Summary:
Following the events of Basket Case, Duane and his Siamese-twin brother, a mutant named Belial flee the hospital where they are taken and join up with a troupe of wayward freaks.
My Thoughts:
So I watched the original “Basket Case” and thought it was pretty great. It knew perfectly what it was, but it rose above the schlocky subject matter to actually bring some emotional scenes. I think the first “Basket Case” is an unsung horror gem, so when I learned that not only the second, but also the third Basket Case movies were all written and directed by Henenlotter himself and starring original star Kevin Van Hentenryck (“Brain Damage”), I thought I better do myself a favor and check them both out.
“I understand your pain, Belial, but ripping the faces off people may not be in your best interest.”
You thought Duane (Hentenryck) and Belial died from when they fell off a roof at the end of “Basket Case”? You’re mistaken; they survived! The two are taken to a hospital where Belial immediately uses his psychic connection to Duane to help them escape. As they flee, they run into Granny Ruth (Annie Ross, “Short Cuts”) and her granddaughter Susan (Heather Rattray, “Across the Great Divide”). Granny runs a freak house and the twins return there. Meanwhile a reporter named Marcie (Kathryn Meisle, “The Greatest Showman”) tries desperately to find out what happened to Duane and Belial.
Okay, look. I know I shouldn’t expect a ton from a sequel about a man who carries his severed mutant Siamese twin around in a basket to kill people, but I was kind of expecting a little bit more than this. There’s a certain polished quality to this film that lacks the punk rock John Waters-eque feeling of the first film. It lacks rawness, and while there are some instances where that works to film’s benefit, for the most part it is to its determent. I feel like many of the characters have lost their bite as far as the cleverness of the writing goes, and many of the kills feel far more commercialized. The themes in this film, for the most part, revolve around Belial trying to fit in with his new family, with the occasional, sometimes completely pointless murder. Again, I know that this is a movie about a guy that carries around his brother in a basket, but the first movie at least had some sense for as why Duane would help Belial. Why did Granny Ruth carry Belial to kill the backwoods hick who claimed he had Belial on display? Who knows…
While I won’t say this was as much fun as the first one, there were certainly some entertaining moments. I gave this movie 2.5/5 Stars, but I didn’t entirely hate it. It has some really memorable moments (for better or worse), and some hilarious lines here and there. I can’t say I’d recommend it to anyone except huge fans of the first one. It’s not bad, but it’s pretty far from great too.
Verdict:
This movie held my attention to the end and that’s the most I can say for it. Again, not bad, not good, just perfectly mediocre. I’ll watch the last one because this one ends in a way that was… erm… bizarre. And, hey, at this point it’s becoming a tradition to review horror movies during October- why not round out the trilogy?
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