What's in the basket? (Basket Case (DVD))

Member Name: Wolfzilla

Product:	Basket Case (DVD)
Date:	30/03/07 (107 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Low budget shlock at it's best

Disadvantages: Gore and final scene may putt off some viewers,

In the 1980s, an odd man appeared who would carve his name into cult-horror history with his quirky,funny and OTT gore-filled movies. Im not talking about Sam Raimi, nor Peter Jackson. The man I refer to is a Mr.Frank Henenlotter. While the aforementioned pair have since went on to the big time, making blockbusters like Spiderman and Lord of the Rings, Henenlotter disappeared after 1992's Basket Case 3, ten years after he earned his notoriety with the original Basket Case.
I have no idea what drew me to Basket Case initially, I think I picked up the sequels cheap on DVD and despite not particularly enjoying them, enough research into them informed me that the original was much better, and was a sick horror movie that had garned cult status. Naturally I bought it on VHS (it wasn't out on Region 2 DVD at that point) and loved every twisted minute of it. For some reason, I never did get around to buying the Region 2 Tartan Terror DVD release, however, I came accross someone selling a two pack of this, the Something Weird Region 1 release, and a Region 1 release of the Return of Swamp Thing, another movie I've been looking to add to my DVD collection for a while, selling for the same price as the R2 Basket Case alone.

The movie follows Duane Bradley (Kevin Van Hentenryck - Brain Damage), Duane has a terrible haircut,is a bit lanky, but on the whole appears to be a fairly normal fellow, despite the fact he always carries by his side a large wicker basket. "what's in the basket?" he constantly hears, but every time he offers a different answer.
Duane has, for the first time, come to New York City, with nothing but his basket and a wad of money in his pocket. He takes up residence at the sleazy Hotel Broslin on 42nd Street, and quickly becomes familiar with all of the characters the hotel offers home to. From the prostitute Casey (Beverley Bonner - Frankenhooker), the constantly angry manager (Robert Vogel - Rent Control) to the rather shifty Mickey (Joe Clarke - Nobody's Fool).
It turns out to be less a case of what's in the basket than who is in it, as we learn that Duane was originally born a siamese twim to his brother Belial, a little blob with a face and arms. Their mother died giving birth, and their father arranged for an illegal separation to try and make Duane normal. The operation was carried out by three doctors, Lifflander(Bill Freeman),Kutter(Diana Brown) and Needleman(Lloyd Pace) and Belial was thrown in the trash. However, Duane is awoken, due to a psychic link he has with his brother and rescues him from the rubbish, where they build a device that kills their father. They go to live with their Aunt(Ruth Neuman) who treats Belial the same as Duane, and there they live happily until their Aunt dies. It is this that has brought them to the big city, their quest for revenge upon the doctors who separated them. But while everything appears to be going smoothly with the plan, Duane falls in love with Needleman's receptionist Sharon (Terri Susan Smith), something that Belial does not take nicely to at all...

The plot of the movie is so absurd that I actually have to say that I love it. When compared to nigh on every other horror movie released in the early 80s, Basket Case is a breath of fresh air. It isn't a two bit Halloween knock-off, it's a different league, and Belial Bradley a different kind of horror icon to Michael Myers and Leatherface, the two most significant recent additions at the time. The story also has a deep element of comedy running throughout, from the rubbish cheap jokes such as the doctor's names to the entire concept of brotherly love taken too far, Basket Case isn't a movie that you can call all that serious. The movie was made on a shoestring budget, and it generally has an amateur feel to it, from the dialogue("what's in the Basket?Easter Eggs?") to the the characters. However, while it has an amateur feel, I don't mean that in a bad way, it actually adds some charm to it. Had Basket Case been made with a large budget and perfectly polished script and camerawork and such, I honestly feel it would lose a lot of its appeal. It's the low budget schlock of it that really makes the movie. Henenlotter didn't aim to make any sort of classic here, he wanted a low budget piece of trash that would play run-down cinemas in New York. And he more than succeeds, Basket Case is the epitome of low budget trash, low budget trash that is highly enjoyable.
The fact that when the movie does something stupid, it manages to do so in such an absurd way that it's side-splitting also helps. For example, while Duane waits in the office of Needleman, he gets talking to Sharon, who is surprised to the point that it borders on anger that Duane hasn't seen the sights of the city, this is an excuse to ask him out, but it's a scene so funny that words cannot even hope to sum it up.
In fact, the Sharon and Duane relationship is the cause of the majority of the humour in the movie. He throws her out of the door of the hotel, she still wants him back, he covers her in a bedsheet and hurls her into the wall (he is trying to save her from Belial, but she doesn't know that) and she still wants him back! my god that's dedication. The sheet scene is another you actually have to witness to grasp the full comedy out of.
Belial himself brings up some issues, (how does he stick to walls?exactly what does he rape her with?) but the sheer awe the viewer is in of this ridiculous creation, you don't actually notice at the time.

Acting in the movie is actually surprisingly decent. I don't mean the actors involved put on epic performances that should have seen them go on to stardom, but everyone seems to have grasped the feel of the movie and their characters perfectly, and they all play them enthusiastically, but not going over the top. Van Hentenryck is actually quite wonderful at playing the naive and wide eyed Duane who simply goes along with everything his brother says. Smith as his love interest, sporting a wig, also does a good job as the ditzy to the point of hilarity Sharon. On the whole, the acting is also pretty amateur in feel, but nobody really does bad. They all try, and it works in this movie, but Im not all that surprised that more than half of the cast didn't appear in another flick.

The music in the movie is basically creepy keyboard or synth or something, and while it isn't exactly a memorable theme, it certainly does it's job of keeping up the creepy nature of things.

The special effects are on of the highest comedy moments in the movie. While the puppet Belial is pretty bad, it's stop motion Belial that steals the show in terms of sheer hilarity. In case you haven't guessed, the majority of the effects are pretty terrible, but the gore is done in such a raw manner that it actually becomes effective. On the DVD, Henenlotter comments that he considered taking out the stop motion sequences, but the audiences thought they were so funny he decided to leave them in and Im glad he did. The shoestring budget really shows in terms of the effects, but at least Henenlotter didn't try to cop out by not showing us much of Belial, it gets to the point where we see so much of him that him looking all rubbery actually becomes accepted by the viewer, and like I say, it adds a raw quality to proceedings.

On the whole, Basket Case is possibly the toughest movie I have had to review so far. When a movie is so bad it's funny, I rate it 1 star but recommend it. And while Basket Case, in terms of quality in the line of actual quality movies is shockingly bad, the fact that it was never meant to be anything but, and the fact I find it immensely enjoyable kind of throws me off balance. I've made my decision, Basket Case has to get full marks. It's low budget film-making at it's dirtiest and best, and for those who like cult horror movies it's certainly a must see. If OTT gore and some rather controversial scenes are the type of thing you don't like, then you definitely want to avoid Basket Case. The same goes for people who require special effects of outstanding quality.

On a side note, I should also point out that the R1 DVD is excellent, we have a little documentary thing with Henenlotter, an audio commentary with him,Beverly Bonner and producer Edgar Ievens, which is pretty much dominated by Frank and a slew of promotional material, including radion interviews with Terri Susan Smith. The only downer about the DVD is the sleeve, which has a pretty rubbish picture of Belial, personally I would have preffered the cover shown here, and the one that graces the UK version of Belial peeking out of the basket.

The odd feel of Basket Case can be best summed up by one of it's taglines "the tenant in room 7 is very small,very twisted and very mad", the movie is immensely silly, but it more than certainly deserves it's cult status.


Review also posted on Epinions.com

Summary: Basket Case is a must see for fans of cult horror cinema. It's low budget sleaze at it's best.