Body Puzzle

Watching the late period work of Argento acolytes can be frustrating because of the obvious potential of works that nevertheless feel half-baked. Lamberto Bava’s Body Puzzle, Saovi’s The Devils Daughter and even Argento’s Trauma are classic Italian horror trying to escape the constrictions of lame scripts and the overwhelming influence of Hollywood cinema (thankfully Saovi had a chance to redeem himself with the excellent Cemetery Man). Unlike the perpetually uneven early 90s work of his contemporaries, Bava begins Body Puzzle strongly and proceeds to blow it with the sheer stupidity of the script.

Body Puzzle is an aesthetically unconventional giallo. It most closely resembles Argento’s Tenebrae, especially with regard to the lighting and cinematography. While I’ve also heard it compared to De Palma’s Body Double, I don’t see many connections other than the name. It seems particularly dubious when one considers the influence Argento had on De Palma, and that Bava worked directly with Argento on Tenebrae. Regardless of the inspiration, that film looks much more beautiful than one would expect from a 90s giallo.

The set-up of the film is quite good and might have served as an interesting connection between Cronenberg’s body horror and the giallo genre. The killer is revealed to murder organ reciprocates, ostensibly to reverse Frankenstein his friend who died in a motorcycle accident. Unfortunately this theme is never thoroughly explored, and while I hesitate to call it gimmicky, it requires a deeper exploration than the film is willing to provide.

Despite the unbelievable plot twists thrown their way, the actors do their best to respond believably, in a highbrow 80s giallo kind of way. There is occasional Hollywood inspired overacting on the part of the cops in the film, and a saxophone accompanied sex scene is awkward in all aspects, but for an Italian genre picture, it mostly understated.

Where Body Puzzle loses the plot is the sheer absurdity of the coincidences and the stupidity of the police, which is required to accept the final reveal. While 99% of the Giallo in existence are guilty of this, with the straightforward tone of the film, and it’s potential as an interesting genre-hybrid I couldn’t help but feel disappointed.

I would love to own this...