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Basket Case (1982)
Image Entertainment
Blu-ray Disc Released: 9/27/2011
All Ratings out of
Movie:
1/2
Video:
1/2
Audio:
1/2
Extras:
Review by Mike Long, Posted on 9/13/2011
When horror film fans discuss the pioneers who have influenced, changed, and
shaped the genre over the years, names such as Romero, Carpenter, Raimi, Craven,
and Argento are mentioned. It can easily be argued that directors such as these
began their careers in relative obscurity, and that their rise to success was
due in part to a cult audience. But, one cult horror film legend whose name is
rarely brought up is that of Frank Henenlotter. Despite the fact that this New
York filmmaker has only directed six films in the past 25 years, he has
definitely carved a niche for himself. And while many find his work to be vile
or worse, stupid, there’s no denying that Henenlotter is a unique voice in film.
His premiere effort, 1982’s Basket Case has been revisited for a new Blu-ray
Disc, courtesy of Something Weird Video and Image Entertainment.
Basket Case brings us the classic story of a man on a mission. The man in
this case is Duane Bradley (Kevin Van Hentenryck), and his mission is, well,
mysterious. Duane arrives in New York’s seedy 42nd Street district (this was
before Disney cleaned up the area) carrying a large, wicker basket... locked
with a padlock. Duane checks into the decidedly decrepit Hotel Broslin, where a
cast of colorful characters live, and then sets out on his quest, basket in tow.
You see, the basket contains Duane’s brother, Belial. Born Siamese Twins, Duane
and Belial were separated by a team of unethical doctors. Now, years later,
Duane has come to New York to seek his revenge against these evil physicians who
cut off the small, twisted Belial and left him for dead.
While Duane and Belial’s mission seems very straightforward and they (especially
Belial) are determined to see it through, they run into some unexpected
complications. While casing one of the doctor’s offices, Duane meets Sharon
(Terri Susan Smith), and there is an immediate attraction. This doesn’t please
Belial. Also, Duane befriends Casey (Beverly Bonner), a prostitute who lives in
the Hotel Broslin, and she becomes his confidant. Suddenly, the revenge mission
has been complicated by human emotion, and Duane begins to question the sanity
of Belial’s plan.
Basket Case has become the template for the low-budget splatter film,
which isn’t surprising, as the film was dedicated to Herschell Gordon Lewis.
Made for just $35,000, Basket Case is a cult film in every sense of the
word. It is ugly, coarse, dark, poorly acted, and slow at times, but it all
still works somehow. This is due to the filmmaker’s determination to make a
movie which is at once very over the top, and yet very real at the same time.
Henenlotter clearly understands the absurdity of his premise -- a man with a
killer basket -- and thus, he infuses the film with a great deal of dark humor.
As with John Waters, Henenlotter wears his bad taste on his sleeve and isn’t
ashamed of it. What other movie would feature someone getting their face ripped
off and then a scene in which Duane dumps a bag of hamburgers into the basket?
The film has aged fairly well. The story of Duane and Belial is still effective,
especially the plot twist concerning one of the doctors. In fact, the bombasity
of this central story continues to be what makes Basket Case worth
seeing. Watching the film again, one realizes why Henenlotter dedicated it to
Lewis, "The Godfather of Gore." While there is plenty of very red blood in
Basket Case, there isn’t much true gore. The special effects makeup is
minimal and what we do see on-screen isn’t very good (except for the death of
Dr. Kutter, which is a classic). As for the Belial puppet, the clarity of this
Blu-ray (more on that in a moment) shatters what little illusion was there, as
we can clearly make out the lines where he was pulled out of the mold. (Does
anyone else think that Belial looks like the shark from Jaws?) Still, in
this age of CGI, it’s not surprising that the effects in Basket Case look
weak. What’s important is that this truly odd and sick little film still manages
to entertain.
Basket Case is one of those films that will never make it into my "Top
10", but I never pass up a chance to see it. To put it simply, they just don’t
make movies like this anymore. If you’re unfamiliar with the work of Frank
Henenlotter and you’re a very brave soul, I recommend that you check out
Basket Case or my personal favorite, Brain Damage. It ain’t art, but
it’s a lot of fun.
Basket Case makes a mockery of current HIPPA laws on Blu-ray Disc
courtesy of Image Entertainment. The film is framed at 1.33:1 and the Disc
contains an AVC 1080p HD transfer which runs at an average of 20 Mbps. As noted
above, Basket Case is a very low-budget movie and it certainly looks like
one. Still, someone clearly did their best with this transfer. The image shows a
fine sheen of grain throughout, but I didn't note any significant defects from
the source material. On the whole, the image is dark, but the action is always
visible. The colors look pretty good, most notably reads. The image is somewhat
soft at times, but some shots do offer good detail. The Disc carries a Linear
PCM 2-channel audio track which runs at 48 kHz and a constant 2.3 Mbps. The
track sounds somewhat unbalanced at times, as certain sound effects, such as
footsteps, are unusually loud. Still, the dialogue is always audible and there
are some minor stereo effects.
The Basket Case Blu-ray Disc contains several extra features.
Henenlotter provides a new 2-minute intro to the film. We get an AUDIO
COMMENTARY from writer/director Henenotter, producer Edgar Ievins, actress
Beverly Bonner, and an un-credited Scooter McCrae, director of Shatter Dead.
This is a fun "tell all" commentary, as the four participants leave no stone
unturned as they discuss the making of Basket Case. Henenlotter and
Ievins do most of the talking as they discuss how they scraped together the
film’s budget and shot it over the course of a year. Henenlotter is good at
recalling details and gives us many tidbits about where the film was shot and
what the participants went on to do. More importantly, this quartet has a ball
watching the film and there excitement is contagious. This isn’t the most
technical commentary ever, but it’s certainly entertaining.
This trend continues with the featurette entitled "In Search of the Hotel
Broslin". In this 15-minute short (directed by McCrae), Henenlotter explains
that viewers question the location of the fictitious Broslin and thus
Henenlotter (accompanied by someone named R.A. Rugged Man (?)) takes us on a
tour of the shooting locations for the film (and other films as well). This is a
very candid featurette, (watch as Rugged Man tries to con his way into a
building!), but it gives us a nice look at Henenlotter and his natural charm and
sense of humor. The short ends with a look at Henenlotter’s personal collection
of Basket Case memorabilia. This is a must-see for fans of the film. Next
up is a 6-minute outtake reel, which shows both bloopers and behind-the-scenes
footage. Unfortunately, there is no production sound on this reel and it is
accompanied only by some funky music. Still, there are several good shots of
Henelotter operating the Belial puppet, including a shot where the puppet
refuses to break a window! This is coupled with a still gallery offering 75
pictures, made up of behind-the-scenes photos and publicity art. There are two
theatrical trailers, #1 running one-minute and #2 coming in at one-minute and
twenty-seconds. Both trailers are full-frame, and notice that they are from two
different distributors. There is also one 30-second TV spot, which is presented
full-frame. Then, we have two radio spots, which are each nearly a minute long.
These two spots focus on the original marketing campaign for the film, in which
theatre patrons were given surgical masks to help keep the blood off of their
faces. The Blu-ray Disc does not contain some of the extras found on the 2001
DVD. Radio interviews with actress Terri Susan Smith and excerpts from Beverly
Bonner's cable access show didn't make this new version.
Review Copyright 2011 by Mike Long