Teringer An Exercise In Nonsense

ShangLuda Admirable film.

Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

Cujo108 Larry Cohen's entry into the series has to do with a broken down bus and the two serial killers who happen upon it. One of the killers is an old trucker (Cohen regular, Michael Moriarty) who kills anyone he gives a ride to, and the other is a hitchhiker (Warren Kole) who murders those who pick him up. Both set their sights on the lone remaining passenger (Fairuza Balk) of the bus, which leads to a battle of wills to see who can get her first.This story of two dueling serial killers is perfectly suited for the episodic "Masters of Horror" format, as it's merely a fun little idea with hardly enough material to sustain a feature length film. Throw in Cohen as the master behind this one, and I was expecting to sit back for one of the more entertaining episodes of the series. I have to say that I was disappointed. For starters, it had definite pacing issues. Yes, an hour-long episode dealing with an idea as threadbare as this one suffers from a poor pace. Some of the performances also really brought it down for me. All of the people from the bus (aside from the driver and Balk) were just terrible. Worst acting of the series from these folks, and I wanted them to die immediately so I wouldn't have to put up with it.Michael Moriarty was fantastic, though. He nailed his role, and Kole was quite good too. I loved the interactions between these two and how they would try to one up each other. We also get a decent helping of morbid humor, and the skinned alive girl was a surprisingly gruesome touch in an otherwise tame episode. As for atmosphere, it was sorely lacking here. Maybe I've just seen too much of British Columbia from this series, and I know it's for budgetary reasons, but I felt that the locations weren't very fitting for the story at hand. Cohen's direction is generally uninspired with the exception of an overhead pan of the rooms during the motel sequence. The absurd ending also fails, all plausibility going right out the window."Pick Me Up" needed less of the bus passengers and more of the killers facing off. At least it would've been a bit more entertaining that way. Two good performances, poor episode.

farfisamaniac Having had the misfortune of watching this, I can now say that I have no illusions about the decline of civilisation anymore. Where to start? Is it more disgusting that someone actually sat down and dreamt this filth up? Or the fact that the moronic Amerikan public laps this up? Gratuitous spilling of blood, murder, amoral stances, the glorifying of violence against women, it's all here, and all in the name of 'entertainment'. I found it rather fitting that a snake plays a role in here- it reminded me of the following Ambrose Bierce quote (a true master of horror, by the way- even for an American):"Its horrible head... the definition of the wide, brutal jaw, and the idiotlike forehead..." - what else can one say? The perfect description of the junk-food-scoffing, Coke-guzzling, brain-damaged Amerikan idiot who will enjoy this, and who provides the willing audience for Mr Cohen and his like. I would have given this a negative score, but sadly this is not possible. So one star, and 'awful' it will have to be, and that's a more than generous assessment.

hadar-m Indeed,this episode in "Masters of Horror" goes a good job. he makes a bit fun of himself,same way "Scream" made to herself,and we all remember "Scream",don't we?anyway- the acting was very convincing, and so was the horror. a young girl founds herself in a battle of two crazy men who will do anything to add her to their list of victims. Indeed,kinda like "Freddy vs. Jason".of curse,to add a bit more gore and horror, we found more Victims that must be killed. each one by a different killer,which makes the all thing very interesting."I drive,and he gets picked up" - thats how one of the killer's see himself and his little work buddy. they are both killers,but they are so very different.this one is a bit funny just like scream, a bit gory just like Freddy vs. Jason, but in the end- he brings something i and I'm sure none of you ever seen before. one killer against another one, and that-my dear friends-is something that worth an hour of your time.

wrlang Pick Me Up is from the Masters of Horror collection and is about a hitcher / road kill hugger that takes offense to a bus drivers desire to spice up the traveling by hitting animals trying to cross the road. The hitcher finds the bus and takes his anger out on the driver and those on board. A young girl in the bus just misses being hitcher bait several times until… A trucker also looking for the hitcher to exact some revenge comes into the act and uses the young girl as bait. Great acting makes this well directed film a big success in my mind as the pain of the actors comes through loud and clear. Not for anyone who doesn't like some blood and partial nudity.