Many viewers disliked “The Basket Case” when they first saw it, but after rewatching it and liking it, they fell in love with it. Frank Henenlotter, the film’s writer-director, stated that he had not been sincere about the project, and he was undoubtedly shocked that it had become a cult classic and remained in the hearts of horror enthusiasts for all time. Henenlotter wrote and directed the first trilogy, titled “The Basket Case,” in 1982.
The story followed Duane Bradley, played by Kevin Van Hentenryck, when he arrived in New York City with a basket housing his conjoined twin, Belial, who had been separated from him due to a procedure. Their motivation for traveling to New York was to exact vengeance on the doctors who had performed unlawful operations.
“Basket Case 2” was released in 1990, and “Basket Case: The Progeny” was released in 1997, completing the trilogy. Would you believe that “The Basket Case” had a budget of $35000 and a crew of only 4-5 people? The majority of the names seen in the closing credits were completely made up. Despite its cheap budget and small team, the picture had a big impression on the audience.
“Basket Case” is one of those rare horror flicks that makes you feel so many different emotions that you can not seem to get the movie out of your head. With each film, the special effects improved. Belial was originally portrayed as a puppet in stop-motion animation, but with modern technology at their disposal, special effects with Belial were tremendously advanced. Let us now go through the many emotions associated with the trilogy.
Origin of Belial in Basket Case Released in 1982
Before exploring the movie, let us learn about the origin of Belial. Belial and Duane were conjoined twins in Glen Falls, whose mother died as soon as they were born. Belial, having a deformed head with a pair of hands, was attached to the right side of Duane. Belial’s appearance was so disgusting and monstrous that a social worker screamed with horror at their sight. Imagine the feeling of Belial, who had all the emotions of a human but not a body.
Even their own father despised them, especially Belial, who was just a “thing” or a ”monster” for his father. The only person who loved them was their aunt, who looked after them like their own mother. The two brothers not only shared flesh and tissues but they were also connected telepathically as they always could feel each other’s emotions.
They grew up to their teenage, psychologically connected, but their father’s hatred increased day by day as he kept consulting doctors regularly to operate and separate the twins. Finally, the three doctors, Dr. Lifflander, Dr. Needleman, and Dr. Kutter, agreed to do the operation.
Imagine the plight of Belial when his father is ready to sacrifice his life and let Duane have an everyday life. Duane and Belial were connected through tissues, flesh, and cartilages and luckily didn’t share any organ. The brothers screamed and protested very hard, but no one cared for their love, psychic connection, or Belial’s life.
The doctors performed the operation and ruthlessly removed Belial from Duane’s body, and threw him in the garbage in a plastic bag. After regaining consciousness, Duane ran in despair to look for Belial and, to his surprise, found Belial to be alive in the plastic bag. From that moment, Belial acquired vengeance towards the world, especially those who wanted to kill him. Their first target was their father, who was cut into halves. Their aunt was very sympathetic and looked after them till her death.
Their next target was Dr. Lifflander, who was brutally killed by Belial in the opening scene of the film. After killing him, Belial retrieved some documents containing the details of the remaining two doctors, and eventually, Duane arrived in New Tork with Belial hidden in a basket. He lodged in a cheap hotel named Hotel Brosnil, costing him $20 per night.
Duane was very caring about Belial and probably suffered from some guilt as he was able to enjoy a normal life, but Belial was not. In the Hotel, Duane met Casey, a friendly woman who warned him about another guest, Bryan O’ Donavan, who was too much intrigued with Duane from the moment he realized that Duane carried a load of cash.
The next day Duane arrived at the clinic of Dr. Needleman, where he befriended the receptionist Sharon featured by Terri Susan Smith and succeeded in booking an urgent appointment with the doctor and also fixed a date with Sharon. Duane showed his scars to Dr. Needleman, which reminded him of their operation in Glen Falls. As his calls for Dr. Lifflander went unanswered, he called Dr. Kutter, who advised him to deny any knowledge of Dr. Lifflander or Glen Falls.
Duane went to a movie hall to spend the time till Dr. Needleman would be free and dozed off. Later Duane took Belial to Dr. Needleman’s chamber and left him to ambush the doctor and took along his address book to locate Dr. Kutter. Meanwhile, Duane bought a television to keep Belial distracted while enjoying his date with Sharon.
But as soon as Duane kissed Sharon, Belial understood everything through their psychic connection. His insecurity and jealousy enraged him to such a level that he started vandalizing the room. All the guests ran to the room, but Belial again hid inside the basket before they arrived. After the guests returned, Bryan opened the room and entered to steal Duane’s money.
But he was attacked by Belial and murdered viciously. Duane was deeply disturbed by the emotional outburst of Belial, which he felt with his telepathic connection, and hurried back to the hotel. The police interrogated him once he reached the hotel, but nothing could be found to suspect Duane.
After this incident, Duane took Belial in the basket and went to a bar where he got drunk with Casey and spilled his entire life stories to her though she didn’t believe him. At night at Casey’s room, Belial started caressing her, but she awakened and, on seeing Belial, started screaming loudly. Amidst the commotion, Belial stole Casey’s panty and took it with him in the basket. From this one scene, we can understand so many things.
Firstly, Belial was jealous of his brother and, like his brother, wanted to get close to a girl. His frustration of having the urge to intimidate the opposite sex but his physical inability to fulfill his desire resulted in such action. Hence, stealing Casey’s panty was his way of getting close to a girl, something he would never be able to achieve in his life.
Many people might find this scene hilarious, but for me, this scene generated the unhappiness and misery of a person who is being punished by the world for no fault of his. All Belial wanted was love and attention from the world, but all he received was rejection and hatred.
The next day Belial and Duane visited Dr. Kutter and murdered her mercilessly. Back at the hotel, Sharon visited Duane, and as they started to make out, Belial again became incredibly agitated, and the situation went out of control while both Sharon and Belial were screaming loudly. After Duane forced Sharon out of the room, for the first time, he felt frustrated for not having a normal life and felt burdened with the responsibility of his deformed twin.
That night Belial wanted to kill Duane, but his love for Duane overpowered his momentary hatred, and so instead, he went to Sharon’s house and at first molested her. But with only his head, torso, and hand, there was no way he could satisfy his burning desire, and with this frustration, he killed Sharon. Duane reached there and took back Belial in the hotel where they fought like mad dogs, and both fell out of the window and were seen hanging from the edge.
This Time He is Not Alone: Basket Case 2 Released in 1990
Basket Case 2 picked up exactly where it had left in the prequel. Duane and Belial were severely injured from the massive fall from the window of Hotel Brisson and were taken to the hospital. But the media covered their entire story, and they were suspects of all the gruesome murders they had performed. Duane and Belial got together in the hospital and killed the police officer posted outside their door.
Then they tried to get away from the hospital as the police and hospital staff were busy confronting a journalist, trying to bribe the police officer for a five-minute interview with the two brothers. As they stepped outside the hospital, two ladies approached them in their van and introduced themselves as their distant aunt Granny Ruth and her granddaughter Susan, who had come to help them. They took the siblings to their mansion, where Belial was introduced to a community of deformed people like him, especially Eve, who was very much similar to Belial.
Meanwhile, Lou, an editor who thought that any news of the Bradley brothers would be good publicity for their paper, engaged the reporter, Mercie Elliot, to find out about the brothers. Mercie started calling people who were known to be dealing with monsters for their opinions and decided to check with Ruth, famous as Dr. Freak.
Back in the mansion, Ruth acted as a psychotherapist for Belial and talked about his separation from his brother. Ruth figured out that being separated, Belial not only lost his brother, but he lost a part of himself. Attachment with his brother made him feel like a whole person. He missed and needed his brother’s body, but he hated him at the same time. Ruth consoled him and told him that ripping off faces all the time should not be his only interest.
Meanwhile, Duane, who started liking Susan, was also relieved that Belial was happy in his own community and was not dependent on Duane anymore. He wanted to create a life with Susan, but she was not interested and loved the bizarre community. Duane spoke with Belial, too, stating his intentions to start a new life as Belial had found his partner, Eve. As Duane talked to Belial, Mercie visited Ruth for her opinion on the Bradley brothers, but Ruth stated that she despised Mercie and her magazine as they had constantly interfered in her life and the deformed people she tried to help, shattering their privacy and respect that they deserved. As Mercie was about to leave, Duane entered with Belial in the basket. Though Ruth introduced him as her neighbor Michael, Mercie immediately recognized them.
At night Macie returned to Ruth’s mansion, and her photographer quietly entered the house, but the deformed community was prepared for confrontation and murdered him savagely. The entire murder scene shot in the flickering spotlight of the camera rendered a pretty gruesome effect. Macie was able to figure out from the shadows that the photographer was killed and instantly contacted her detective friend, Phil. Phil called up Ruth’s house and forced Duane to meet in a bar.
All the monsters surrounded Phil at the bar, and as he was about to escape, Belial ambushed him, slaughtering him mercilessly. From Phil’s wallet, they found out Mercie’s address, and soon all of them invaded Mercie’s house. Belial pounced on Mercie but didn’t kill her, just converted her to another freak by disfiguring her face.
Everyone sat down at the mansion for a celebration dinner while Duane proposed to Susan, and they started making out. But soon, Susan disclosed that she had been pregnant for the last six years, but the baby didn’t want to come out of her womb. While she talked, a deformed monstrous figure popped out of Susan’s belly and disappeared inside again.
Duane freaked out to such an extent that he pushed Susan, and she accidentally fell from the window on the dining table and died. While everybody started looking for Duane, he took Belial and sewed him back to his body again as everybody stared in despair. They were back together again.
Basket Case 2 was also written and directed by Frank Henenlotter in 1990 with an increased budget this time, reflecting all over the film. Kevin Van Hentenryck looked really cute in this film with a clean haircut and a mature look. Annie Ross as Granny Ruth was so perfect with her performance that she never had to be directed.
Kathryn Meisley as Mercy Elliot and Heather Rattray as Susan were pretty good with their roles. The deformed, freaky people appeared hilarious and cartoonish rather than horrific, but that’s the way the director wanted it. The borderline between horror and comedy in this film is so thin that it makes the viewer confused many times.
I totally agree with Los Angeles Times, which wrote, ” It has everything it needs to become the cult film…. outrageous dark humor, bizarre horror, and genuine pathos”. Henenlotter was not interested in making any sequel of ”Basket Case” for many years. Once, he was trying to sell a script for a movie called ”Insect City” to his friend James Glickenhaus. He liked the script but knew that it wouldn’t sell. When Glickenhaus asked him if he had any more ideas, Henenlotter replied, ”Well, there’s always the sequel to Basket Case”.
It’s Time For A Bigger Basket – Basket Case 3: The Progeny Released in 1991
”Basket Case 3: The Progeny” commenced with some flashbacks from the prequel, while Duane and Belial were re-separated and Duane was stuck in a straitjacket and imprisoned in the basement of Granny Ruth’s mansion.
After a few months, Ruth organized a road trip to visit her ex-husband, Dr. Hal Rockwell, who would help deliver the babies of Belial and Eve as Eve’s pregnancy was complicated. Duane desperately wanted to say sorry to Belial and make things normal but Belial, still upset, refused to communicate with Duane. Ruth consoled Duane stating that time would heal all pains and things would be normal again.
On their way, Ruth stopped at a drug store, but the bus was parked in the wrong way. The sheriff burst into the store, but the sweet talk of Ruth calmed the sheriff, and he even carried her baggage. Meanwhile, Duane tried to sneak out of the window of the bus but was stuck in between. A young girl named Opal was passing by and wanted to help him and introduced herself as the sheriff’s daughter. But as soon as Ruth returned, Duane went back inside the bus.
As soon as the bus reached PeachValley and Dr. Hal examined Eve, her water bag had burst, and the bus was flooded. Eve was taken inside as Dr. Hal prepared for her delivery. Meanwhile, Duane requested Ruth to release him from the straitjacket, but as soon as Ruth left the room, Duane escaped from the mansion. Belial was taken out of the basket to accompany Eve for the delivery, but as soon as Belial saw Dr. Hal, he was reminded of the past and immediately attacked the doctor.
Junior Hal and Ruth helped Eve deliver twelve babies. Duane went and met Opal, who tricked him and put him behind bars. Opal found the criminal record of Duane, but when the two policemen, Bailey and Baxter, found about the $1 million rewards on the Bradley brothers, they asked Opal to wait for her father and headed for the Hal mansion to arrest Belial.
At the Hal mansion, when they saw the hoard of deformed men partying, they were taken aback, but for the sake of the reward, they sneaked through the window of the room where Eve and the twelve babies were resting. The policemen killed Eve, mistaking her for Belial, and kidnapped the twelve babies with them. The sheriff broke into the Hal mansion only to find everyone mourning the death of Eve, and he freaked out at the sight of the monsters as well as young Hal, who was also deformed.
In the meantime, Belial reached the police station and created a massacre by killing everyone. Opal quickly released Duane so that he could stop Belial, but Opal was accidentally killed too, who also crushed one of Belial’s children as she fell. As the sheriff arrived and attacked, Duane escaped with Belial in the basket, but the sheriff’s shot injured Belial. As Belial recovered from his injuries, Junior Hal built a robotic exoskeleton for him for the final encounter.
Ruth and her community reached the police station, but the sheriff made a deal with her to hand over Belial in exchange for the infants. As the sheriff arrived at the abandoned factory as per the deal, Belial and the sheriff fought hard, and Belial almost ambushed the sheriff, but soon the sheriff attacked again and tripped Belial.
Finally, it was Belial’s babies who attacked the sheriff together and killed him. In the end, Granny Ruth and her group of freaks took over a talk show and told the world that the freaks would no longer hide from the world and they would fight back against any oppression. She wished everyone to have a nice day and concluded her speech.
Can you believe the entire film was shot in 27 days? The third and final sequel was also written and directed by Henenlotter in 1991, while Hentenryck and Annie Ross were back as Duane and Ruth. Henenlotter was not very happy with the movie, but Hentenryck did a commendable job as Duane, who doesn’t realize his craziness.
There is no proper storyline to support the film as its prequels, and the writer-director admits it too. Many of the critics admitted that it might not have been one of the best films of Henenlotter but watching the movie was a lot of fun.
A lot of horror effects were diminished to make the film less gory. Most of the freak costumes were taken from the prequel, while a few new ones were added for the new film. The prosthetic makeups of the freaks were quite elaborate, and one of the actors even fainted with suffocation in the heat. There are some violent bloodshed and nudity to accompany the humor and horror, yet the film offers its entertainment to a great extent.
Future of The Basket Case Franchise
Frank Henenlotter was extremely happy with the ”Basket Case” Blue-Ray release from Image Entertainment and Something Weird Video in 2011, as his masterpiece would be available in high-def splendor. He was not happy with the sloppy look of the original print. Henenlotter also had revealed that he had been approached for a remake of the original ”Basket Case,” but he wanted to make sure that one of his favorite movies should be re-directed by the absolute right person.
Henenlotter also stated that he had plans for ”Basket Case 4”, but he was not sure about the storyline of the sequel, whether it should follow the original story as it had done with the trilogy or change the story completely. Till now, there is no silver lining for remake or sequel. The horror fans are still waiting to see a new basket so that they can eagerly ask again ”What’s in the basket”?