Frère de sang

Basket Case was a horro movie that was intentionally funny. And because of how cheesy it is, it's even sillier now. The plot is quite simple and the acting is mediocre, but remember, it's a B movie. But the kills are funny and have just the right amount of gore. The ending was both weird and predictable. Not the best movie and not required viewing for horror fans, but a fun 90 minutes.

Basket Case (1982)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Duane Bradley (Kevin Van Hentenryck) arrives in New York City carrying a basket that contains a big secret. Duane is actually half of a Siamese twin and he and his deformed brother (who he keeps in the basket) are seeking vengeance against the doctors who separated them.

Frank Henenlotter's BASKET CASE was made for very little money and it quickly became a success and gathered a rather large cult following. I think there are several things to really enjoy in the film but at the same time I can't help but think that there are several things that could have improved it. The biggest issue I have with the film is the fact that it really drags at times and I think losing ten minutes probably would have helped it. I mean, the revenge factor takes way too long to materialize and I'd argue that there are way too many subplots.

Outside of that you've got to respect what Henenlotter was able to do with such a small budget. Yes, the special effect of the deformed brother isn't believable but there's still some low-budget charm that really helps the picture. Another major plus is that the atmosphere really captures the seedy side of New York City and there's no question that the authentic locations really add a lot to the picture. As with William Lustig's MANIAC, this film just breathes NYC and its seedy locations. Van Hentenryck's performance is another plus the film has going for it and there's no doubt that there are many memorable supporting players.

BASKET CASE certainly deserves its cult reputation. The gore, weird story line and terrific locations make it a must see.

BASKET CASE is, for what it is, superb.

That's not to say it is technically proficient or boasts particularly good performances from its actors. But it's intelligent, creepy and viciously horrific.

A young man, Duane, enters a seedy Times Square motel carrying a large wicker basket. Inside the basket, as we soon discover, is his monstrously deformed Siamese twin brother, Belial. Belial looks like a twisted lump of fat and gristle, with two clawed arms and an eerily human-like face. He was, not so long ago, attached to his brother's side, until his father and some crooked surgeons decided to seperate the brothers against their will. Now the pair is in Manhattan, to do away with the doctors who performed the operation.

The very premise is as bizarre and sordid as one can imagine. And the movie doesn't disappoint. Everything is washed out with red and blue neon, every location is dirty and grungy, every character is twisted or crazed. The movie jerks the viewer's emotions around brutally, going from silly to grim to nightmarish to funny to horrifying to tragic. It may take the movie a little while to sink in. If you allow it to, it will leave you speechless.

BASKET CASE is a classic of exploitation cinema. It's as gruesome as any splatter movie and sleazy as any grindhouse porno, but it's far better written and crafted than most of its type. It's a nightmare not unlike David Lynch's ERASERHEAD, but with a more EC-comics feel. If a mixture of sleaze, extreme gore, expressionism and poetic justice are your cup of tea, don't pass up BASKET CASE!

Frank Hennenlotter's "Basket Case" highlights the problem with horror films of today. Back in the eighties, films would be made with an idea and no budget, and the result would nearly always see the release of an inventive and interesting horror film. Basket Case is no exception to this, as despite hokey effects, a rather silly story and some very suspect acting; Basket Case is a trash classic all the way, and it's a film that's guaranteed to delight fans of horror. The story capitalises on the fact that many people (including yours truly) find the subject of deformity uncomfortable, and the subject of living with it even more so. The plot follows a strange young man that carries a basket around with him. Inside the basket lies his hideously deformed Siamese twin, and the deformity wants it's revenge!

This leads the two brothers to seek out the doctors that separated them and brutally butcher them, and delivering us with a great camp horror movie! The central creature - namely, the deformed brother, is a masterpiece of creature design. The thing itself looks ridiculous, but in spite of this it actually manages to be quite frightening, and once you've gotten over the initial giggles: it takes on a life of it's own, and even manages to become quite believable. The film is sufficiently gory, which will no doubt be good news for everyone that wants to see it. Frank Hennenlotter is one of those directors that obviously has talent and flair for making films, but also hasn't been given a real chance to realise it. It's a massive shame that the endless amounts of remakes continue to get released on huge budgets, while someone that could make a great movie is blessed only with chicken feed to make them with. Just wait until the part where the brothers' story is told – that's inventiveness for you! One thing I do love about the director is the way he casts his lead; the one here is certainly odd enough, in a naive loser sort of a way. On the whole; fans of intricate, deep cinema should stay well clear - while everyone else is preparing themselves for a damn good time!

Dwayne Bradley (Kevin Van Hentenryck) carries a basket around with him. He tells his landlord (Robert Vogel) that it contains "clothes", but that's not quite true. The secret of the basket is fiendish, nasty and is liable to tear your face off if you stand in its way. (And there's a plot that's sort of like "The Abominable Dr. Phibes" in the way Dwayne tracks down the doctors...)

This film is very obviously low-budget, costing only $33,000, but the director (Frank Henenlotter) does not let that distract him. In fact, he almost turns it into a joke, using his friend's apartment as a makeshift "hotel". He has Dwayne carrying a large sum of cash, but is actually rather small when you know that it represents the actual budget of the film. And to make the film appear more professional than it was, they even faked the credits. As one trivia site explains, "The crew was very small and rather then repeat the same names over and over again they decided to just make up names."

There's something of a time capsule effect in this film. Much is filmed on 42nd Street in New York, during its porn and hooker glory years. You won't see that anymore, but you can forever see it in this film. And one scene is filmed in the basement of the legendary sado-masochistic Hellfire Club, complete with real-life glory holes. (To see what the club looks like now, you can see it on the DVD features.)

I think this movie must set the record for most times the phrase "what's in the basket?" is used in a single film. I'm surprised it's not the film's tag line, because I think I counted six instances. I'm not sure if it's supposed to be a running joke or if the writer is just that uninventive. (For fun, if you're a smoker, have a cigarette each time someone asks. That will be almost as much fun as the "In the Mouth of Madness" smoking game!) Some scenes are fairly cheesy. The puppetry is amateur and the claymation is like something from "Pee-Wee's Playhouse" (yes, not even good enough to be compared to "Clash of the Titans"). I enjoyed this and totally let it slide (cheesy effects from the 1980s are still better than modern computer effects in many cases).

For some reason, I really enjoy male nudity in movies (ask about my love of the films of Gregg Araki). I'm not gay or anything... I'm all about the ladies. But something about male nudity still comes off as a special thing in movies, maybe because I've seen just about all you can see in life and this still remains a rarity. Well, anyway, this film has some unusual male nudity that leads to the film's climax (pun intended) and I think you'll want to be there when it happens.

Oh, and mullets. If you're hankering for a Jeff Goldblum mullet (the hair from "The Fly", not "Jurassic Park") you really need to see this one. It's actually more like the hair of noted linguist and psychologist Steven Pinker.

Mike Mayo calls the film, "One of the all-time great low-budget horrors" that "is an ingeniously twisted original in every respect." It is one of the few horror films that Mayo has praised with four out of four bones on the Videohound rating scale. And with good reason. When it comes to low budget, few if any films get this big with so little -- "Basket Case" is a modern classic, and decades later can still be found on the shelves of many video stores. And what other film has mutant Siamese twin necrophilia?

I went almost 25 years without seeing "Basket Case". Don't make that same mistake. While this is not the greatest horror movie and not my favorite Henenlotter film, it has found its way into cult horror history (admit it, even if you never saw it you've still heard of it). This happens for a reason, and after watching maybe you'll understand what that reason is. At the very least, you'll find out what's in the basket.