Deadly Pickup (4½ Stars)

This is the 17th film directed by Dean McKendrick, made in 2016. It's the third of his erotic thrillers, and in my opinion the best so far. It's based on one of the most common male fantasies: a man picks up a beautiful hitchhiker, she seduces him, she kills him.

This is very much Carter Cruise's film. She appears in almost every scene, clothed or unclothed, playing Breezy Johnson, a young woman with homicidal tendencies. She claims that she was given her name because her parents were hippies, but later in the film we find out that her real name is Brenda Johnson, and she changed her name to Breezy to escape from her criminal past.

The killers in the last two films were also women, but Breezy is the most deadly of the three, because she doesn't have a motive. Why does she kill men? Why not? It's fun.

Maybe it's a power thing. The 6'4" actor Cody Deal towers over her, but she laughs at him self-confidently. She knows that when he's lying naked on his back she'll be the one looking down at him. He won't have any way to defend himself against her weapon of choice, a small needle attached to her ring laced with a fast-acting poison. One small prick in his neck at the moment he orgasms, and he'll never stand up again.

The police find Michael Hopkins dead in the back of his car.

Jon Fleming manages to crawl a few feet before collapsing dead on the beach. It's the same beach where August Ames was murdered in "Model for Murder". Dean McKendrick is notorious for saving money by reusing locations.

Breezy doesn't just pick up men as a sexy hitchhiker. She's flexible. When she sees Deputy Jeremy Randall, played by Billy Snow, she has to have him, so she visits him at the police station. Luckily it's a small town with only one policeman on duty at night. She soon has him flat on his back on the desk, but he's the one that gets away. They're interrupted just as she prepares to stab him. He never finds out how lucky he was.

Breezy also likes women, but she's not just bisexual, she's bihomicidal. She seduces and kills Sarah Hunter. Scandalous! How dare she kill women! A black widow who kills males is much more exciting. This scene should be removed. It's the only thing that stops the film from being perfect. Maybe I should create my own version of the film without this scene. Just for my own personal viewing, of course. I'll call it the Dancer's Cut.

Unfortunately, the film has a happy ending, if you can call it that. The bad girl is brought to justice. She should have been left alive for the sequel.

This is one of the few films made by Dean McKendrick that's still available on DVD. It must have been one of his best selling films. Deservedly.