The equally gore-drenched photographer towers over her, grunting in German.Ĭut to young Jade (Jade Risser) and her eleven-year-old friend Megan, running back from ditching their first day of school. But instead of illuminating desiccated corpses this photographic glare captures the still-bleeding body of a semi-nude girl, bound to a chair in a blood-spattered basement. With a short nod to Texas Chainsaw Massacre (to which the present film will pay homage more than once during the course of its ultra-violent running time) Murder Set Pieces opens up with the burning flare of a flashbulb. Bloodier, sexier, and better executed (literally) than most, like August Underground’s Mordum this is a uniquely disturbed picture put together in a remarkably effective manner, one absolutely guaranteed to affect every viewer in one way or another. As happened here with Nick Palumbo’s Murder Set Pieces. And anyone fortunate enough to receive new screeners of independent slasher films is well aware of how often those self-lauded efforts fall far short of their intended effect. Anybody who’s ever haunted a video rental shop knows how disappointing it is to pick up some obscure horror flick that promises all the goods and only delivers 90 minutes of steaming boredom.