Around 1985 or so I watched a movie named Basket Case and it was one of the grittiest, disturbing, and graphic low budget films I had ever seen. A few years ago, I re-watched it and aside from it being tamer compared to today standards; try to imagine my surprise when I discovered it had sequels. So here we are in the middle of The Countdown to Halloween, and I decided part 2 was exactly what I needed to watch next. As was the case with the first Basket Case film, part two is written and directed by Frank Henenlotter who is also responsible for bringing us Frankenhooker that I included in last year’s countdown or maybe it was the year before. I dunno, I don’t feel like looking it up.
Also starring in part two is Kevin Van Hentenryck (remember the good old days when everyone had last names like Smith of Jones) who stars as Duane Bradley the brother of a homicidal mutant named Belial. After surviving the ending of the previous film, the two brothers escape from the hospital and are rescued by a house filled with other disturbing individuals. The leader of this group is Granny Ruth, played by Annie Ross (Pump Up the Volume and Witchery) who runs the home with the help of Heather Rattray (Across the Great Divide and its sequel The Return of the Wilderness Family) who plays her granddaughter Susan. Part two is played more as a comedy horror than the first film, which is evident with some of the creature effects.
If you’ve seen Beetlejuice, then you would recognize some of these looks. Just to name a few of the creatures we meet (their names giving you a little insight on what they look like): Worm Man, Mouse Face, Frog Boy, Platehead, and Man with 27 Noses. At first things go smoothly but soon Duane is discovered by investigative reporters who tip off the police to the brothers whereabouts. Duane realizes he won’t stay hidden much longer and needs to go on the offense with the help of his brother. Ya know, I like goofy horror spoofs that don’t take themselves so seriously and Basket Case 2 falls right into that category. Deliciously twisted and sick that’s as funny as it creepy. I gave the original three stars, and this ups the fun just enough to bring the score to three and a half giggling gargoyles out of five.
WHOA! It's the green one! See I'm catching on. OK so here are my points of order with THIS ONE:
ReplyDelete1) Yes, I've had BASKET CASE 2 on blu ray for about 100 years . . . and still haven't watched it. It's buried in my mountain of mad stacks next to FRANKENHOOKER (Which I also still haven't watched)
2) Annie Ross! Love her. You may not be aware she was also a well-known singer back in the day with solo albums as well as being part of the jazz vocal group Lambert, Kendrick & Ross which gave us that perennial Halloween favourite song "Halloween Spooks"!
3) Mouse Face? That's Taylor Swift, isn't it?
4) Yeah I love the first BASKET CASE but this sounds completely different in a good way. I've gotta find my blu ray of it one of these days . . .
Oh and I forgot to call you a dirty SOB because you kidnapped Boris the Spider and have him crawling around the top of your blog! I hate you, you wonderful, resourceful, Halloween God you!
ReplyDeleteI just watched Basket Case 3 and guess what Annie Ross does some of the singing you mentioned in it. And as far as Boris is concerned you can get him for your blog also just copy and paste it and put it on your layout. I got it from The Countdown to Halloween main blog. He's also on the side of my blog as well!
ReplyDeleteThis film is the kind of silly nonsense I'm always hoping for with these kind of movies.
ReplyDeleteYou got that right Joe, the first one was decent but two and three are bonkers and I mean that in the best ways possible.
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