Duane Bradley checks in to the roach infested Hotel Broslin and with him he carries a basket containing his deformed siamese twin brother. They share a telepathic connection and are out seeking revenge on the doctors who separated them from each other and left Duane's brother Belial for dead.
They say that Einstein was a genius but compared to Frank Henenlotter the man does not have much going for him. Basket Case is a wonderful gory insane flick that ranks up there among the best horror comedies ever made, it's cheesy as hell, wildly entertaining, gory and truly funny. Personally I love movies from the 80's and this is just a fantastic flick that has that genuine 80's feeling to it.
Duane keeps his brother in a basket, and Belial truly is a basket case. He looks like a mix between a horrible monster and a meatball and have something of a short temper, is beyond blood-thirsty and is an angry little mutant killing machine. They were literally separated from each other at the young age of twelve and share a special telepathic connection that makes them being able to communicate. Even though they are siamese twins they are not identical as Belial is beyond deformed and Duane looks like a normal person.
So Duane has to carry his brother around in a basket and hide him from the world. The movie uses animation when showing Belial in motion, something that might look a bit tacky but that still works pretty well. They're out to take revenge on the doctors who separated them but along the way, Duane falls in love with Sharon, a receptionist to one of the doctors, something that Belial does not approve of.
Belial himself is actually pretty creepy at times, and it gets a little intense the first time he shows himself as it comes rather unexpected. The mix of horror and comedy is great and the movie is truly a bizarre piece of film. Basket Case is low-budget and I wonder what Frank could've done with some more ca$h, but for being truly low-budget, it's still so well done and looks great.
Basket Case is a really dirty movie, dirty in the sense that everything looks really dirty. The hotel Duane and Belial stays at is a shabby and crummy place that looks like it's about to fall apart, and that could sure use some cleaning. Then the dirty streets of New York, the dark alleys and everything has this dirty feeling to it, which is kinda interesting as well. If everything would've been clean and nice, it wouldn't have produced the same feeling at all I guess, so all in all, the surroundings are actually pretty cool and definitely creates a certain atmosphere.
The acting is not the best to say the least, but this is the type of movie were acting's not the most important thing. The story is so darn good and since the movie's truly sick, bizarre and gruesome, this type of acting it features actually somehow works. It's hard to explain and it sure has to be seen. Frank Henenlotter later went on and did Basket Case 2 in 1990 and Basket Case 3: The Progeny in 1992, both of them worth a look if you're a fan of the first.
Funny as hell, disgusting, cheesy, entertaining, violent, truly sick, bizarre, insane, gruesome and gory. A fantastic crazy 80's movie that has to be seen so don't miss out.
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ALTERNATIVE TITLE:
MOVIE YEAR: 1982
DIRECTOR: Frank Henenlotter
WRITING CREDITS: Frank Henenlotter
GENRE: Horror, Comedy
CAST: Kevin Van Hentenryck, Terri Susan Smith, Robert Vogel
COUNTRY: USA
RUNTIME: 91 min
RATING: 10/10
Basket Case Website/IMDB Click here
Basket Case Trailer Click here
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