"Spare Parts" and "Fleisch" are the same films. Mike and Monica spend their honeymoon at a dive motel in New Mexico. Mike is absconded in an ambulance while Monica gets away. With the help of a truck driver...The title "Spare Parts" takes the mystery out of the film. The spare parts type film was popular in the 70's and this one was perhaps the least in the group. Available on 50 DVD packs.Guide: nudity (Jutta Speidel)

"Fleisch" or "Spare Parts" is a German horror/thriller movie from 1979 written and directed by Rainer Erler. He is in his 80s now and has not made new films in a long time. The 1970s were probably his most successful decade and you may find more semi-famous film by him from that time. Just like this one here. It features Jutta Speidel as the main character and she is still fairly known here in Germany. She is in her early 60s now and looking at stuff like "Um Himmels Willen" I don't think she is a particularly talented actress or even a German Mia Farrow. And her performance in these 110 minutes, during which she is in almost any scene, does not change my opinion either. I won't go into detail about the other actors as I don't know any of them, but let me say that there is a clean structure in this film. Early on, the husband plays a major role (just like a motel lady), then a helpful truck driver and finally a dubious doctor. I think I definitely preferred the first half, maybe even first two thirds of the film. The final sequence was slightly underwhelming, but I don't think that was Charlotte Kerr's fault. They really did a lot wrong with Dr. Jackson. They build her up as some kind of main antagonist, then she is suddenly a useful helper and then they rush in her death eventually. It's just too much in too little time and it does not feel authentic anymore, just shocking for the sake of it and this is actually disappointing because early on the film manages to shock a lot through subtlety as well. The entire premise was very well executed early on and you could even guess there were supernatural forces behind the ambulance car driving the helpless victims away. I also think Erler did a great job with the camera work here and the locations too that fit well in terms of tone and atmosphere. So with a better ending it may have been a great film even, but it's still a good one. The last 30-35 minutes aren't as bad that they could actually destroy the film and I can also see why they were the way they were. Organ transplants were a much bigger and much more controversial back in the 1970s than they are today, so maybe you can't really blame the film that it has not aged as well as it could have. But wait, maybe it has. The suspense from early on is something that many filmmakers these days can only dream of when it comes to their talent and movies. I have seen other stuff by Erler that was also about a darker take on reality and did not like some of it. But I certainly enjoyed this movie here. Better lead actress (then again it's more of a writer director movie and Speidel doesn't do anything really wrong) and better last half hour and this could have been a stunning achievement. I recommend checking it out.

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.

They simply made it less predictable.The story concerns a pair of newlyweds terrorized by organ thieves. When the groom is kidnapped by a pair of sinister ambulance drivers the bride runs off shrieking then spends six days with a kindly trucker before thinking to rescue her husband. Why didn't she go to the police? Why, later in NYC did she just sit and stare at the hospital where said hubby was being held instead of doing something? Why did the song that opens the movie make my ears bleed in the beginning and yet by the end had me singing along? Not sure I have answers but somehow it all worked, the story itself made an odd sort of sense and the characters pulled me right along with them on their madcap journey.Visually bleak with the film makers choosing the grimmest shots possible of New Mexico and NYC it's worth looking for, give it a try.