SLASHERS ON 35MM: Pieces (1982) + Blood Rage (1987)

PIECES (dir. Juan Piquer Simón, 1982)

Produced by legendary sleaze peddler Dick Randall at the height of the 1980s slasher cycle, Juan Piquer Simón’s fan-favorite gorefest plunders the depths of depravity in serving up a delirious feast of queasy effects, outrageous dialogue, and chainsaw-assisted carnage. When a mysterious killer begins dismembering coeds across a Boston college campus, a police detective enlists an enterprising student to help uncover the culprit before another victim becomes part of the murderer’s increasingly grotesque human jigsaw puzzle. A Spanish-American co-production masquerading (with varying degrees of success) as an American slasher, Pieces gleefully disregards logic, restraint, and good taste in pursuit of one jaw-dropping set piece after another. Simultaneously vicious and absurd, Pieces occupies that rarefied realm of exploitation cinema where absurdity and inspiration become virtually impossible to distinguish.

Format: 35mm

Print Note: Pieces will be projected on a gore-geous 35mm print, courtesy of Grindhouse Releasing.

BLOOD RAGE (dir. John Grissmer, 1987)

There are only a handful of Thanksgiving-themed slashers, and John Grissmer’s stupefyingly bizarre Blood Rage may be the most deliriously entertaining of the lot. Years after one twin brutally murders a teenager at a drive-in and pins the crime on his innocent brother, the innocent twin’s escape from a mental institution brings both siblings back together just in time for Thanksgiving while sending their increasingly distraught mother (Louise Lasser) spiraling toward a holiday breakdown. What follows is a gleefully deranged helping of mistaken identities, family dysfunction, gratuitous nudity, and spectacularly grisly gore effects, all unfolding amid the swimming pools and condominium walkways of suburban Florida. Alternately nasty, hilarious, and inexplicably strange, Blood Rage serves up everything a disreputable holiday slasher should, proving that cranberry sauce isn’t the only thing best served red.

Format: 35mm

Print Note: Blood Rage will be projected from a rare low-fade print with beautiful color under its release title, Nightmare at Shadow Woods. Print courtesy of Exhumed Films.

SCHEDULE

Introduction: 7:30 PM

Pieces (1982): 7:40 PM

Intermission (15 minutes) + Trailers: 9:10 PM

Blood Rage (1987): 9:35 PM

End of Show: 11:00 PM

TICKETS

Adults: $22

Senior/Student/Military/Veteran: $19

Members: $16

Designer/Director/Visionary Members: $5