Spare Parts (Blu-ray Review)
SPARE PARTS is set in a godforsaken bar in the middle of nowhere where an all-girl band – Ms. 45 – rips the stage apart with their punk spirit. But their performance impresses an enthusiastic fan who lures the girls into a trap, sedates them, and starts…customizing them. Slowly they begin to gain consciousness and, in total shock, realize their arms have all been replaced with axes and chainsaws to fight gladiator-style in a junkyard arena owned by a sadistic “emperor,” forcing them into the battle of their lives with one prize in mind – their freedom. Spare Parts is available on Blu-ray NOW!
Film 
Ms. 45 is an all-female rock n roll band paying their dues out on tour to crank out a living. Amy (Michelle Argyris), Emma (Emily Alatalo), Cassy (Kiriana Stanton), and Jill (Chelsea Muirhead) make up the power group. They have a small and loyal following, but when a deranged fan sets events in motion, their lives will never be the same again.
They eventually find themselves prisoners of a demented madman known as The Emperor (Julian Richings), who fancies himself a modern-day Emperor of Rome. He and his followers use archaic speech and mutilate their captives by severing their limbs and replacing them with artificial weapon appendages. They are turned into “gladiators” and fight for survival in a junk yard arena.
To say that Spare Parts came out of left field would be an understatement. The cover art literally gives it away. We have a grindhouse – exploitation film and I thought it was pretty damn cool! It’s unapologetic and it does what it can with what little money it has. Everyone brings their A-game to the feature film and stretches every dollar as far as they can.
There are many instances featuring some insane and juicy kills. There were times where I felt like I needed to insert those funny reaction GIFS as someone got the back of their heads smashed with a giant mallet. The violence is far out there. The women work well together. They start of as a rock band before they have to all come together to escape the clutches of this psycho.
The one drawback, and I’m sure it was due to budgetary concerns, was that we don’t know where this arena and town is located in. There was no mention of year or how society operates. The film could have taken place in the present or future, but we don’t know. I understand about world building but if you can’t show it then describe it. With that being said, Spare Parts was fun film to watch on Blu-ray!
Video
Encoding: MPEG-4 AVC
Resolution: 1080p
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Clarity/Detail: Spare Parts looks great right out of the bat. The image looks stable and sharp. I did not detect any instances of contrast or sharpness inconsistencies.
Depth: The depth of field was terrific in that there were many scenes using green screen but you’d be hard pressed to tell where they were unless there was a continuity issue in the film itself.
Black Levels: Black levels were deep and inky, free of crush.
Color Reproduction: The color palette really shines on this Blu-ray release. The color wheel really expands on primaries and focuses on secondary colors. From the show at the bar to the junkyard arena, the wheel turns. Banding and pixilation were also not a concern.
Flesh Tones: Flesh tones were natural throughout the film.
Noise/Artifacts: Clean.
Audio 
Audio Format(s): English DTS-HD High Resolution 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
Dynamics: It should be noted that the Blu-ray is described as having full lossless DTS-HD MA 5.1, but has only DTS-HD High Resolution 5.1. Think of it as DTS lossy 5.1, sort of how Dolby Digital has Dolby Digital Plus. With that being said, this soundtrack really rocked! It’s very aggressive and it seeks to pound nails in your skull…in a good way.
Low Frequency Extension: The LFE subwoofer channel compliments the overall sound design, with some deep bass. There is no rattle or distortion on this low-end channel.
Surround Sound Presentation: The surround sound channels deliver some nice ambience. Once the women hit the arena all bets are off. There’s swinging of axes and swords along with buzzing chainsaws that will make you duck for cover.
Dialogue Reproduction: Dialogue levels are clean and intelligible.
Extras
Spare Parts on Blu-ray has some cool and hilarious special features. The audio commentary by the cast and director is hilarious. It’s funny that it also had to be done twice since there was some apparent technical difficulties according to director Andrew Thomas Hunt. The special effects make-up featurettes cool, as was the pre-visualization fight training videos. The interviews with the cast are also funny as hell.
- Commentary with Director and Cast
- Interviews with the Cast
- Fight Training Videos
- Behind the Scenes Photo Gallery
Summary
Spare Parts is a really cool grindhouse feature film that does not shy away from ultra-violence. The main cast is filled with strong women who you do not want to mess with unless you want to be on the receiving end of a guitar or chainsaw to the head. The Blu-ray has some stellar video/audio specs, and the special features are terrific. Spare Parts definitely recommended!
Spare Parts is available on Blu-ray!
ORDER NOW!
Gerard Iribe
Gerard Iribe is a writer/reviewer for Why So Blu?. He has also reviewed for other sites like DVD Talk, Project-Blu, and CHUD, but Why So Blu? is where the heart is. You can follow his incoherency on Twitter: @giribe
