Body Parts Year: 1991 Director: Eric Red Written by: Eric Red, Norman Snider Threat: Mad Scientist Weapon of Choice: Pistol Based upon: novel - Choice Cuts - Pierre Boileau & Thomas Narcejac IMDb page:

Other movies in this series:
None

The tyranist's thoughts
I rented this on the high recommendation of a friend. He thought it was funny. I think I've seen a lot more horror than he has and am a little more jaded. I found this to be a pretty sad combination of the Frankenstein myth with a story I've seen in multiple places about attached body parts that 'infect' the host with the former owners anima. I don't care for that story normally (since it seems exceptionally stupid in concept and almost always stupid in execution) and this is no different.
The movie does have Kim Delaney going for it, but she is mostly an incidental character. Brad Dourif plays his normal already psychotic self even though he isn't quite the insane one in this movie. And as much as I love Lawnmower Man (yes, I am aware that I am the only one) Jeff Fahey is pretty terrible here. He lacks the suave sophistocation that they try to inject into his character and appears to be having a mild heart attack every time he is supposed to be getting excited about something. The main doctor, played by pretty able Lindsay Duncan was probably the best character and she was shallower than the kiddie pool at the local park.
I haven't read the original novel and doubt that this will make me seek it out. See this if you must. It had pretty high production values and you may see something in it that I didn't, but I would recommend that it be left on the shelf. In fact, if you're looking at it anyway, look to the left a little and you'll probably see Body Bags which features a similar story starring Mark Hamill. Rent it instead. At least you'll get a variety.
Posted: February 23, 2000

Rish Outfield's reviews
I had seen this flick on many a video store shelf over the years, and never been very interested in renting it. But the last time I saw tyranist, his new best friend raved about how good this film was, so I thought I'd give it a try. Had I looked over tyranist's not-so-enthusiastic review before I grabbed it, I probably never would've seen it.
But you know, I didn't think this one was all that bad.
From the director of Near Dark, a movie pretty much everybody on earth loves except me (I'm the same way with The Lost Boys, I just can't explain it), comes Body Parts, a movie with a pretty impressive car accident scene, and not a lot more going for it. The idea of an evil person's body part taking over has been done many times, but hey, there must be something to it if people keep making movies about it.
Jeff Fahey is an odd-looking man. The concept wasn't too bad, and like tyranist said, Kim Delaney is in it (mmmmm, delaney). Brad Dourif, who I used to despise, I liked quite a bit here. Also, there is a truly disgusting part involving the fate of his character, and anything truly disgusting is at least interesting, if not worth seeing.
I just dug the surreality of three guys getting body parts from the same donor, and then getting together in a bar and talking about it.
This is one of the rare cases in which tyranist has hated a movie and I sort of liked it. But I will admit to having fast-forwarded two sections of the film so I could get it back to the video store in time. Sorry, folks.
Posted: July 8, 2004

Total Skulls: 10

Sequel
Sequel setup
Rips off earlier film
Horror film showing on TV/in theater in movie
Future celebrity appears
Former celebrity appears
Bad title
Bad premise
Bad acting
Bad dialogue
Bad execution
MTV Editing
OTS
Girl unnecessarily gets naked
Wanton sex
Death associated with sex
Unfulfilled promise of nudity
Characters forget about threat
Secluded location
Power is cut
Phone lines are cut
Someone investigates a strange noise
Someone runs up stairs instead of going out front door
Camera is the killer
Victims cower in front of a window/door
Victim locks self in with killer
Victim running from killer inexplicably falls
Toilet stall scene
Shower/bath scene
Car stalls or won't start
Cat jumps out
Fake scare
Laughable scare
Stupid discovery of corpse
Dream sequence
Hallucination/Vision
No one believes only witness
Crazy, drunk, old man knows the truth
Warning goes unheeded
Music detracts from scene
Death in first five minutes
x years before/later
Flashback sequence
Dark and stormy night
Killer doesn't stay dead
Killer wears a mask
Killer is in closet
Killer is in car with victim
Villain is more sympathetic than heroes
Unscary villain/monster
Beheading
Blood fountain
Blood spatters - camera, wall, etc.
Poor death effect
Excessive gore
No one dies at all
Virgin survives
Geek/Nerd survives
Little kid lamely survives
Dog/Pet miraculously survives
Unresolved subplots
"It was all a dream" ending
Unbelievably happy ending
Unbelievably crappy ending
What the hell?