Pick Me Up
Year: 2005
Director: Larry Cohen
Written by: David J. Schow
Threat: Psychopaths
Weapon of Choice: Cargo Door
Based upon: story - David J. Schow
Color/B&W/3D: Colour
Language: English
Country of Origin: USA
IMDb page: 
Pick Me UpYear: 2005 Director: Larry Cohen Written by: David J. Schow Threat: Psychopaths Weapon of Choice: Cargo Door Based upon: story - David J. Schow Color/B&W/3D: Colour Language: English Country of Origin: USA IMDb page: |
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Other movies in this series:
Please see the Masters of Horror series page.
The tyranist's thoughts
I'm at a loss to explain why we didn't give this one a Bad Title Skull. It's bad. I'd fix it by adding
the Skull, but something in me is insisting that I honour our original Skulls. Alas.
A bus breaks down at the side of a lonesome stretch of road, but don't worry, there isn't just
one psychopath working the territory but two, one on foot and one in a truck. Will our hapless
victims make it out alive?
At first I thought this had a lot in common with one of my more favourite of the Masters of
Horror episodes, "Incident
on and off a Mountain Road", but it did diverge eventually and while it wasn't as strong
an entry in the series, it was pretty good. Rish will probably disagree, just because he hates
Fairuza Balk the way I hate needles, but she isn't such a distraction for me.
The plot is pretty straightforward and the two psychopaths work through the cast efficiently
and without much consequence. Once it comes down to the final hunt and battle, it is effective
even if the movie is never scary.
There is a bit of a twist ending that I resented, but I can forgive it just because the scenery was
so great and the pace of the plot so well executed.
If every episode of Masters of Horror were as good as this one or better, we'd have a lot to
celebrate. As it stands, this is middle of the pack, but well worth the time spent watching it.
Posted: March 12, 2007
Rish's Reviews
I have been very lucky as far as "Masters of Horror" goes. The first one I saw was
Cigarette Burns, which
was most triumphant. In fact, the first half-dozen episodes I saw, I enjoyed (even
Sick Girl, which tyranist abhorred).
So I love the series.
Tyranist picked up Pick Me Up and Dance
of the Dead this week. Had I seen this little double-feature first, I doubt I
ever would've reviewed another "Masters of Horror" installment.
I can't really express how much I hated this film. Dueling serial killers is a pretty clever
idea, and I could see that they were trying to keep it somewhat light, in the blackest of
black comedy sorts of ways.
But I found it supremely foul. I guess you could say I gave it my lowest blow: I fell
asleep halfway through.
Even worse, I completely forgot to send this review to tyranist, and it's just sat for months,
with me too apathetic to finish it up and send it his way.
Yes, I do truly hate Fairuza Balk, but I don't imagine liking this one had it starred somebody
else. Does it say more about this film or about me, that I so detested Pick Me Up
and so loved Hostel, two movies about slow torture
and wholesale slaughter without consequence?
Posted: October 21, 2007
Total Skulls: 9
| Sequel | ||
| Sequel setup | ||
| Rips off earlier film | ||
| Horror film showing on TV/in theater in movie | ||
| Future celebrity appears | ||
| Former celebrity appears | ||
| Bad title | ||
| Bad premise | ||
| Bad acting | ||
| Bad dialogue | ||
| Bad execution | ||
| MTV Editing | ||
| OTS |  |
|
| Girl unnecessarily gets naked | ||
| Wanton sex | ||
| Death associated with sex | ||
| Unfulfilled promise of nudity | ||
| Characters forget about threat | ||
| Secluded location | |
|
| Power is cut | ||
| Phone lines are cut | ||
| Someone investigates a strange noise | ||
| Someone runs up stairs instead of going out front door | ||
| Camera is the killer | ||
| Victims cower in front of a window/door | ||
| Victim locks self in with killer | ||
| Victim running from killer inexplicably falls | |
|
| Toilet stall scene | ||
| Shower/bath scene | |
|
| Car stalls or won't start | |
|
| Cat jumps out | ||
| Fake scare | ||
| Laughable scare | ||
| Stupid discovery of corpse | ||
| Dream sequence | ||
| Hallucination/Vision | ||
| No one believes only witness | ||
| Crazy, drunk, old man knows the truth | ||
| Warning goes unheeded | ||
| Music detracts from scene | ||
| Death in first five minutes | ||
| x years before/later | ||
| Flashback sequence | ||
| Dark and stormy night | |
|
| Killer doesn't stay dead | ||
| Killer wears a mask | ||
| Killer is in closet | ||
| Killer is in car with victim | ||
| Villain is more sympathetic than heroes | |
|
| Unscary villain/monster | ||
| Beheading | |
|
| Blood fountain | ||
| Blood spatters - camera, wall, etc. | ||
| Poor death effect | ||
| Excessive gore | ||
| No one dies at all | ||
| Virgin survives | ||
| Geek/Nerd survives | ||
| Little kid lamely survives | ||
| Dog/Pet miraculously survives | ||
| Unresolved subplots | ||
| "It was all a dream" ending | ||
| Unbelievably happy ending | ||
| Unbelievably crappy ending | ||
| What the hell? | |