Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews

Lightdeossk Captivating movie !

Freaktana A Major Disappointment

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Mark Turner They say that horror films run in cycles. The first major one involved the classic Universal monsters like Frankenstein, Dracula and the Wolf Man. The second came during the fifties when we had radiated monsters that turned miniscule pests into giant sized terrors. The early sixties provided us with two forms of horror, the drive in low budget films that included the Poe tales from Roger Corman and the imported Hammer horror films more often than not starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. Then a lull came along with only THE EXORCIST on hand. All of that changed in the late seventies and early eighties.The invention of the VCR ushered in a new wave of horror films. Once again the budgets were low but the creative levels were high. Video renters couldn't get enough of horror films. Directors who went on to become famous were making many of these movies, cutting their teeth on combinations of editing techniques and gushing goo. It was a time when horror fans were delighted. Then Hollywood became aware of the money to be made. Suddenly it changed from creative output to franchise material. Many were good movies but it became all about how long a series could run.Fortunately fans can still partake in the classics of the time period, those 70s and 80s slashers and creature movies that made you force your parents to allow you to traipse down the horror aisle as the local video store. One such movie has now made its way to blu-ray format in the best offering of the movie ever seen. That movie is Frank Henenlotter's BASKETCASE.The movie tells the story of two brothers, Duane (Kevin Van Hentenryck) and Belial. Joined together at birth Belial was a malformed creature attached to his brother's side. When years later a medical team separates the pair, Belial survives and communicates with his brother. Together the two run away with plans of revenge against the medical staff who forced them apart.After an initial murder we find the pair walking the streets of New York in the 42nd Street area, notorious for the sleaziness of the times. Porn theaters, hotels with hourly rental rates and greasy food joints abound. Checking into a hotel with Belial in a wicker basket, Duane begins his search for the staff.As their story unfolds Duane meets and falls for a young nurse named Sharon (Terri Susan). With his attentions deviated from their goal Belial is enraged. The malformed monstrosity is not one to take lightly, especially when angered. Whether the pair will carry on with their plans for revenges or if Duane will find some sense of normality isn't revealed until the end of the film. The fact that the film generated 2 sequels answers part of that question. Both of those films are available on blu-ray now as well.To start with the movie provides us with a new monster, something that had disappeared from the film landscape for some time. After years of radiated creatures we now had one born for no apparent reason other than that he simply was. It would be a few more years before the genetically altered creatures arrived and Belial is not one of those. The effects used to create Belial were practical effects, puppets and the like, giving him a more sinister appearance than any computer generated creature has had. That added to the terror aspect of the character, making him frightening, something you'd hope to never encounter. And at the same time there is an amount of sympathy imbued in the character, a monster not by choice but by birth. In this way he becomes the new Frankenstein in a modern world.As I said earlier the movies from this time period had some of the most miniscule budgets ever known to man. Many were shot on the fly, no permits sought out for locations, shot in actual buildings rather than sets and using actors who were lacking on so many levels. But all of that combined to give films like this one a charm all their own. Hentenryck's delivery of lines leaves much to be desired but it also makes his performance as an innocent in a nasty world more believable. The side actors also offer lines in the worst way possible but who cares? This is a creature feature and no one is looking for Shakespeare.Henenlotter has delivered the goods with this film, his first feature length movie. Many directors their first time out try to dazzle us with their techniques, film angles, effects laden shots and more. Henenlotter just wants to tell us a story and frighten us at the same time. That makes for a much more enjoyable film. The seediness of the area the film takes place in is embraced by Henenlotter, a world most of us will never visit but we get a glimpse of here from someone familiar with it. It is a world that suits Duane and Belial Bradley and their story.Arrow Video has done their standard amazing job with this one. To begin with their presenting the film in a digital 4k format making it the cleanest possible version you'll find of the film. In addition to that they've loaded the film with a ton of extras sure to make any fan foam at the mouth. Those include a brand new audio commentary track with Henenlotter and Hentenryck, "Basket Case 3 : An Interview with Duane Bradley" a look back at the character with Henenlotter, "Seeing Double: The Basket Case Twin" a new interview with Florence and Maryellen Schultz the twin nurses from the film, a brand new making of featurette with interviews of producer Edgar Ievins, casting person/actress Ilze Balodis, associate producer/effects artist Ugis Nigals and Belial performer Kika Nigals, "Blood, Basket and Beyong" a new interview with actress Beverly Bonner, "Belial Goes to the Drive-In" a new interview with film critic Joe Bob Briggs, an outtakes featurette, "In Search of the Hotel Broslin" an archive featurette, "Slash of the Knife" a short film made by Henenlotter in 1972, "Belial's Dream" a brand new Basket Case inspired animated short by filmmaker Robert Morgan, behind the scenes of "Belial's Dream", trailers, TV spots, radio spots, an extensive still gallery, a reversible sleeve with original artwork by Sara Deck and for the first pressing only a collector's booklet with new writing on the film by Michael Gingold. Whew! That's an exhaustive amount of extras for a movie that probably costs less than all of these combined!Fans of the film will rejoice at the opportunity to revisit Duane and Belial once more. They'll revel in every blood soaked moment that appears on screen. Those who have never seen the film will discover just how great it truly is, enough so that they might decide to gather the entire set of three films. In any event this edition from Arrow shows once more how dedicated they are at offering the best quality version of the films they carry. A fan couldn't ask for more.

Bodo "What's in the basket?" — a question asked time and time again in this 80's horror flick. What's actually in the basket is our protagonist's deformed Siamese twin brother. The two have lived in upstate New York countryside and they're now in Manhattan to chase down the doctors that separated them against their will.The premise of BASKET CASE is surprisingly original and actually quite moving. The protagonist's acting is mostly convincing, which manages to convey a genuine sense of tragic despair. Most of the characters and their actions make sense and you can be genuinely moved by this movie, if you let yourself be moved.That said, you have to suspend a lot of disbelief to appreciate BASKET CASE. In particular, the deformed brother has no legs and basically no torso, so it's not quite sure why he's so good in killing people. I constantly found myself asking: Why don't they just run away? Shouldn't they be faster? And if he's so light (given that he's carried around in a basket case throughout the entire movie), shouldn't they just be able to throw him away?The implausibility of the "action" scenes and the hilarious overacting by some of the victims makes the death scenes inadvertently comic. Add to this the fact that the deformed brother's make-up effects, although compellingly unique, also look quite rubbery.My verdict is that this is a truly interesting premise with strong motifs of social rejection that is bogged down by its execution, both in terms of special effects and in terms of acting. Nonetheless, worth a watch for its uniqueness and for its semi-cult status.

Smoreni Zmaj Good, interesting idea, destroyed by low budget. Siamese twins, one of which looks like overgrown tumor on the side of the other, are separated against their will. Years later they are on the killing spree to get revenge. With today's technology and medium budget this could be decent horror movie. 35 years ago and without money authors should have taken different approach. If they could not afford production on satisfying level, instead of completely ridiculous horror scenes, they should have based their movie on psychological effect and with some skillful directing let our imagination strike terror in our bones. But they decided to destroy potentially great horror by showing us extremely unconvincing bloodshed and lame monster that is everything but scary. Sure, there are movies that go so deep into stupid that they penetrate all through to the other side and we get hilarious result. But this one is not stupid enough to border with genius. It just stupid. and that's a shame, because this story has big potential and even quite a psychological depth.4/10

FlashCallahan Country boy Duane Bradley takes a motel room in New York with no luggage other than a basket. But it contains his surgically removed Siamese twin who is not only physically deformed so badly the doctors don't really consider him human, but is also the vindictive drive of their trip, with the purpose to kill off all those he blames. But in the reception of one of those doctors, Duane gets his first ever date and wants to start a new life too, but his brother has other pans......This is another one of those movies that I should have seen a long time ago, because I just can't see where the love for this film comes from. Its funny for all the wrong reasons, the acting is appalling, I'm sure a lot of those people didn't know they were being filmed, especially those in the lobby, and my gosh, that scene where Belial has a freak out, is one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time.I appreciate the film is over thirty years old, and the budget was minuscule, but please, Craven made a more effective horror in The Hills Have Eyes almost eight years earlier, and I'm sure the budget wasn't much more.The film has such a dirty feel to it, the setting, the people, the hair, it's all grimly lit, and this detracts you from the absurdity of it all.I'll see the other two for sure, but honestly, I'm not a fan.