Review of Masters of Horror 11: Larry Cohen's "Pick Me Up"

Bottom: The Great Michael Moriarty!

The second to the last of the 'Masters of Horror", because Showtime didn't want the Takashi Miike('Gozu","Ichi the Killer") episode titled 'Imprint" was deemed too extreme for Showtime. I'm not surprised and they probably feel that American audiences can't handle it, either way I love his work and really want to watch it. Since that will be released through Anchor Bay, we have the latest from auteur writer-director Larry Cohen. Who is an inspiration for me in screenwriting, and an auteur second because he can venture outside an exploitation market and succeed in mainstream films.
Actually he is a weird director, doing arthouse flicks, exploitation genre based films, horror and screenwriting for Hollywood flicks like "PhoneBooth" and "Cellular". He is good writer, but he didn't write this one he only directed this and a fine execution I might say. It feels like looking at his resume, that he writes for films that are already in the confine of a small budget. It's not a bad thing, or probably I'm just articulating it and just those are the films that he is interested in. The whole movie 'Phone Booth" was a whole character development out of one spot and carefully plotted. Different for "Cellular", where I was guy that went around jumping from place to place to find a kidnapped woman. Enough about his mainstream movies, let's talk about his first beautifully dialogue written-directed movie "Bone". A movie that is advertised for the market of exploitation films, but feels more like an arthouse films. Not saying the exploitation market isn't arthouse, but that movie more than it was advertised. A movie that examined racism through a three cushion pin dialogue stage play that was on the screen.

Now let's talk about his latest entry in the "Master of Horror" entry called 'Pick Me Up". A easy premise that fits the running time with a lot of old school and familiar faces. The premise is about a serial killer who picks up hitch hikers and kills them against a hitch hiker serial killer. Another Larry Cohen regular who I haven't seen in long time the awesomely underrated Michael Moriarty(TV's "Law & Order" and "Q:the Winged Serpent"). Its good thing Cohen gave him a call because I haven't seen that collaboration in a long time. Michael Moriarty plays the truck driver who picks up hitch hikers and kills them. He doesn't go over the top, but just hits its mark right on it and is just a joy to watch. The guy who plays the serial killer hitch hiker is newcomer Warren Cole, who doesn't seem to steal show from Moriarty but develops his own style that is also enjoyable.
This short is provided by a teleplay by David J. Schow, who keeps the movie filled with memorable lines and dialogue especially for Moriarty's character "Wheeler". It sometime feels that Moriarty was ad libbing at some parts because their moments that felt like it was his own.

The short starts out with a grey hound bus with a few people breaks down and Wheeler picks up a couple passengers. The other two people who left behind, including the bus driver are spotted by Warren Kole's character who kills them. Wheeler kills the people he picked up and later comes back to the site of the bus to kill again. Kole's character named Walker, during a midst of torturing one of the left behinders then comes in Wheeler who doesn't help the person but instead kills her. Walker notices and realize that he has competition, the same with Wheeler as he picks up the sight of bodies left behind from Walker. Now I forgot to mention that when the bus broke down a woman left the site hitch hiking, played the also lovely and enjoyable and the "I haven't seen in a long ass time" Faruiza Balk("WitchCraft","American History X"). I love that girl was a seminal part of childhood from watching 'Return to Oz" a lot as a kid. I somewhat had a crush on her, and plus that was a weird ass movie. Other than that she plays the prey that the two serial killers will be hunting for to see who is the better man or killer(my money is on Moriarty)!

An ingenious premise that fills it's running time and that's it, but Cohen gets a lot of use out of it and somewhat develops character especially Balk's character. The short doesn't explain her past but gives a little insight into being a divorcee and going cross country to get away from her old life. Moriarty of course gives some tremendous depth to it that is just refreshing and funny to look. The same with Warren Kole, and I can see why Cohen picked him, he is like a young Moriarty but has a whole different style. I'm sweating on Moriarty, because he is just great in this and is like survivalist hunter who says crazy Christopher Walken stuff, except not impersonating or ripping off him. He clearly develops a tutorial acting chop that young thespians can relate and learn. He's genius.
I would like to see Cohen do a short directing his own screenplay, but he did good doing another persons' screenplay and felt like he added more touches to it. I don't know, probably he left it the way it is and made due with what he got. By the looks of it he definitely enjoyed doing it supplying a pure tension for visceral gore that doesn't leave you in a slough of despair and sick but lets go into the mind of these serial killers. Either way you start rooting for one of them! This Is Aliye Nyoka saying "PEACE!"