Basket Case (1981, Blu-ray Review)
Director: Frank Henenlotter
Cast: Kevin Van Hentenryck, Terri Susan Smith, Beverly Bonner
Image Entertainment & Something Weird Video / Region A / Unrated / 1.33:1 Fullscreen / Mono / 91 Minutes / GET YOURS FROM TLACULT
Disk Extras: Introduction by Frank Henenlotter / Commentary from Henenlotter, producer Edgar Levins and Beverly Bonner / Outtakes and behind the scenes footage / Trailers and TV spots / Featurette: In Search of the Hotel Broslin / Radio spots / Image gallery
——————–
New York City filmmaker Frank Henenlotter makes exploitation movies. He prefers that instead of horror because exploitation is more an attitude, less mainstream and altogether more in your face. I would consider him to be an underrated “body horror” (or “body exploitation” if he prefers) director in the vein of Cronenberg. Think about his films; The Basket Case trilogy has Siamese twins, one of whom is a violent, deformed freak. Brain Damage has a horrid drug dealing parasite. And Frankenhooker is a chick made from the parts of other chicks… the BEST parts. Henenlotter’s style is low budget, grimy, dark, funny and way over the top sexually and when it comes to the gore. The good and bad of that is the picture of the VHS or DVD is pretty shitty. Yeah, it can be endearing but sometimes you miss the real style and flair of a movie. Until now…
Duane and his Siamese twin brother Belial were surgically separated as adolescents because their father hated that Belial was so grossly deformed. He was kind of like a giant skin tag with teeth and claws growing out of Duane’s side. The doctors and dear old Dad decided to leave the disfigured brother in a garbage bag next to a dumpster to die but when Duane awakens from surgery, he saves his twin and is taken in by his aunt. Presently Duane and Belial have come to New York City to take revenge on the team of doctors who ripped them apart, literally. Duane hides his brother in a wicker basket which he takes with him almost everywhere including the sleazy, seedy Times Square hovel called the Hotel Broslin. While he’s staying here he meets an odd cast of hotel residents and also a love interest he picks up at the office of one of his victims. One by one Duane has Belial pick off the doctors in horrendously gory ways until the duo finds themselves at odds.
The concept for Basket Case is just insane and brilliant. Henenlotter is one perverse dude whose films will forever be relevant, shocking and offensive. The wonderful gore that Henenlotter is known for is on full display here. Special effects make-up artist extraordinaire John Caglione Jr. (C.H.U.D. and countless other films) does an amazing job with the little money he had to work with. The other effects like Belial’s stop-motion antics are even more hysterical now that you can see them so clearly with the new transfer. You can also see his seams in the up-close shots due to the HD but who the fuck cares? Belial’s eyes still creep me the fuck out though, they look too goddamn real! His infernal screaming makes me laugh like a mental deficient as he chomps away at his victims. To satiate the perverts out there, Terri Susan Smith, who plays the blonde love interest for Duane, has incredible big tits which we get to see as Belial gets his groove on with her.
This high definition 1.33:1 (4:3) transfer taken from the film negative and screen print preserves the original 16mm aspect ratio that he originally shot it in and intended it to look. When it was shown in theaters it was blown up to 1.85:1 widescreen and looked muddy and cramped. The 4:3 gives us lots of room and additional information sadly lost in the theaters and I believe some of the earlier home video releases. The new transfer also gives us new details that were blurry and murky before. The dark scenes are understandably a little gray in areas but the colors are vibrant and really shows off the neon sleaze. This movie was never meant to look like a Hollywood blockbuster, the 16mm was cheap and therefore usable. But this blu-ray disk makes this low-budget sicko of a movie look as good as when it was first shot. Henenlotte says as much in his introduction to the movie. Pick this up on 9/27/11 for the first time or double-dip if you have to because this release blows all others away.
NOTE: Trailer is not the new HD transfer.
