Basket Case 2 (1990)

Expected more

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

This movie was a direct sequel and continuation of the 1982 "Basket Case" movie. However, I can't claim to be much of a fan of the first movie, but I had the chance to get to sit down and watch all three movies, so I did."Basket Case 2" was a step in the wrong direction for the series. Why? Well, because it went from being semi-adequate in the first movie with it being just Duane and Belial, to featuring an entire freakish array of creatures in this sequel. So why is that a bad thing? Well, simply because the creature designs were just too much, didn't even pass as being believable in any sense what so ever. It just has to be seen to give it any justice, because those designs are hard to describe.Storywise then "Basket Case 2" was adequate, although I can't really say that I overly enjoyed the collection of freaks much, it just added a very silly comedy element to the movie. The story is about Duane and Belial coming to seek refuse with Granny Ruth, after having escape hospitalization, where they join with a group of freakishly deformed creatures. But news of their whereabouts and the possibility of exposing the freaks safe haven is looming around the corner.Kevin Van Hentenryck is back in the role as Duane, and does what he does, like it or not.I found "Basket Case 2" to be treading a slippery slope and it just took a turn for the worse and went in the wrong direction. I managed to stick with it to the end just because I wanted to see how it ended."Basket Case 2" scores a less than mediocre four out of ten stars from me.

Basket Case 2 takes place right after the original. And, if you've seen the original, you may be in for a surprise. The first instalment was pretty dark - about a young man who carries his psychotic miniature deformed brother around in a basket. However, number two immediately changes the genre slightly into more of a wacky comedy (yes, with a few murders in, but mainly it's played for laughs).A lot of people who saw the first film see it as a cult classic (yes, it's cheesy, but still pretty enjoyable nonetheless), so when number two shifted gear it took a lot of stick. Not only does the overall atmosphere change, but the central two characters - one being the 'basket case' himself - are slightly pushed out of the forefront of the story - another reason Basket Case purists see the sequels as a step in the wrong direction.However, if you look at number two on its own, it's reasonably enjoyable (in a silly kind of dumb way). Number three follows on from number two straight away, but keeps the same comedy feel with horror as a secondary part to it.I quite enjoyed all three of them. However, the general consensus is that you should stick to the first one if you like horror films. The next two are pretty wacky. You have to be in the mood for such silliness, or a complete basket case (which I obviously am).

Everyone's favourite surgically-separated Siamese-twins, Duane (Kevin Van Hentenryck) and Belial, return for more freakish fun in Basket Case 2, in which the brothers escape from hospital (after their near fatal fall in the first film) and find sanctuary at the home of 'Granny Ruth' (Annie Ross), who runs a haven for the physically deformed. Meanwhile, a reporter working for the gutter press is hoping for a major scoop by tracking down the brothers' whereabouts...Frank Henenlotter's sequel to his demented debut Basket Case once again displays a very unique vision and some incredibly dark humour, but made on a bigger budget, and away from the the original's 42nd Street locale, it lacks the trashiness, sleaziness and general grubbiness that gave the original film much of its charm.Also serving to weaken the film somewhat is the collection of grotesque freaks that reside at Granny Ruth's place, who include a buck-toothed, floppy eared creature, a frog-headed man, a living gargoyle, and one monstrosity with teeth as big as planks; these creations are inventive, but way too silly looking and childish in their mannerisms to be unsettling.Fortunately the positives outweigh the negatives: the cast pitch their performances perfectly, imbuing the film with just the right level of deranged lunacy; there are some inspired touches of twisted humour (gotta love the disabled badge on Granny Ruth's van and Belial's hilarious sex scene); and Henenlotter manages to deliver quite a few effectively macabre moments, my favourite bits being a meeting between Duane and a reporter in an Irish bar that doesn't go as planned for the newsman, a photographer's unexpected encounter with the freaks in Granny Ruth's attic, Duane coming face-to-face with a 'baby' that refuses to be born, and a suitably disturbing finale that sees the psychotic siblings joined together once again.

If you have seen the first movie you'll probably be wondering how can another Basket Case movie be a continuation of the first! Well, it's easy enough, but I don't want to ruin your "surprise"!! Anyway it begins just from where the first end. Soon, just a matter of few minutes, you are introduced in a new character that will also link this one to its sequel: that's Granny Ruth, one of the most entertaining in the whole series! This little, mid-aged lady together with an girl help Duane and Belial to escape and shelter from the police, chasing them for the first movie's massacre! Soon you discover that they're not alone in Ruth's house: not only the girl helping Granny Ruth is there, but an entire freaks community! Seems like Duane and Belial found a family, but soon troubles arrive as a journalist discover the Bradley twins shelter! It's time for massacre again!To be honest I found this one really entertaining, much more then the first one that was more like an"original" slasher movie! This time Gabe Bartalos give "tru life" to Belial, using an animatronic model instead of a still one animated in stop motion! It really looks great! Also the other freaks look really good, and there are really a lot! A social critic find place in this movie too: as Henenlotter did in all his movies, any "strange thing" you see here sounds like a metaphor of true life. So the freaks community been chased just for their "differences" from the mass seems to be a more intense and "intellectual" reading key for this movie, much more than you could have been thinking.Crazy and really good special effects, technically much better than the average low budget movie, funny plot: it's got much more than you could expect from a movie of this kind!I can't say if I prefer this one ore the next one, but sure this two are very different from the first Basket Case: here you will find true comedy painted in a gory way, but no suspense or thrills!