WANNA GIVE ME A RIDE?? By: SASHA SLAUGHTER

Hey there horror fans! Sasha Slaughter here with you for yet another week of randomness. Why another week of random stuff you ask? It's simple really. Our blog, our rules. Got it?? Now that we've got that straightened out, let's get to some horror huh??

Today I'll be reviewing Masters of Horror episode 11: “Pick Me Up.”  It was directed by Larry Cohen and stars Fairuza Balk. Does that name sound familiar? Yeah. She was one of the actresses from the movie, “The Craft.” Kick ass movie. Anyway, so let's get to it huh??

On a two-lane highway, two serial killers are in the middle of a turf war: One is named Wheeler (Who picks people up in his truck and kills them) and Walker ( A hitchhiker who murders anyone that gives him a ride.) And Stacia, who is recently divorced and trying to get away from her problems.  She ends up in a battle of wits with the two killers.

                                                                                
A transport bus breaks down and the passengers are worried. Stacia decides to walk to the motel 14 miles down the road while the rest of the passengers stay behind. A trucker pulls over and asks if anyone would like a ride. Two out of the four passengers accept and Deuce and his girlfriend Marie decide to stay behind with the bus driver. The driver takes them to a truck stop to eat and rest for a while.

Meanwhile back at the bus, a man named Walker appears from the woods and asks the bus driver for a ride. The bus driver tells him the bus is broken down and Walker asks if he would have given him a ride had the bus not been broken down. The bus driver tells him yes he would. Just then the bus driver sees a dead snake inside of Walker's coat. Walker tells him that everyone is afraid of snakes and then strangles the bus driver with the dead snake. Walker goes into the bus where Deuce and Marie are and shoots poor Deuce.

Back at the truck stop, a passenger named Birdie asks to see what’s in the back of Wheeler's truck. He takes her to the back and a few minutes later they show him locking the truck and saying "Bye bye Birdie". Wheeler and Danny are back in the truck when it cuts to a scene of Birdie hanging in the back of the truck with chains around her neck. They stop at the bus to see if the passengers are still there. They get there and can't find anyone. Danny finds it odd that everyone would leave without their luggage. Just then, he opens the second luggage compartment and finds Deuce and the bus driver dead inside.

                                                                                  
Wheeler grabs Danny and puts his head under the door of the luggage compartment and slams it shut, decapitating him. The whole time this was happening, Walker was watching from the woods across from the bus. Wheeler hears Marie screaming and goes into the woods to find her tied to a tree, covered in barbed wire left to die. He tells her that he can't help her because she isn't his and walks away.

                                                                             
Walker flags down a van driven by  a stoner and his girlfriend. They offer him a ride. Shortly after he accepts the ride, Wheeler stops along the road and finds the body of the stoner with his throat slit. Meanwhile, Stacia found the motel and gets a room for the night.

Over in the next room, she can hear moaning and screaming so she tells them to keep it down. The scene then cuts to Walker and the stoner’s girlfriend. Lily, (the pot-heads girlfriend,) is tied to a bed, half naked and getting skinned alive. Wheeler pulls into the motel and gets a room next to Stacia's. She goes to the soda machine but it wont work and Walker appears out of nowhere and offers her a quarter and asks if he can fix anything in her room. She declines and is about to go back to her room when Wheeler appears. He asks her if she was with the bus that broke down and she asks how he knew that.

                                                                                                                                                              Wheeler and Walker realize that they have each been killing people that were from that same bus and a turf war had begun to get the rights to kill Stacia. She gets freaked out and goes back into her room. While in the bathroom she hears scratching noises on her window. Walker is outside using a knife on her window to try to get in. She gets scared and grabs her stuff and flees the room.

While walking along the road, Stacia stops to look at a billboard when Wheeler comes out from behind it. He tells her that he is a cop and offers her a ride in his truck. She accepts and he tells her that Walker is a poacher and likes to hurt people. He tells her to look in the glove compartment and everything will be explained. She leans down and he bangs her head against the dashboard and knocks her out.

                                                                               
She wakes up handcuffed and strapped in with the seatbelt. Wheeler is driving when he finds Walker standing in the middle of the road. He stops and Walker asks if he can have a ride. Wheeler tells him to get in and they begin playing head games with each other. They argue about who gets to kill Stacia and draw their guns, ready to kill Stacia and each other.

 Stacia, who is sitting in the middle, uses her foot to slam on the brakes and Walker and Wheeler fly out of the windshield. They lie still for a few moments before getting up and trying to get to the cab to kill Stacia. They begin fighting each other for the rights to kill Stacia when the ambulance sirens sound. They both pass out and wake up in an ambulance. The EMT tells Wheeler he's lucky and he has a few broken bones and asks him about the gun. He tells the EMT he's innocent. Wheeler looks over and sees Walker beside him and starts freaking out and bitch slapping him. They finally calm down and Walker suggests how much fun they'd have with an ambulance and pulls out a knife. Just then the EMT plunges syringes full of air into their chests and....

                                                                                           
Ohh I don't know!! Syringes full of air sounds like death to me, but what do I know??? If you wanna know what happens, go on ahead and watch Pick Me Up. I actually really liked this episode. Much better than the previous one, that's for sure.

 There was some brief nudity (Just a little boob shot), a decapitation, a strangulation with a dead snake, and a chick getting skinned alive! What's not to like??? This was a great episode. A good bit more gory than most of the others. The acting was good, except for the truck driver guy. He just creeped me out!! His voice got on my nerves..it was soo annoying! Another thing I wasn't crazy about...The opening scene was a fucking sneaky, slithery snake. I will not lie, I shuddered when I saw that. It totally gave me the heebie jeebies!! I hate snakes!!

                                                                                  
Minus some cool points for that! Overall I'd give Pick Me Up a 3.5 out of 5. The gore was just right, not too much and not too little. And the end surprised the hell out of me. Never saw it coming!!! I was definitely impressed with this episode. Now that you know how I feel, go check out Zane's favorite songs from horror movies!! Thanks for stopping by.

Sasha Slaughter