Spare Parts

Spare Parts is a German flick (though it takes place in America) with a title that actually appears to translate to “Flesh.” It's about a couple of newlyweds who check into a rent-by-the-hour motel which is actually a front for an organ theft ring. The motel owner drugs the patrons then an ambulance picks up the poor unwitting donors never to be seen again. Only this couple is interested in doing what couples tend to do on honeymoons and therefore avoid getting drugged. That's not going to stop these organ grinders; Mike gets nabbed anyway, but Monika gets away.

Monika gets picked up by Bill, a truck driver who feels compelled to help the poor girl. They set in motion a plan to infiltrate the organization and save Mike if he's still alive. But if the pair of heroes gets caught they could end up under the knife themselves.

The beginning of the movie starts out well. The setup is far-fetched but entertaining. The motel and ambulance are mysterious, the nabbing of Mike is freaky, and the eventual revelation of why they want Mike is chilling. Too much of the unfolding plot doesn't make good sense, though. Monika and Bill's first meeting is dull and unnatural. I guess Monika's general reaction to some of these events is to become withdrawn and almost catatonic, but it seems to me she would be more insistent on getting a hold of the police.

Of course, if she got the police involved she and Bill couldn't take it upon themselves to infiltrate the organization, but it takes them over a week to even begin looking for Mike. Seems like Monika would be a lot more stressed out than she is by that time.

Is everybody in this movie OBSESSED with coffee? Seriously it starts getting almost weird. And this comes from a guy who would battle ninjas and pirates any given morning just for his cup of java. In general the acting feels weird. It's like they are playing around rather than really trying to get into their roles. Maybe it's because it was shot in German. Overdub acting is rarely any good and older movies suffer more than most.

The pacing varies. I thought the beginning was pretty good and some of the other parts managed to get a little tension going, but a lot of it drags. From the point Monika meets Bill to the point that they finally start getting a plan in motion feels really tedious. Some other elements of the story may be hard to swallow, but I'll avoid talking about them so I don't spoil anything.

MORALITY:

The violence is pretty mild considering we're dealing with kidnapping and harvesting organs, but people do get shot, run over, and such though blood is minimal.

There is one sex scene with nudity and some partial male nudity as a guy is made to strip in order to humiliate him.

The strong language can be pretty bad at times.

SPIRITUALITY:

Greed takes on new levels when you're willing to cut out someone's innards to make a buck. Truck driver Bill is an odd one. He's putting his life on the line to help a girl he doesn't know for no reward. For the longest time I thought surely he must be doing this because he wants to get Monika out of those clothes and into a bed, but that never happens. Monika stays faithful to her husband, and Bill never wavers in his commitment to help. I think it would have been more realistic to give him a stronger motivation, but even so, there is something admirable in that strong a desire to help someone in need without expecting to get anything in return.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Spare Parts isn't awful though it does become tedious. It's worth checking out if you like suspenseful B movies but probably not worth it for anyone else.

#SpareParts