Deadly Pickup (4½ Stars)

This is the best of the three erotic thrillers made by Dean McKendrick this year. After seeing all three of them I have to say that I approve of the new direction he's taken in his films for Retromedia.

Breezy Johnson is a girl hitch-hiking somewhere in California, presumably close to Los Angeles, in a small town close to the sea. She seduces the man who gives her a lift, then kills him at the point of orgasm. She stabs him in the neck with a small needle attached to her ring laced with a fast-acting poison. She steals his money and his gold ring before leaving him dead at the roadside. We might think that she's just a robber, but as the film progresses we see that she's a psychopath who kills for fun. She only takes her victims' money because she can, not because she needs it.

Once more Dean McKendrick proves that he's a better director than Sal V. Miers. The sex scenes are much more erotic, and also more realistic. If the sex has to be faked it should be faked well. In fact, the sex scenes in "Deadly Pickup" are probably the best in any of Dean's films. Maybe it's because of the natural talent of the lead actress Carter Cruise, an actress that I haven't seen before. She's appeared in a few of Axel Braun's films, but none that I've seen because I boycott the films that he makes for Wicked Pictures.

Billy Snow returns as a policeman, this time in uniform. This time he has a new partner. In "Model for Murder" he worked with Erika Jordan, in this film he works with Mike Gaglio. No offence to Mike, but I know who I'd rather have as my partner.

Billy does his best to investigate the case and catch the killer. Breezy is one of the main suspects, but no policeman is a match for a beautiful cold-hearted killer. She takes his gun and his clothes before he has a chance to defend himself.

This film also marks a new step for Dean McKendrick in his choice of actresses. Kira Noir is the first black actress he has used in any of his films. I welcome racial diversity, and I hope this will be the beginning of a new trend. Apart from being beautiful she's a very competent actress, so she deserves to return in his next films.

I'm excited by films in which women kill men during sex. For me it's the ultimate form of female domination. Dean McKendrick already used this theme in "Love Machine", but in "Deadly Pickup" the killings are even more realistic. I was disappointed to see that Breezy has no sexual preference, she also kills women. When she had a lesbian scene with Sarah Hunter I expected her to spare her partner, but she didn't. That was the only scene in the film that I didn't enjoy, and the only reason I haven't awarded a full five stars.