Found a second Hollywood Video nearby with a wider selection than the one I have immediate access to so I decided to some catching up on classics I haven't seen. I figured Basket Case was a good place to start.

I had a feeling I was in for a treat after watching a few exploitation film clips spliced into one trailer by video distributor Something Weird. The clips from H.G. Lewis' infamous splatterfest Blood Feast caught my attention in particular. Sure enough, the movie lived up to my expectations.

Basket Case is the story of Duane Bradley, an odd young man who shows up at a Time Square hotel holding a wicker basket, which he carries virtually everywhere he goes. He's also loaded with cash. We immediately get the sense that something's up with this cat. Sure enough, inside the basket is Duane's Siamese twin brother, Belial, a hideous monster resembling a toothed pile of flesh colored mush. The two of them are on a mission to kill the surgeons who seperated them at childhood and left Belial for dead.

Everything seems to be going according to plan until Duane falls for one of the surgeon's receptionists. Belial doesn't take to kindly to this and before too long, the other hotel dwellers start to get curious.

As expected, the acting in Basket Case isn't great but it actually isn't that bad either. Duane is played differently than what is to be expected from a character like this. He keeps his cool and actually knows how to talk to people. If he didn't carry a basket everywhere he went, he might actually pass as normal but the fact that he does proves that his brother isn't the only basket case in the movie. The closest the movie comes to good acting is during Duane/Belial's backstory. Duane/Belial's father and aunt come pretty close to seeming like real people. But then, the movie's not really about the acting.

What the movie's really about is the blood and there's a lot of it. Heighlights include the seperation scene and a face full of scalpels. The kills are appropriately over the top but are still somewhat well done. The H.G. Lewis influences are quite obvious.

Despite being an 80's splatter flick, the movie does have its more suspenseful moments. During the first act, there're some decent tracking/P.O.V. shots that bring American Werewolf In London to mind. Other scenes include a bar scene with Duane and another hotel guest doing some drunken rambling, which quickly turns from lighthearted to creepy, and another scene with Belial stalking said guest in her bedroom.

All in all, pretty decent flick. Fans of 80's horror should enjoy if they haven't seen it already.

Hopefully, I'll have a review of the second movie I rented sometime tonight.

Yeah Basket Case is a classic Jimmy. It's funny that you've reviewed it today, because it was only last night that I mentioned it in my review of The Arizona Monstrosity on the horror thread. I liked the scene near the start when the drug dealer comes up to Duane and reels off a list of about 20 drugs, when he's asking him if he wants to score.