Basket Case (1982)
Directed by Frank Henenlotter
There are many wacky movies in the horror genre. Not many as out there as Basket Case though haha. Frank Henenlotter made a wide variety of crazy ones, Brain Damage, Frankenhooker, etc. All crazy, all fun.
Basket Case is about a guy named Duane, carrying a basket around New York City. Early 80s NYC, yeah the grimey, crusty, scuzzy, NYC. The NYC we all know and love! New York Ripper anyone? What’s in the basket? Well only Duane’s separated conjoined twin brother Bilal whom is basically a pile of chewed up bubble gum, think Krang from TMNT! Well they go on a rampage against the doctors that separated them. Bilal kills all of them in gruesome detail, and it is amazing! Bilal though doesn’t care for Duane having a life outside of vengeance, and that’s where the troubles start for the brothers.
The special effects are pretty decent for a movie with a $35k budget. I love stop motion so the scenes of Bilal destroying the hotel room are great, but hilarious. Bilal himself is a puppet most of the time, and he makes this odd groaning sound which can get a little annoying at times. The kills are gory fun. Each doctor gets their faces ripped up my Bilal’s paws. We get disembowelings and other gory bits. The kills are funny and satisfying. The acting is pretty hammy but not horrible honestly. This movie is all about crazy absurd fun, and it hit a homerun in that aspect.
If you haven’t seen Basket Case, you definitely should. It is so bat shit crazy and almost other worldly that you’ll find yourself laughing and scratching your head at the same time. I was lucky enough to see this in theater this year, and man what a great film to see with the right crowd. I give Basket Case a B+.
