User reviews

Saw this in the horror section of video store and it looked worth a rental. It was. A poor young German chick and her newlywed husband go on their honeymoon in New Mexico. The lady innkeeper is way too friendly, so you sort of suspect something is up with her. Later, an ambulance appears out of nowhere and kidnaps the hubby away. The wife pleads to the innkeeper for help, but now the innkeeper claims she doesn't know the wife, even though she just rented her a room! In a bizarre twist (yet it works well), the wife ends up hitching a ride with Sierra Bill, a good ol' boy trucker. So you got this redneck Texan helping a German student who's looking for her Princeton husband. Anyway, they come up with a pretty cool plan. It gets suspenseful and a bit confusing, but all is explained in the end. Jutta Spiedel surprised me as a really good actress, considering I did not know her work before this film. Good stuff

I saw this for the first time recently n got pleasantly surprised.

It is a good thriller marred by its length.

It has some flaws but since its a low budget made for tv stuff, certain things can b ignored.

The scene where the lead actress runs here n there, boards a train n then stares at the hospital n sits in a corner was uncalled for.

It cud have been a good road trip thriller but the pacing killed it.

Nevertheless, it has a lil bit of suspense n the characters are believable.

The lead actress Jutta Speidel looks like a cross between Sissy Spacek n Aj Applegate.

Her nudity is one of the best part.

Drive-in 50-pack is where I got this film, under the name "Spare Parts". I didn't think I would like it but the movie actually pulled me in - got me interested fairly fast and held it to the end of the film - I was surprised.

It's a weird film! A couple gets married, goes on honeymoon, stays at the honeymoon motel, here comes the ambulance then complete strangeness of the film begins. The more of the film you watch, the stranger it gets.

The movie will have you asking questions: Why didn't she go to the police right from the start? Why did truck driver Bill help her (he never answered her nor the viewer's question)? Why did the truck drivers help her? When the police did get involved, why didn't she tell them there ARE other witnesses - the truck drivers? What happened to the ambulance drivers at the end of the film - were they caught?

Dr.Jackson is creepy - even when she decides to turn herself into the police and helps the girl she's just plain creepy!

This is not a great film but it is an interesting one. It takes some twists and turns that are unexpected - it's not a slasher film like I thought it was going to be. It's not perfect - it's got it's flaws - but it is worth watching for a 1970s made for TV horror-thriller.

6/10

The opening scenes of this film are pure cheesecake with soul music, people frolicking through the street and dogs trying to grab wedding bouquets. There's some cheesy dubbing as well. It eventually settles down into a more serious affair after a sinister ambulance abducts one half of a honeymooning couple. The girl, Monica, gets away and eventually garners the help of trucker Bill and his trucking buddies in finding out where the ambulance took her husband.

This is a pretty good film which kept me on edge throughout, as the characters were really likable. Good cinematography and a moody score help it along, and the story here is intriguing... certainly a hell of a lot moreso than the somewhat similar 1980 piece of garbage, Cardiac Arrest. If you find a copy, give it a look.

The title made me cringe thinking this would be a gory mess of a movie with a gory mess of a plot. I decided to give it a try and was pleasantly surprised by it.

The story is about newlyweds, both grad students so they're broke and end up staying at a cheap motel because they can afford it. Not long after that, the husband is abducted in an ambulance, the wife flees in terror and ends up with a truck driver who picks her up. The two try to find answers.

This is a long movie for the genre but it moves pretty good. The story is entirely from the perspective of Monica, the newlywed wife and we are wondering about the other characters, their motives and who to dare trust under the circumstances.

There are some plot holes like why didn't she go to the police immediately the two times just about anyone else would have. After thinking about it I don't feel like those were major plot holes under the circumstances in the story. No one would believe what she was claiming about people being abducted and the motel owner would just lie about seeing them. The movie flat out acknowledges the plot hole of why Bill, the truck driver does as much as he did when she asks him why he was doing this. He had no reply to her question and we don't know why either.

A good movie. I never saw a good print of it but I enjoy it anyway. You will be disappointed if you expect this to be a gory horror flick. It really isn't a horror movie as much as it is a psychological thriller.

For those that wonder, the longer version of this movie adds one detail which is implied anyway in the shorter version. You get to see Monica and Bill go to New York as part of Bill's initial delivery when they first meet. He picked her up while she was fleeing her captors and he continuesd to do his truck driving job but with her along for the ride. The shorter version omits just that one trip so you don't miss much beyond some character development.

Going by the title, you would be forgiven for thinking this film would be some sort of grisly slasher; but actually (and disappointingly) it's a subdued made-for-TV thriller that bears more than just a passing similarity to Michael Crichton's 1978 film, Coma. The film is directed by Rainer Erler and is a German made film; although it takes place in Texas, USA. Being a TV film, you've got to expect it not to be heavy on the gore and special effects; and this is the case. Spare Parts relies on the plot and its characters to remain thrilling...and unfortunately it doesn't really pull it off effectively. The plot focuses on a newlywed couple having their honeymoon in Texas. They stop at a motel and meet the friendly proprietor; shortly before an ambulance swings by and abducts the husband. The girl goes back to the motel for help; but the proprietor insists she's never seen her before. The woman ends up getting a lift with a trucker, who helps her get to the bottom of the mystery.

This plot has been done several times; not only in the aforementioned Coma, but also in later efforts such as Larry Clark's The Ambulance. The film feels very cheap throughout, and never manages to get past its TV movie status. At one hundred and five minutes, it really has to be said that the film is too long also; and it becomes less than interesting before the end. The central character; a young German woman is fairly likable, although despite the long running time; we don't really get to know a great deal about her. The plot certainly could have been very interesting, but not a great deal is made of it. There's very little suspense in the film either and that doesn't exactly help the film when it comes to the excitement stakes. To its credit, however, the plot does at least make sense throughout and the film does feature an ending that wraps everything up nicely. Spare Parts is not an easy film to find and to be honest I wouldn't recommend anyone bothers to track it down - Coma is (slightly) better anyway!

This movie is centered on Roswell, New Mexico. Most folks know about Roswell including some folks in Germany.

A married couple make their way to Roswell for a honeymoon. The wife is a bit wiser than her husband and finds a dry creek waterway to elude capture.

Abductions is what this 1979 movie is about. Abductions and Roswell! The German actors speak in good American accents excepting the female who plays a foreigner.

She flags down a trucker who quickly fears her because of her wacky news yet she does the convincing!

From Roswell this movie goes to New York City where the foreigner continues her mistrust of people claiming to be the law.

If you have a DVD of this movie and use your computer to play it, you might encounter freezes and skips. That could be because this movie is a foreign movie.

To try and correct the play problem, right click on start then click device manager. Click DVD/CD-ROM drives.

A box will appear with tabs. Click DVD region. A list of nation's follow. You'll want to click Germany. If that doesn't correct the problem, it means you'll have to play the DVD on a DVR or DVD player. This movie is a German movie. Remember that Roswell is at issue! They give you hints at what might be going in there!

In yet another case of 'great idea, shame about the execution' this drama/thriller about secret organ dealers kidnapping unsuspecting people to harvest their body parts might've been much better with a more cohesive plot, much less filler (like, for instance, a five minute run through New York for some reason) and well-developed characters.

Oh, and the dubbing is TERRIBLE. Sheesh. 4/10

An ambulance abducts the man from a honeymooning couple shortly after they checked into a cheap motel. His wife Monica follows the trace from the ambulance with the help of a friendly trucker named bill.

This production was released shortly after "Coma" (1978) and has a similar approach. This basic concept was picked up again with "The Island" (2005).

Filmed in the U. S. this is a suprisingly well produced TV movie, that could have been run in theaters at his time. Action, speed and pace are a slower than today, but it is still has suspense. A nude scene may be the reason for its rating, blood & violence are harmless.

I was drawn to watch this movie in part because it was a foreign production filmed and set in America, and that promised that the movie would have a unique angle. The portrayal of America is surprisingly balanced - there is a deep and deadly conspiracy in the story, but the movie does give us plenty of innocent and helpful American characters at the same time. Unfortunately, this interesting balance is about the only good thing I can say about the movie. Certainly I can't blame the filmmakers for the atrocious dubbing, but they are guilty of other things. At 105 minutes, the movie is way too long (and slow) for its own good. Along this tedious journey are some real unbelievable plot elements like the fact the protagonists don't consider contacting the police until very late into the story. The movie is also directed with no sense of style, with no tension or any great feelings coming from the movie at any moment - it always feel flat. It's capped off with one of the worst opening/closing credits songs I have ever heard in a motion picture. There is the occasional hint of a decent (though not original) thriller here, but as a whole it simply does not work.