Sexy Ella Fitzroy appears to be having an incredibly crappy day, she’s bored out of her brains and living alone in a dilapidated mansion on the outskirts of Belgium with no family or friends in sight. The seductress takes to the street but is immediately kidnapped by a maniacal bank robber who proceeds to hold her hostage in her own home. The police show up and the criminal unwittingly makes demands (i.e. money, transportation etc.) that will take more time than he has bargained for. Soon the violent and sordid tale of Ms. Fitzroy is brought about.
The story is told through a series of flashbacks that involve sex, betrayal, murder and reincarnation. In an act of defiance Ella has killed her surrogate family and buried their mutilated bodies beneath the floorboards of the house. For no apparent reason, freshly killed blood will bring the dead relatives back to life as flesh eating zombies, and Ella knows of this ghastly phenomenon.
Ella does not want to be alone any longer and she begins murdering folks within the confines of the mansion and presto: instant family reunion. The film then comes alive with ample amounts of gut munching, blood and gore. Ella longs to be a part of the clan, but to her dismay, she is promptly shunned by her undead and unappreciative kin. In another act of contempt the heart-broken and delusional woman murders and kills her brethren a second time.
It all sounds so very promising, but sadly the film falls a might short of its creator’s aspirations. Some of the gory set pieces are believable while others are desperately unconvincing and of course the same can be said of the acting. The editing and pacing are at times slow which, much to the film producer’s chagrin, gives the viewer all the more opportunity to ponder the movie’s nonsensical premise and its visual short comings. “Parts of the Family” held great potential but it is a shame that it couldn’t have been more fully realized.
Apparently Lloyd Kaufman and Troma were not all that thrilled with the finished product either, as they opted to recut the movie. They also continued to poison the film with their patent brand of commentary along with added scenes of half-naked Tromettes masturbating and fat guys farting. This trivial and insulting version is included in the bonus section of this DVD as a 2nd feature. Of all the questionable films that Troma owns “Parts of the Family” should certainly be one of the last to receive this kind of treatment.
