Basket Case
The heart of cult classics, certainly the birth of it, is the b horror movie. From The Blob to Machete Kills, B Horror Movies made their mark through midnight showings, niche audiences and the introduction of videotape making it easier for these movies to be passed around. There are some excellent classics that missed a bigger audience due to its unsavoury content (or the fact people are just plain dumb) and then there are movies that, although are consider classics now, haven’t really stood the test of time. Basket Case is one such movie; despite its weird charm, feels a little too bad now.
Basket Case is about a young man Duane who carries around a wicker basket on his first trip to New York. Finding a dive hotel, he sets out to take care of business with whatever lives inside that basket. Turns out, what lives inside that basket, is his deformed twin brother. The pair were originally Siamese twins, separated into a man and a lump of flesh with hands and a face. This lump of flesh, however, is a murderous flesh eating machine called Belial, who is hell bent on getting vengeance on the doctors who parted them. Only problem is, Duane has fallen for a girl and Belial is not intent on letting her stay...
As usual, Basket Case is famous for it is over the top and often grimacing violence. As Belial tears through the faces of his victims, roaring unwarrantedly, the blood almost splashes the screen. Henslotter masters this gore by utilising some terrifying sequences and stop animation on a low budget of $30,000. With so much red stuff pouring out of the victims, Basket Case is about how much Henslotter can provoke and scare you. And it is all done in good fun, there is no denying that this film lets you off and some sick enjoyment can be found when deserving people get their twisted comeuppance by a Quasimodo character that was shunned by society. Henslotter brings the action and some sympathy for a beast that was shoved into a plastic bin bag and blamed for everything.
The problem with Basket Case is that now the cheap thrills and spills seam laughable, almost clichéd. That may be a detriment of my viewing experience but similar movies on equally similar budgets of the era do a better job at utilising the atmosphere. Re-Animator, for example, weighed heavy on the powerful acting and Toxic Avenger was a perfect line of hilarity and gore. Basket Case just doesn’t completely work to appreciate the awfulness of acting or the over the top reactions of the women. When held up against similar cult classic, it is more jarring than some.
It’s not wholly bad and it is certainly worth a watch as a B Movie fests or a Halloween frightener. There is something of a gem to laugh out loud to. You will titter as Belial scuttles across floors and enjoy the slicing in half of their father as the violence increases. But Basket Case isn’t completely captivating and you will sit uncomfortably for most of it waiting for that moment to click.
For the lid to be lifted and all the awkwardness to escape, being replaced by glee.
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