Duane and his brother Belial falls from a hotel room window and ends up in the hospital. The whole thing with the siamese twins, Duane's freak brother and all the murders turns into a media circus. One night, the two brothers escape from the hospital, and run into their Aunt Ruth, just right outside, who takes them home to her place. Her house serves as safe house for a lot of freaks, and now Duane and Belial are part of the bizarre family. But they are wanted for murder, and not only is the police after them, but also a lot of nosy reporters.
I'm a huge fan of the original Basket Case, and even if this sequel is quite ok, it's not nearly as good as the original movie was. This one, just like the first movie, was directed by Frank Henenlotter, and a lot of other things have stayed the same since the first movie. Like the two main characters Belial and Duane are the same as in the first flick which is a good thing. Sorry to say though, Basket Case 2 is not nearly as brutal and over-the-top gory as the original flick was, and that came as somewhat of a let-down. It features some violence, but is nothing that special, and that does not have the same intensity as before.
Another bad thing here was that the acting in the first movie was not great, but since it had so much nasty stuff going on at all times, it was never really a bother, and was easy to ignore as well. It was funny and over-the-top gory, so the somewhat bad acting felt liked it clicked with the whole thing, and came out not looking so bad after all. In this sequel, it felt like one noticed the lousy acting more, and it came out not looking as great.
But it has a lot of things going for it as well. This time Belial's not the only freak on screen, as this movie is completely packed with freaks. There's a whole big mansion full of them, and is the home of Granny Ruth and her daughter Susan, and is kind of a safe house for mutants and freaks. Duane and Belial are brought there and directly becomes part of this bizarre family. But they are wanted for a bunch of murders, and even though they are safe for the moment, they are not safe for long. Nosy reporters starts to investigate and soon finds out where the brothers hide out. If you want, this movie even has some moral to offer. It was a nice though, but when watched this, it sure could've used some more gore and less sentimental stuff.
Basket Case 2 work like most typical sequels do. It resemble the original, but is less effective, and does not feel as fresh or creative. The whole freak scene here is a new thing so some credit has to be given for that. But the freaks are quite boring, and some of them are not that well done when it comes to the make-up and special effects. Still, it works and is a decent sequel to a great movie.
Not as good as the original, and has a few flaws that are quite hard to overlook. Still, it features some good stuff as well, even if everything from the violence and gore to the humour has been toned down a bit. But if you're a fan of the original, you might wanna check it out. It's not great, but I never said it was bad.
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ALTERNATIVE TITLE:
MOVIE YEAR: 1990
DIRECTOR: Frank Henenlotter
WRITING CREDITS: Frank Henenlotter
GENRE: Horror, Comedy
CAST: Kevin Van Hentenryck, Judy Grafe, Annie Ross
COUNTRY: USA
RUNTIME: 90 min
RATING: 5/10
Basket Case 2 Website/IMDB Click here
Basket Case 2 Trailer Click here
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