Basket Case

If writer/director Frank Henenlotter did nothing else right in his career, he certainly knew how to capture sleazy ol' New York City.  1982's BASKET CASE is the second film from him I've seen, and like the later BRAIN DAMAGE it just oozes with 42nd Street grime.  I've heard the same about his FRANKENHOOKER but I'll have to get back to you on that.  A seedy hotel that is the setting of much of this film is captured so vividly I could almost smell and feel it.  That's atmosphere, dear viewer, and the most essential element in film, especially horror.  I didn't find this movie to be particularly scary or even creepy, but its capture of low life in the big city absolves the shortcomings therein.

Duane (Kevin Van Hentenryck) appears like any other new-to-the-Big Apple innocent, save the curious wicker basket that rarely leaves his side.  His fellow residents at the Hotel Broslin eye him with suspicion, and are dismayed by the ruckus and screams that emanate from his room.  We learn before they do that in said basket resides Duane's brother Belial, a grotesque creature that was once Duane's conjoined twin before (as we learn in an extended flashback) their father had it surgically removed.  The brothers are on a mission to dispatch Drs. Needleman (Lloyd Pace) and Kutter (Diana Browne), who performed the procedure.  

Belial communicates with Duane mentally.  Thankfully, we never hear its voice (imagine how ridiculous that might've been?). We do see the miniature killer scamper across the floor via some cheesy stop motion effects, which provide many of the film's biggest laughs. 

Duane, aside from this murderous quest, is a decent kid who just wants to have a girlfriend.  But when he passionately kisses Sharon (Terri Susan Smith), Needleman's receptionist, at the Statue of Liberty, Belial flies into a rage, having sensed the event telepathically back at the hotel.  This will lead to one of the wildest and funniest scenes I can remember.

There are also the expected over the top gory killings, which look so fabricated I couldn't get grossed out or rankled in any way.  On a shoestring budget, they were quite well done, by the way.  Especially the multiple scalpels in the face bit.  But honestly, the shots of Times Square and many of the filthy, rotting interiors were far more unsettling. 

BASKET CASE is a fun little item, long a cult fave and staple at theaters that show "midnight movies."  It has everything you could desire in an '80s cheapie thriller, including some abysmal acting and line readings.  It plays kinda like a wannabe Cronenberg movie, with a dash or two of DePalma.  Body horror to the nth, without the cerebral leanings.  Yet, it might prove a worthy study for psych majors (with a minor in film) concentrating on co-dependence and maybe even sexual dysfunction.