''Basket Case'' is a 1982 American
horror film
Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes.
Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...
written and directed by
Frank Henenlotter in his
feature directorial debut. Produced by Edgar Ievins, the film stars Kevin Van Hentenryck as Duane Bradley, a young man who seeks vengeance on the doctors and nurses who performed an unwanted surgery that separated him from his deformed
conjoined twin brother Belial, whom Duane hides in a large wicker basket.
''Basket Case'' was shot on
16 mm in
New York City, on a budget of around . The film was blown up to
35 mm for its original theatrical release in April 1982. Receiving mixed reviews upon release, it has since become considered a
cult film
A cult film or cult movie, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a cult following. Cult films are known for their dedicated, passionate fanbase which forms an elaborate subculture, members of which engage ...
,
and has spawned two sequels, ''
Basket Case 2'' (1990) and ''
Basket Case 3: The Progeny'' (1991), both of which were also directed by Henenlotter.
In 2017, ''Basket Case'' was selected for preservation by the
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), who oversaw a restoration of the film from its original 16 mm
camera negative.
The
4K restoration was released on
Blu-ray and
DVD by
Arrow Video in 2018.
Plot
Dr. Julius Lifflander is frightened by something outside his forest home. A shadowed creature then cuts his phone line and power before killing Lifflander by tearing at his face.
Duane Bradley arrives in
New York City with a locked wicker basket. He gets a room at a cheap hotel right down the hall from a
sex worker named Casey. He takes some hamburgers and feeds them to a creature in his basket which talks to him telepathically. When Duane is out the next day a man named Brian O'Donovan looks through Duane's keyhole in order to steal Duane's wad of money. Casey scares him off and informs Duane about it. Duane takes his basket to see Dr. Harold Needleman and befriends his assistant Sharon. Needleman contacts Dr. Judith Kutter and tells her about Duane's visit and Lifflander's death, but she ignores him. Duane goes back to Needleman's that night and empties the creature, who is revealed to be his twin brother Belial, onto the floor. Belial kills Needleman by gutting him with his claws.
The next day, Duane goes to meet Sharon at the
Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''; French: ''La Liberté éclairant le monde'') is a List of colossal sculpture in situ, colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City, in the U ...
and they kiss. Belial senses this and trashes the hotel room in a temper tantrum. He hides when the hotel manager opens the door to see what the commotion is. O'Donovan sneaks back inside to steal Duane's money but is killed by Belial when he opens the basket. Duane senses the attack telepathically and hurries back. Duane tells Belial that he deserves some time for himself. Duane, with the basket, run into Casey at a bar and drunkenly tells her that Belial is his twin brother.
A flashback relates their backstory. They were
conjoined at birth and their aunt was the only one who would take care of them. However, the twins were surgically separated at an early age by Dr. Lifflander, Dr. Needleman and Dr. Kutter, which explains their hatred for the doctors. They then murdered their father, which was ruled an accident, and lived with their aunt before she died. They then went to murder the doctors who had separated them. Belial deeply resents being cut off from his normal-looking brother, and Duane equally resents how heartless everyone acts towards his brother.
Back in the present day, Belial sneaks into Casey's bedroom and scares her out before stealing her panties. The next day, Duane and Belial go to Dr. Kutter's office. She tries to dismiss them, but Duane reveals who he is before Belial kills Kutter by shoving her face into a drawer of sharp objects. Sharon goes to Duane's apartment seeking safety after Needleman's death and they start to make love before a jealous Belial starts screaming and Duane is forced to toss Sharon outside.
That night Belial goes out to find Sharon while Duane has a dream that tells him about it. Belial sneaks into Sharon's apartment and tries to rape her. He attacks and kills her when she wakes up and screams. Enraged at his brother for his actions, Duane takes Belial back to the apartment in a scene that attracts several people to his apartment, which exposes the existence of Belial. Belial attacks Duane which results in the two brothers falling from a hotel window. They are knocked out as everyone surrounds their unconscious bodies.
Cast
* Kevin Van Hentenryck as Duane Bradley
* Terri Susan Smith as Sharon
* Beverly Bonner as Casey
* Robert Vogel as Hotel manager
* Joe Clarke as Brian 'Mickey' O'Donovan
* Lloyd Pace as Dr. Harold Needleman
* Bill Freeman as Dr. Julius Lifflander
* Diana Browne as Dr. Judith Kutter
* Tom Tolan as Belial Bradley (uncredited)
*
Jerry Butler as Casey Greeter #1 (uncredited)
Themes and interpretations
Author Jon Towlson wrote that the sexual desires of Belial in ''Basket Case'' provide the film with "a transgressive undercurrent", adding that Belial "can be seen as the
id, the dark side within us all. Duane is the eternal misfit who carries his monster—his darkness—around in a basket, afraid to let it out for fear of transgression.
John Kenneth Muir argued that ''Basket Case'' examines the topic of
abortion, highlighting a flashback scene that depicts Belial, "indisputably a life", being discarded in a trash bag: "
..is a deformed monster such as Belial actually ''worth'' saving? Should he have been mercifully terminated rather than forced to live as he is, a thing more than a man? ''Basket Case'' hedges its bets and appears to come down on neither side of the
pro-life/
pro-choice equation. On the one hand, Belial is a murderous, nasty little bugger, but on the other, he's clearly capable of expressing love."
Production
Development and filming
Writer-director Frank Henenlotter met producer Edgar Ievins during the production of the former's 1972 short film ''Slash of the Knife'', and the two eventually collaborated on an unrealized film project titled ''Ooze''. Henenlotter recalled, "We tried to get the money for ''Ooze'' and couldn't, so I just wrote a film that could be made for far less money. Right out in front, I wrote a film that was designed to be made for a low, low budget." The resulting screenplay, ''Basket Case'', was written by Henenlotter as he walked around
Times Square, which he called a "seedy, wonderful atmosphere."
He reportedly wrote the dialogue for the film on napkins while in the basement of a
Nathan's Famous.
''Basket Case'' was shot on
16 mm film
16 mm film is a historically popular and economical gauge of film. 16 mm refers to the width of the film (about inch); other common film gauges include 8 and 35 mm. It is generally used for non-theatrical (e.g., industrial, educ ...
. It had a budget of about ,
financed by a small production team largely with its own rental money to enable the film to be realized. It was shot in part on Manhattan's
42nd Street.
Henenlotter did not have control over the post-production, and the result was dark, murky, and converted to a different aspect ratio.
Special effects
The special effects for Belial consist largely of a
puppet
A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or Legendary creature, mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. The puppeteer uses movements of their hands, arms, or control devices such as rods ...
in some scenes and
stop motion in others. When Belial's hand is seen attacking his victims, it is really a glove worn by Henenlotter. The puppet is used in scenes with an actor and where the eyes glow red. The sequence for Belial's rampage used stop motion animation.
Release
''Basket Case'' was released theatrically in the United States by Analysis Film Releasing Corporation beginning in April 1982. Though filmed in 16 mm film, it was blown up to
35 mm for its original theatrical release.
It played as a
midnight movie
The term midnight movie is rooted in the practice that emerged in the 1950s of local television stations around the United States airing low-budget genre films as late-night programming, often with a host delivering ironic asides. As a cinematic ...
for several years after this.
Critical reception
Contemporary reviews
Diane Haithman of the ''
Detroit Free Press'' gave ''Basket Case'' a score of seven out of ten, writing that, despite it being "gratuitously bloody", as well as "occasionally much, much sicker" in its themes than other low-budget horror films of the time, "somehow, there's something likable, even touching about it. And that's scary enough in itself.
..It's like ''
E.T.'' as written and directed by a psychopath." A reviewer for ''
Variety'' called ''Basket Case'' "an ultra-cheap monster film
..with a tongue-in-cheek approach", commending the performances but criticizing the audio recording, "grainy blowup from 16 mm", and score.
John Stark, writing for the ''
San Francisco Examiner
The ''San Francisco Examiner'' is a newspaper distributed in and around San Francisco, California, and published since 1863.
Once self-dubbed the "Monarch of the Dailies" by then-owner William Randolph Hearst, and flagship of the Hearst Corporat ...
'', lamented ''Basket Case'' as a "crudely made, low-budget work
hatlacks the outrageousness and campiness that an underground film needs."
He characterized the film as "too preoccupied with its monster, a badly constructed special effect", and wrote that "the gore and hokey-looking beast keep deflating the film's clever premise."
A quotation by film critic
Rex Reed ("This is the sickest movie ever made!") that was used in promotional materials for the film was not from any printed review. Reed had sought out the film after hearing negative reviews and was asked his opinion after emerging from the cinema. Unknown to Reed, the person who asked him was director Frank Henenlotter. Initially furious that his comment was used to promote the film, Reed eventually relented and granted permission.
Retrospective assessments
On the
review aggregator website
Rotten Tomatoes, ''Basket Case'' holds a 77% approval rating based on 26 critic reviews, with an
average rating of 6.3/10. The consensus reads: "While ''Basket Case'' definitely delivers all the gonzo gore promised by its cracked premise, it's really set apart by its rich vein of genuine pathos."
In 2001, G. Noel Gross of
DVD Talk gave ''Basket Case'' a rating of five out of five stars, calling it "an undeniable, unavoidable and unforgettable clasSICK". In 2003, author Scott Aaron Stine wrote of the film: "The innovation and verve this movie displays surpasses its innumerable shortcomings, all products of a film that qualified as destitute before the cameras even started rolling. The fact that most of the 'actors' had probably never stepped foot in front of a camera prior to this only adds to the movie's squalid charm; their talents may be slim, but their presence is priceless."
In 2007, Muir called the film "a fine, competent low-budget effort that generates thrills and discomfort not only from its tale of symbiotic (and separated) Siamese twins, but from its authentic sense of place. New York City has never felt more delightfully and dangerously squalid." Muir goes on to call it "oddly compelling, deeply disturbing and inexplicably touching".
In 2011, David Harley of ''
Bloody Disgusting
Bloody Disgusting is an American multi-media company, which began as a horror genre-focused news site/website specializing in information services that covered various horror medias, including: film, television, video games, comics, and music. ...
'' wrote that the film's "warped sense of humor and brazen attitude make it a blast to watch and, ultimately, one of the best horror comedies of the 1980s." That same year, Heather Wixson of ''
Dread Central
Dread Central is an American website founded in 2006 that is dedicated to horror news, interviews, and reviews. It covers horror films, comics, novels, and toys. Dread Central has won the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award for Best Website f ...
'' gave the film three-and-a-half out of five stars, referring to it as an "insane masterpiece that lovingly celebrates the sometimes schlocky and sleazy side of cinema". Patrick Naugle of
DVD Verdict
DVD Verdict was a judicial-themed website for DVD reviews. The site was founded in 1999. The editor-in-chief was Michael Stailey, who owned the website between 2004 and 2016, and the site employed a large editorial staff of critics, whose reviews ...
wrote, "The movie is just pure shock value" but "a heck of a lot of fun."
2017 restoration
In March 2017, ''Basket Case'' was selected for preservation and restoration by the
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).
Henenlotter provided MoMA with the film elements required for the restoration,
including the original 16 mm
camera negative from which the restoration would be sourced.
In addition to the film's footage being restored in
4K resolution
4K resolution refers to a horizontal display resolution of approximately 4,000 pixels. Digital television and digital cinematography commonly use several different 4K resolutions. In television and consumer media, 38402160 (4K Ultra-high-definitio ...
, its audio also underwent a restoration, using the original
magnetic tracks of the sound mix as the source.
Home media
''Basket Case'' was released on
Betamax
Betamax (also known as Beta, as in its logo) is a consumer-level analog recording and cassette format of magnetic tape for video, commonly known as a video cassette recorder. It was developed by Sony and was released in Japan on May 10, 1975, ...
and
VHS by
Media Home Entertainment. It was released on
DVD in the United States by
Image Entertainment in 1998. In 2001, a
special edition
The terms special edition, limited edition, and variants such as deluxe edition, or collector's edition, are used as a marketing incentive for various kinds of products, originally published products related to the arts, such as books, prints, r ...
DVD release of the film was issued by
Something Weird Video
Something Weird Video is an American film distributor company based in Seattle, Washington. They specialize in exploitation B to Z films, particularly the works of Harry Novak, Doris Wishman, David F. Friedman and Herschell Gordon Lewis.
Ins ...
.
On September 27, 2011, Something Weird Video released the film on
Blu-ray. Henenlotter supervised the Blu-ray release himself, which features a restoration of the film taken from a 35 mm interpositive, with the original 16 mm negative (which had initially been thought lost) used as a reference.
In November 2017, it was announced that Arrow Video would be releasing ''Basket Case'' on Blu-ray and DVD, featuring the 4K restoration of the film overseen by MoMA. The release includes such bonus features as an audio commentary by Henenlotter and Van Hentenryck, interviews with members of the cast, a making-of featurette, and the 1972 Henenlotter-directed short film ''Slash of the Knife''. The Arrow Video release was issued on February 27, 2018.
Notes
References
Bibliography
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Further reading
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Basket Case (Film)
1982 films
1982 horror films
1980s comedy horror films
1980s monster movies
1980s slasher films
American comedy horror films
American slasher films
American splatter films
American monster movies
American body horror films
Films about twin brothers
Films directed by Frank Henenlotter
Puppet films
Films set in New York City
Films shot in New York City
Films using stop-motion animation
Parasitic twinning in culture
Parodies of horror
Something Weird Video
1982 comedy films
American exploitation films
1980s exploitation films
1980s English-language films
Films shot in 16 mm film
1980s American films