Why is Fairuza Balk in this episode? Could someone
please explain that to me? It’s not that I have anything against
Fairuza Balk, but her character seems entirely redundant to this
episode’s storyline. I’m thankful that director Larry Cohen
minimized her time, having her disappear for most of the first half
of the episode. Still, we’re left with a perfectly good episode,
with one obvious glaring flaw. She seems to have been written in
because a story about two dueling serial killers wouldn’t have a
hero otherwise.
The episode opens with a classic horror set-up: A bus
breaks down in the middle of nowhere, stranding all the passengers.
Serial killing truck driver Jim Wheeler (Michael Moriarty) offers
them a ride. Two passengers agree to go with him, two others and the
bus driver stay behind to get picked off by hitchhiking serial killer
Walker (Warren Kole).
Names aside, the two eventually find out about each
other, and each believes the other to be a trespasser in his
territory. They’re relationship is complex. They don’t seem to
be offended by the idea that their competitor wants to kill them, in
fact it seems to be expected. And they share a mutual admiration for
each others' skills. Their conflict is primarily in philosophy:
Wheeler, while willing to kill the inconvenient, believes in seeking
out dangerous prey. Walker, on the other hand, freely slaughters
anyone who happens to be available, and sees Wheeler as pretentious.
While the episode does seem to suggest that this is
their first encounter, the two have great chemistry. I imagine that
you could cast these actors in almost anything and they’d fit
together perfectly. I don’t even really care who wins, I just want
them to keep talking for as long as possible.
And then we get to Stacia (Fairuza Balk). She was on
the bus at the beginning of the episode, but decided to walk to a
hotel. About twenty-five minutes in she appears again at the hotel.
After a long day of killing people, Walker and Wheeler end up in the
same hotel, with rooms on either side of her. After this point the
episode becomes absolutely desperate to keep her alive.
Walker wastes time making scary noises, causing her to
flee the hotel. She then accepts a ride from Wheeler, who she
believes to be a cop hunting Walker. Wheeler decides he needs her as
“bait” to lure Walker. Let me repeat that: Wheeler thinks he
needs her as bait to lure in Walker, who is already actively
planning to kill Wheeler! This
is how desperate the episode is to give Stacia an active role.
Now, does this kill the episode? Absolutely not.
However, her presence affects absolutely nothing, and her overacting
can bring down an exciting moment like a joke that’s just been
explained. All of her scenes could have been replaced with more
interaction between Moriarty and Kole, or just more kills. I talk
about her presence as a distraction mainly because it’s such a
gaping and obvious flaw. We don’t need a sympathetic perspective.
We’re horror fans. We can deal with Villain Protagonists.
This is definitely an ending worth talking about: After
Stacia causes a crash (that could have happened without her), she’s
injured, and the two Duke it out. All three of them end up picked up
by two serial killers who drive an ambulance and look for injured
people to murder. Meanwhile, I have a big stupid grin on my face at
what is probably one of the best endings in this entire series.
This episode is just awesome! It’s pure bloody, campy
fun from beginning to end. If you can watch it and not enjoy it you
need to seriously rethink your entire outlook on life. No, it isn't
scary, but who. cares.
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