I have watched this movie about 50 times and it never loses its impact. The recent movie "The Eye" was a poor wanna be of "Body Parts" and had not nearly as much suspense or fear of having someone else body part attached to you. Love "Body Parts" and would recommend it to any horror fan out there!

I hadn't seen this movie for quite some time, maybe not since it first came out. That in itself is kind of an interesting sidenote. You see, I live in Wisconsin(for all those legions out there who want to know all about me they can), and when this movie first hit theaters, it was almost immediately pulled. This movie had come out at almost the same time as the whole Jeffrey Dahmer story broke, and I suppose the powers that be thought it would be in bad taste to have a movie called Body Parts in the theater even though the film had zip to do with the Dahmer case.
Anyhow, the movie didn't live up to that kind of notoriety, but was a fun little piece of nonsense regardless. The central question asked throughout the movie is, "Where does evil live, in the flesh or the soul?" Sounds quite introspective, but it's rather silly to think that having an arm from a serial killer transplanted onto your body would make you dream and start to act violently. But that's the premise. Jeff Fahey is the recipient of the evil arm and he starts to look further into things when the goofy side effects begin. He finds a guy who also got the legs, and a painter who has the other arm, and tries to convince them that something weird is going on. The painter's new and celebrated paintings are images of the killer's victims, but he's selling more now than he ever did, so why should he care? Fahey's family starts to fall apart, and his doctor isn't the slightest bit helpful coz she's more interested in what she's accomplished with the operation. If that weren't enough, somebody is now stalking the trio and taking back their recently transplanted body parts. Who could it be??
Body Parts is about as good as I remember it being. It'll never be known as a horror classic, but the rather ludicrous idea is handled decently enough, and it does avoid being laughably bad. Fahey does a good job in a rare hero role, and Brad Dourif seems kinda underused as the painter with arm #2. It's worth your time, and decently priced so you won't have to pay an arm and a leg to see it(sorry about that, but I had to find a way to work that joke in there).

Even though his excellent contributions to schlock cinema have been recognized recently after being prominently cast by Robert Rodriguez in "Grindhouse" (as part of the ongoing Tarantino-Rodriguez Washed-up Cultural Icon Revitalization Program), blue-eyed wonder Jeff Fahey still needs all the exposure he can get.

Of course, Fahey never disappoints. Both the freakish hue of his eyes and his constant pseudo-deadpan demeanor always elevate both the B-movie and big-budget offal in which he's a fixture into something that's invariably watchable, even if it's still garbage. Perhaps the man's overwhelming Irishness lends to his notable screen presence.

"Body Parts" also benefits from the direction and script of Eric Red, who wrote the cult hit "The Hitcher" as a thesis while attending the AFI Conservatory. Somewhere between the point where Fahey's evil transplanted arm impels him to backhand his son and send him flying and a sequence wherein a zombiefied serial killer receives a shotgun blast to the brainpan in the film's penultimate scene, one realizes that Red wrote this silly thing for the purpose of having fun.

Put simply: "Body Parts" is a mess, but it's a very enjoyable mess. This goofy film also features a tractor trailer amputation, wife choking, and a barroom brawl that's initiated by transplanted serial killer limbs gone awry. Also: Brad Dourif and Zakes Mokae of "The Serpent and the Rainbow" fame ham it up in a couple of choice roles. If all that doesn't make you want to watch this, I don't know what ever could.

While watching Eric Red's 1991 film "Body Parts," I was reminded of a certain myth from the days of old. About a hundred years ago, people believed that you could look into a dead person's eyes and see the last image they saw before heading off to heaven imprinted on the retina. Cops loved this idea because they thought they could use the eyeballs to identify murderers. I'm not sure if anyone ever got a conviction using this technique. I hope not since the whole idea turned out to be total nonsense. What does this have to do with "Body Parts"? Nothing, really, except that the central idea in this film revolves around the concept of taking body parts--arms, legs, pretty much anything--off of dead people and transplanting them onto living flesh. Since eyeballs definitely fall into the body parts category, I just thought about that old myth. I don't remember if this idea shows up in the film. What I do remember, and what I do know, is that "Body Parts" doesn't need images imprinted on eyeballs to succeed. This film is a slam-bang good time that every horror fan ought to see once before they shuffle off this mortal coil.

What's the best thing going for "Body Parts"? Jeff Fahey. He stars as Bill Crushank, a criminal psychologist with a beautiful wife named Karen (Kim Delaney). Life's going pretty good for Bill until a terrible automobile accident lands him in the hospital. He's going to lose his arm, the doctors say, but hope is right around the corner when brilliant surgeon Agatha Webb (Lindsay Duncan) tries out something new and highly experimental on Crushank. She grafts a brand new arm on his body, runs him through a rehabilitation program, and sends him home as good as new. Yay! Sure, the scar looks sort of nasty, but having two arms is definitely better than having only one, so Billy is happy. Until he notices increasingly bizarre behaviors associated with the new arm, that is. Crushank starts having violence filled nightmares. Then the nightmare becomes reality when he starts abusing his kids and his wife. What's going on here? It seems Bill's new arm isn't all its cracked up to be. In fact, one could say that the source of these troubles comes directly from Bill's arm. All of the violence he inflicts on others flows through his new appendage. Obviously, something fishy is happening.

Crushank starts a personal crusade to find out the origin of the arm. He discovers that Dr. Webb's program involves using tissue and limbs from convicted criminals. In his case the arm came from a murderer he actually worked with, and somehow the evil soul of that killer still lives in the arm. Bill starts to wonder if others face similar difficulties, and his various investigations uncover an artist named Remo Lacey (Brad Dourif), Mark (Peter Murnik), and a couple of other sad souls unfortunate enough to receive transplants from the same killer. In Remo's case, his new arm allows him to paint very dark pictures that turn him into success. In Mark's situation, his new leg tends to act up when he's driving. Bill tries to bring these characters together in order to form a plan of action, but it's tough. It's especially difficult when the limbs take on a life of their own. One could say that the original owner wants his body parts back. How is that possible? Better to ask how anything in this movie is possible. On second thought, don't question the storyline. Everything flows along to its gory climax if you don't think too hard.

I loved "Body Parts" for numerous reasons. The first is Jeff Fahey. He's a great B-movie actor who usually turns in entertaining performances. They might not always be GOOD performances, but entertaining nonetheless. Then there's the weirdness that is Brad Dourif, and his role in this film is yet another one of his neurotic, spaced out performances we've come to know and love. The car accident and a later scene in which Fahey races down the streets in car while handcuffed to another man in ANOTHER car just add to the enjoyment factor. That bar fight is a hoot, too. Should I go on? Well, there's the bloody carnage. "Body Parts" is one messy movie, especially the gorefest at the end when Fahey's character confronts his destiny. Finally, I chuckled numerous times over the dialogue. An example: at one point, Fahey goes on a rampage about his arm, screaming and hollering at the top of his lungs. "Can't you see this arm is killing me?" he roars, and I roared with laughter right along with him. It's how he says it. Just watch the movie and you'll see. If you can't find anything to like in "Body Parts," you're not trying hard enough.

There are a few drawbacks, like the slow pace at the beginning of the movie before the sauce starts to flow, but nothing serious enough to prevent me from giving this masterpiece five stars. It's upsetting that Paramount released "Body Parts" to DVD with no extras. We don't even get a trailer on this disc. The movie screams for a full special edition treatment. I don't much like listening to commentaries anymore, but I would definitely give a listen to one for this movie if they could get Red, Fahey, and Dourif to say a few words. I'd also like to see a behind the scene documentary dealing with the special effects. They're very well done and very disgusting--as a horror film about transplantation and its evil consequences ought to be. So there you have it; you've absolutely no excuse not to run out and rent this baby right away. If you love horror, you'll love "Body Parts".

I haven't watched a whole lot of movies lately, but
this will tear you up...or apart. It's called "Body
Parts" starring Jeff Fahey and Kim Delaney (1988
vintage).

My e-mail bud Tina keeps telling me I shouldn't waste
my time with such drudge, but how can a movie miss
when it'a all about a psycho female surgeon that
disects the body of a man sentenced to death for
brutal murders? Disecting is one
thing...transplanting those parts on needy bodies is
another.

Worth your time? You bet. It's a modern-day
Frankenstein with excellent performances by Fahey and
Delaney.

Though it may be a little corny and unbelieveable, it
is quite entertaining and mindless...which is what we
need now and then.

In the horror genre, this one gets a 3.5....definitely
worth a Friday Flick rental.