Basket Case (1982)

Duane is a normal enough guy just hitting the big city of New York for the 1st time.  That is except for the fact he carries his deformed Siamese twin around in a basket.  The boys have hit town looking for the doctors that separated them against their wishes years before.  While they are tracking them down Duane falls in love with a receptionist and his brother, Belial, isn’t too pleased by that.  He is afraid that Duane is going to abandon him for a normal life.  This causes a big fight that escalates after they have finished their business. 

This is such a great movie.  The story is twisted and fun with the brothers running around New York City looking for some revenge.  It starts off quick with the boys taking care of the local doctor so they can get their file and head off after the others.  Once they hit the city the violence and mayhem doesn’t stop.  Belial isn’t too picky about who he kills and takes out pretty much anyone that sees him.  This is one of those quick paced movies that never lets up and makes for an entertaining 90 minutes. 

The setting of New York City is also a huge asset to Basket Case.  There is just something about the city in the ‘70s and early to mid ‘80s that makes anything shot there more interesting.  I’ve said before that the city is almost like having another character in the movie, but it is the truth.  There is a grittiness that the locations bring that just adds something to a movie like Basket Case that they couldn’t have afforded to create.  For example this works hand in hand with the hotel setting and the cast of characters that inhabit it.  You have all these sort of down on their luck and in some cases kind of sleazy characters.  Because of the setting they just seem to fit and are right for the story.  Would this story and these characters have worked as well in another setting?  I don’t think so.

Now at it’s core Basket Case is really just a creature feature.  So we need to talk about Belial.  He is brought to the screen with a combination of puppetry and stop motion animation.  These kinds of movies work best when the creature fits with the rest of the movie.  They manage to make Belial look dangerous and actually like something that could kill you if you ran into it.  This works because the rest of story is being taken seriously.  So the special effects are a real asset.  As for the kills they are executed decently, but obviously on a tight budget.  Still my inner gore hound was satisfied with what I saw on the screen.

Basket Case is one of those movies that I’ve been meaning to check out for years and just finally got around to watching.  I really shouldn’t have waited so long to watch it and suggest that if you haven’t seen it either that you don’t make my mistake.  I highly recommend Basket Case.

3 ½ out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer

© Copyright 2011 John Shatzer