Body Parts (1991)

User Rating:

4.9/10   

Director:

Eric Red

Writers (WGA):

Pierre Boileau (novel) &
Thomas Narcejac (novel) ...

Release Date:

2 August 1991 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

It will scare you... to pieces.

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Serial Killer | Foreign Language Adaptation | Amputation | Decapitation | Severed Head

Awards:

2 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Jeff Fahey	...	Bill Chrushank
Lindsay Duncan	...	Dr. Agatha Webb
Kim Delaney	...	Karen Chrushank
Zakes Mokae	...	Detective Sawchuck
Brad Dourif	...	Remo Lacey
John Walsh	...	Charley Fletcher
Paul Ben-Victor	...	Ray Kolberg
Peter Murnik	...	Mark Draper
Nathaniel Moreau	...	Bill Jr.
Sarah Campbell	...	Samantha
Andy Humphrey	...	Ricky
Lindsay Merrithew	...	Roger
James Kidnie	...	Detective Jackson
Arlene Duncan	...	Nurse #1
Allan Price	...	T.V. Reporter #1

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Netherlands:16 | Australia:R | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R (certificate #31110) | Australia:MA (cable rating) | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Company:

Vista Street Entertainment

Trivia:

Advertisements for the movie were cancelled in Wisconsin due to the Dahmer killings.

Goofs:

Continuity: While set in New York City the door shields on the NYPD police cars randomly change from correct NYPD crests to generic 'Metro Police' crests.

Quotes:

Remo Lacey: Just listen to what your arm's saying to you, man.

Movie Connections:

Remake of Orlacs Hände (1924)

Soundtrack:

Star Bar Jam

gory and a bit predictable, but pretty good

A prison psychiatrist and psychology professor is in a bad car accident in which he loses his right arm. His wife is given the opportunity to let Dr. Webb graft a new arm on him. While he is being sedated, he appears to see a decapitation. There are a number of injuries, dismemberments, and shootings in the movie, and they're all pretty gory, though the movie is not wall-to-wall gore.

Somehow he doesn't notice, nor does his wife, that he has a tattoo on his new arm until a patient points it out to him. This makes him want to learn where the arm came from, along with the fact that he is having nightmares, and some violent impulses.

In the novel this was very loosely based on, the main character is not a person who's gotten a graft. He's a person who's been appointed to keep an eye on people who've gotten grafts, to see that they are doing well (or not). There are seven people in all who have received them (there aren't as many in the film). They all know almost from the start who their parts came from originally. The new parts look better than their old ones, while in the film the arm looks like it was taken from an old corpse, even though it wasn't. They don't have violent impulses, but are exposed to new temptations. For example, the man who gets a new stomach, among other things, eats voraciously since he coincidentally had indigestion before his car accident. The first signs of danger are weird obsessive ideas that some of them get, and also when one of them kills himself.

The movie is so different than the novel that it has to be enjoyed on its own terms, and it can be. The novel The Hands of Orlac is similar in some respects, and the movie Mad Love similarly murders the novel, though it can be enjoyed on its own terms too.

I've read the novel this was based on, so I'll mention