Basket Case (1982) Review

"What's in the basket?"

-Sharon

Duane Bradley (Kevin Van Hentenryck) arrives in New York City with a large basket and stays in a seedy hotel.  The other guests start hearing strange noises coming from his room and people are starting to end up dead.  Inside the basket is the deformed twin brother of Duane , Belial.  They were born conjoined and later surgically separated against their will.  The brothers are out for revenge on the doctors who separated them and Belial will kill anyone who gets in his way, even Duane if he's not careful.

What Works:

Basket Case is a sleazy b-movie and it knows it.  It doesn't try to pretend it's something it's not and really respect that.  A large chunk of the movie takes place in a seedy hotel, which gives us all sorts of unsavory characters and I really like the atmosphere of the film.  It's trying to be a gross movie and it totally succeeds at that.

Belial himself is very unpleasant to look at, but has a great design.  It's cheap, for sure, but that adds to the fun of this movie.  Belial is a memorable creature and a highlight of the film.

There is also some solid gore mixed with some stellar sound design.  Some of the kills are pretty gruesome and bloody, but the sounds we hear during the surgery scene are gnarly.  It's probably my favorite scene of the film.  It toys with us at first, not letting us see the cuts being made and we can only hear and imagine what it looks like.  Eventually they do show us the gore and it's very satisfyingly macabre.

Finally, the supporting cast is filled with a bunch of loonies and weirdos, all of whom do a good job and contribute to the seedy atmosphere of the film.  Best of all is the hotel manager (Robert Vogel), who is perfectly cast and absolutely hilarious.  He's a greasy and scummy guy, but he's sort of the hero of the story and he pops every time he is on screen.

What Sucks:

Kevin Van Hentenryck is not a very good actor and it's unfortunate he is our main protagonist.  He does fine with the crazier aspects of the character, but his regular lines are delivered poorly sometimes, but other times they're fine.  He's just an inconsistent character and is probably the weakest part of the film.

There are also a few scenes that aren't particularly interesting, with the biggest offender being Duane's father (Richard Pierce) wandering around his basement for far too long.  There were definitely a few bits and pieces along the way that could have been cut to keep the energy level of the movie up.

Finally, there is a scene where Belial molests Duane's love interest, Sharon (Terri Susan Smith).  The whole scene is very uncomfortable and not fun to watch at all.  Sharon's resulting death is the least interesting of the movie, to makes matters worse.  I really wish they had gone with a different direction in this scene.

Verdict:

Basket Case is a fun, sleazy movie that knows exactly what it is.  The creature design is great, the kills are solid, and there are some fun supporting characters that add a lot to the film.  The protagonist isn't great, there are a couple of boring parts, and the molesting stuff is a bummer to sit through, but, for the most part, Basket Case has got it going on.

 7/10: Good