Artivels Undescribable Perfection

Raetsonwe Redundant and unnecessary.

Keeley Coleman The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

trashgang Ahaaa, this is a special entry in the Masters Of Horrors series. There's almost no blood to spot and still it's pure horror made only by characterisation and especially done by Michael Moriarty who plays the trucker. The way he acted levitates this episode to a higher level.Even as the story is simple and the ending is predictable I still enjoyed it. When a bus breaks down on a highway two serial killers are trying to help them but they don't know that they are both serial killers. It's a game of hunting down and being hunted until the end. Sure I said that there's almost no blood and that's correct, only the two in the van are really slaughtered, one sliced and the girl being tortured and skinned alive in a motel room. But it surely never becomes gory. This really needs the characters and it really worked out fine. One of the better episodes.Gore 1/5 Nudity 0,5/5 Effects 3/5 Story 4/5 Comedy 0/5

boudreas Welcome to serial killer alley, which is above tornado alley and below the snow belt. Too bad Fairuza Balk has to do these jobs now that she has been stricken with the ravages of age. The two serial killers are not very unique, at first I though they were working together. They both seem to waste their time talking, and assuring their prey is safe, then kill them. The cowboy cut up what could have been some great TnA opportunity, cause she flashes a nice up skirt, but it was the pg 13 kind. The ending was very predictable, as everyone you encounter in serial killer alley is well you figured it out a serial killer. I gave this one 4 tits out of 10 because Fairuza Balk was in it and the acting was alright. Thank god they killed that fake ass lizard lip blond right from the get go.

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.

Paul Andrews Masters of Horror: Pick Me Up is set in the middle of nowhere somewhere in America, a bus breaks down on the only road for miles & it's passengers are stranded. Stacia (Fairuza Balk) decides to walk to the nearest town, Bridy (Laurene Landon) & Danny (Malcolm Kennard) accept a lift from a trucker named Jim Wheeler (Michael Moriarty) while the bus driver (Tom Pickett) & his two remaining passengers Marie (Kristie Marsden) & her boyfriend Deuce (Peter Benson) wait at the bus for the repair team. However things aren't what they seem as Wheeler is in fact a serial killer & he quickly becomes aware of another serial killer named Walker (Warren Kole) working on his patch after finding the dead bodies of the bus driver, Marie & Deuce. Jim doesn't like competition & their paths cross as they battle it out to be the one who kills Stacia...This American Canadian co-production was episode 11 from season 1 of the hit-and-miss Masters of Horror TV series, directed by Larry Cohen I thought Pick Me Up was OK but nothing special. The script based on his own short story by David J. Schow actually makes for quite a dull 55 minutes, I'm sorry but I couldn't really get into the story at all. The prospect of two serial killers facing off against each other is a decent idea but here they operate so openly & are so over-the-top that I couldn't take it seriously. I felt the character's were pretty poor, the dialogue was cheesy at times although I must admit I did like the twist ending which unusually I never saw coming. To it's credit at less than an hour in length it moves along at a reasonable pace even if it is a bit predictable & dull it's probably worth a watch if you can catch it on TV for free.Veteran director Cohen does OK although this is far from the best looking or most stylish of Masters of Horror episodes, there is a distinct lack of scares, excitement or tension & not much atmosphere either. The gore is pretty restrained in Pick Me Up as well, there's a bit of blood, a dead snake & a scene with a woman having had some of her skin sliced off earlier.This is generally well made & looks better than a lot of made-for-cable TV rubbish with decent production values. The acting is alright & includes Michael Moriarty & Laurene Landon who have each both previously starred in several Cohen films.Pick Me Up is an OK time waster, at least it doesn't go on for that long & is worth a watch if you like the Masters of Horror TV series or have interest in the genre, other's however may want to skip it.