Bruno Fleischmann
Strange movie, part slasher, part parody, part detective story. The idea of mad killer murdering people and keeping bloody souvenirs in order to satisfy bloodlust of ancient Egyptian god is somewhat reminiscent of H.G.Lewis' Blood Feast (of course, Fuad Ramses didn't use power tools). The director borrowed a few ideas from various horror movies and tried to create crazy combination of black humor and thrills, but it is obvious that he wasn't too familiar with the genre. Mr. Tschetter mentions The Texas Chainsaw Massacre or films by H.G.Lewis as the main inspirations for Picking Up The Pieces in the commentary track of Bloodsucking Pharaohs DVD. He also talks about being shocked when he first watched The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and when he found out that such movies as Herschell's gore epics really existed. Picking Up The Pieces is a horror comedy as directed by an artist usually involved in producing Shakespearian theater plays.It is professionally shot and occasionally amusing but most jokes don't work. Blocker and Birdwell- two cops with lots of personal problems trying to catch insane murderer, are quite interesting duo- Blocker throwing up each time he glimpses blood and Birdwell provoking his buddy by mentioning Blocker's embarrassing sexual problem. Some parts of the movie are played out completely serious, other parts that could be taken from Naked Gun or Airplane!, for example the flashback scene explaining Blocker's trauma from the past, don't seem to fit in the film. The violence is quite tame,but the DVD is surprisingly cut by MPAA although killings consist of shots of murderer manipulating with power saw (or some other tool) and shots of splashing blood. Tom Savini provided one rubber corpse with the top of the cranium sawed off and one neat melting scene. During the final showdown between cops and the killer even good old chainsaw makes an appearance. Unfortunately, nobody is hacked to pieces.
sleepingheart22
i bought this movie off of horror movies.com just because it was taken place in Pittsburgh. i wasn't expecting to laugh or get any entertainment from it but my girlfriend and i were very much surprised! there was some decent humor in it and there was even a twist in the story! if you're in for a cheap laugh and a cheap movie, check this one out! it was also kind of neat to try and figure out where the different scenes were shot. one scene i recognized very well and realized that it was shot in the park down the street for me.the special effects are pretty cheesy and the story really isn't that bad. the laughs in it are almost like a Leslie Nielson film. if you're from the Pittsburgh area, check this out! get a laugh!
rwagn
This film is a waste of 90 minutes of your life. Originally titled "Picking Up The Pieces". The production values are terrible, the acting is horrendous, the characters unlikeable and the story is lame. For God's sake, one of the leads is Jane Hamilton (aka porno star Veronica Hart) and does she bare any flesh? Heck no.This film is promoted as a black comedy but the script is so unfunny that it fails this category. The gore scenes are so amatuerish that Tom Savini must have used the entire SFX budget on the one good effect (a flesh ripping scene.) Pittsburgh offers so many great locations and none are used in this film. The music is cheesy. Don't get me wrong-this movie is not one of those so-bad-it's good flix. This is a stinker thru and thru. When you're laying on your deathbed you'll wish you had this 90 minutes back.
JappyBoy
Bloodsucking Pharaohs in Pittsburgh is pretty average for the genre. It had its moments, and with Savini doing the effect, most of the moment are good. While watching the movie, though, I couldn't help but feel that there was a lot cut from this movie. Being that it was released under a big name studio, my feeling is probably right. But if you like movies with Hookers, dismemberment, one-liners, and lots of blood, then you'll like this movie. Just make sure you watch it with friends. (And surprizingly, there was no nudity in this movie.....probably all cut)
AD
