Basket Case (film)
| Basket Case | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Frank Henenlotter |
| Written by | Frank Henenlotter |
| Produced by | Edgar Levins |
| Starring | Kevin Van Hentenryck Terri Susan Smith Beverly Bonner |
| Music by | Gus Russo |
| Distributed by | Analysis Film Releasing Corporation |
Release dates | August 31, 1983[1] |
Running time | 91 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $35,000 |
Basket Case is a 1982 horror comedy film written and directed by Frank Henenlotter. It has two sequels, Basket Case 2 (1990) and Basket Case 3: The Progeny (1992) by the same director. It is notable for its low budget and over-the-top violence. The film gained an audience in the 1980s due to the advent of home video.
Plot
Naïve Dwayne Bradley (Hennenlotter regular Kevin Van Hentenryck) arrives in New York City carrying a basket containing his monstrously failed abortion of a brother, Belial, who is so inhumanely malformed that the few people who know of his existence doubt he can even be considered a human. After their mother died giving birth to them, the conjoined twins' father loathed the sight of them and referred to them simply as "the child and the monster". Embittered by the death of his beloved wife, he turns to three doctors who are his last hope of separating the twins so that Dwayne can have a normal life and Belial will hopefully die. Surviving the operation, the twosome track down and murder the three doctors responsible for separating them.
Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Kevin Van Hentenryck | Duane Bradley |
| Terri Susan Smith | Sharon |
| Beverly Bonner | Casey |
| Robert Vogel | Hotel manager |
| Diana Browne | Dr. Judith Kutter |
| Lloyd Pace | Dr. Harold Needleman |
| Bill Freeman | Dr. Julius Lifflander |
| Joe Clarke | Brian 'Mickey' O'Donovan |
| Ruth Neuman | Aunt |
| Richard Pierce | Duane's Father |
| Sean McCabe | Young Duane |
| Dorothy Strongin | Josephine |
| Ilze Balodis | Social Worker |
| Kerry Buff | Detective |
| Tom Robinson | Thief in Theater[2] |
Trivia
- When Duane checks into the Hotel Broslin he takes out a wad of cash. According to Frank Henenlotter, the film's director, this was the film's entire budget.
- To try to make the film appeal to a comedy crowd, the original distributor cut all the gore scenes out of the film. They were eventually put back in and re-released in theaters with the subtitle "The Full Uncut Version!"
- Most of the credits that appear on the end of the film are fake. The crew was very small and rather then repeat the same names over and over again they decided to just make up names.
- The Bar scenes were shot in a S&M club in Manhattan which is now know as "The Hellfire Club". The bar was so big that they also used it as the Bradley's basement and the crew had to hide all the sex toys including a large swing (which is still in the club to this day). The original buzz saw used to kill Duane and Belial's father used to hang above the door of the club until it was eventually stolen.
- The Hotel Broslin doesn't actually exist, and the main lobby parts were filmed in a propped-open service elevator on Franklin Street, which is in the Tribeca section of New York. The scene at the end where Duane and Belial are hanging from the Hotel Broslin sign was actually filmed on an exterior building Downtown on Hubert Street, which is near Franklin Street. All the interior shots were done at several other locations, which were mainly friends' houses, etc.
- During the shooting of Terri Susan Smith's death scene the crew became offended and walked out of the production. This would happen again during the director's next film Brain Damage (1988).
- The original ending included Belial walking around Manhattan. But the director and crew soon realized that they did not have the budget or technical requirements to pull off such a scene. Instead Frank Henenlotter wrote the scene with Duane streaking through New York. He called Kevin Van Hentenryck to get his approval. Kevin loved the idea and it was shot the next night.
- Duane's streaking scene was shot without permits on a cold winter's night. To shoot the scene the crew would first clear the sidewalks of any objects that might hurt Kevin Van Hentenryck if he stepped on them. Then he was let of out a heated van on one side of the block and met on the other side by another heated van. Once picked up the van would drive him to another block. This was repeated until they got the desired amount of shots [3]
Special Effects
Frank Henenlotter created the famous Belial rampage sequence using stop motion animation. When Belial's hand is seen attacking his victims, it is really a glove worn by Henenlotter. Belial himself is a puppet, however, for the rampage scene they used a clay model. The clay model was also used for the scenes in which Belial's eyes glow red. [4]
Releases
The film is available on DVD, published by Something Weird Video.
References in popular culture
The first segment of the "Treehouse of Horror VII" episode of The Simpsons, "The Thing and I", has a similar plot. The episode commentary on The Simpsons season eight DVD acknowledges the similarity, but denies that the concept was taken from this film.
References
- ^ Basket Case (1982) - Release dates
- ^ Basket Case (1982) - Full cast and crew
- ^ * Basket Case Trivia at IMDb
- ^ This info is provided in the segment "In Search of Hotel Broslin" in the special features of the Basket Case DVD