lady (Elaine Bartolone) while rummaging through trash. Police Lieutenant Bob Carter (Brian Burt) publishes a sketch of the 'Jane Doe' in a local paper, which is positively identified by psych undergrad Rosie Talbot (Suzanna Smith) as being her missing friend Tanya (Sheila Lussier).

In a totally unethical move, Bob invites Rosie to the beach, which she accepts, the pair quickly developing romantic feelings for each other (an unlikely couple, you might think, but one look at Rosie's parents and you'll see that it runs in the family). Unfortunately for the loved up couple, Arthur is looking to add Rosie to his list of victims, having seen her the night he abducted Tanya.

Director Leland Thomas seems have a good grasp of what is required in such exploitative trash, his film boasting a down-and-dirty mean streak a mile wide, with plenty of T&A, blood and sadism as Arthur goes about his nefarious business. Zygmont is wonderful as the sweaty, twitchy psycho, and Smith is very good as final girl Rosie, looking suitably terrified once Arthur gets her to his home.

According to one of the other reviewers here on IMDb, the producers cut much of the gore that was shot for the film, which is a crying shame: more gore would have made this even more fun. Even so, there is still plenty for fans of sick cinema to enjoy, with a not-exactly-happy ending for Rosie: she survives her ordeal, but the same can't be said for her family and friends (another pal, Jennifer, is stabbed in the throat, her father is dealt a crushing blow, her mother is drowned in the bath, and, in a shocker of an ending, Bob is shot and killed). Downer!

6.5/10. rounded up to 7 for IMDb.

Good for what it is, limited by its own producers.

[SCanfield20 · 10/10 · 12 September 2007]

The director, Leland Thomas, taught film-making at the film school I went to for a few years, and the entire first quarter of school he teaches new students a basics of production class, and the entire time he tells all his students that at the end of the quarter he'll show everyone how not to make a movie, and eventually, sometimes grudgingly, shows Bits and Pieces. He even admits it's a grandly terrible film, but for his students and the people that know Lee, this movie is fantastic. Sure, it was made for the sole purposes of making money, and eventually cut down by the producers so the cut that is circulating (not sure where, he said it might get a DVD release someday soon) is devoid of pretty much all the gore they shot for the film. Not that gore would save this mess of a film, but if you know Lee and the type of heartfelt guy he is, you can't solely blame him for making this movie terribly. Still, when I finally saw it, it was a funny movie, and I enjoyed watching it, if only for the reasons stated above, and it's a lot better when you're told for 3 months how terrible it is going to be, and all the reasons why. Definitely a great learning experience I must say.

Pretty goreless for a slasher/gore flik

[pnauman9 · 14 June 2003]

This was pretty pathetic. A loser nutcase abused by his mom goes nuts and kidnaps women and kills them. There is virtually no gore in this so-called slasher film. There is no on screen violence at all. There are some close ups of womens breasts while they're tied up before he kills them, that's about the only worthwhile thing I can say about this waste of time.