 Like all of Henenlotter's movies, there's nothing high art here, and very little to truly tax the grey matter. But – to repeat the refrain, like all of Henenlotter's movies – this one is mightily entertaining. The movie slides along at a good pace, and has plenty of imaginative kills throughout. The words 'cult classic' tend to get thrown around a lot, but the movie Basket Case and its sequels are probably well deserving of that status. The first movie from popular horror and exploitation director Frank Henenlotter – who in time would also bring us the delights of Brain Damage, Frankenhooker and the bonkers Bad Biology – was a hit on home video on its release and has maintained an audience even thirty years after the final film. But is it worth all the fuss? Well, starting today and spanning the next couple of weeks, we're going to look at all three of these films to find out. Basket Case is the story of Duane Bradley, a shy young man who arrives at a sleazy hotel with a basket in tow – the refrain 'what's in the basket?' is a cute running gag that occurs many times throughout, sometimes paying off and sometimes deliberately not. Said receptacle contains his 'brother' Belial, a hideously twisted, violent creature who was born attached to Duane's side and later separated against his will. All this we discover in a flashback later on, with the main thread of the story being Duane trying to get revenge on the doctors who traumatically pulled the two of them apart. We see some moments of Duane trying to have some sort of ordinary life – even with a murderous, telepathic sibling in tow – drinking with some of the residents of the hotel and even finding a blossoming romance with doctor's receptionist Sharon. This is probably what makes Belial most unhappy of all, and the fear of his brother leaving him forces him to extreme measures... Like all of Henenlotter's movies, there's nothing high art here, and very little to truly tax the grey matter. But – to repeat the refrain, like all of Henenlotter's movies – this one is mightily entertaining. The movie slides along at a good pace, and has plenty of imaginative kills throughout. Kevin Van Hentenryck is wonderfully cast in the lead role as the naïve, wide-eyed Duane Bradley, dragged along by Belial's malice while seeking something else entirely. He certainly adds to this role in the sequels too, and here I feel like I have to give some extra credit just for that hairdo. The relationship between Belial and Duane is generally pretty well-conveyed – even if there's not necessarily the acting chops to really deliver anything Oscar-worthy – and while the effects on the whole aren't that great, if you can switch off that part of your brain and just enjoy it for what it is then this is plenty of fun. On top of that, the cast of the hotel around Duane contains some quirky, oddball characters, and for all there's nothing all that meaty here the 91 minutes of this movie will just fly by. Strangely enough, it'd be a long, long time before we got a sequel – which is a little surprising, but it's entirely possible that the legend of Basket Case grew with time rather than it being an immediate smash hit. Next time around we'll be delving into the delights of Basket Case 2, which is I movie I certainly do have some vivid memories of... I wonder how it will still hold up today... RATING: 8/10. Sure, I've praised it a lot, and it's a fine example of the 80s creature feature that was so prevalent at the time. It's not always a subgenre that I love to bits, and honestly not all of them look that good when you check them out in retrospect. However Basket Case held my attention all the way through, and while it may not make you laugh out loud it'll certainly get plenty of wry smiles. For everything there is to like here, I can't go too nuts because the effects did look hokey at times, the acting wasn't always what it might have been and it looks very cheaply shot – I'm sure it was, but sometimes movies are able to hide that fact (although not here). With all that said, if you like your horror bloody, outrageous and even a bit sill, then Basket Case might just be worth checking out. Just think very carefully before you decide to look in that basket...   |
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