Basket Case (film)

Did You Know?

• Basket Case was limited released on December 31, 1981 in New York.
• Author Jon Towlson wrote that Belial's sexual desires provide the film with 'a transgressive undercurrent' and that Belial 'can be seen as the id, the dark side within us all.'
• John Kenneth Muir argued that the film examines the topic of abortion, highlighting a flashback scene where Belial is discarded in a trash bag.

Plot

A doctor named Julius Lifflander is terrified by an unseen presence outside his home near Glens Falls, New York. The thing cuts his phone line and power, then kills him by tearing at his face. Duane Bradley arrives in New York City carrying a locked wicker basket. He checks into a cheap hotel, where a sex worker named Casey lives down the hall. Duane feeds hamburgers to a creature inside the basket that communicates with him telepathically. While Duane is out, a man named Brian O'Donovan tries to peek through Duane’s keyhole to steal his money, but Casey chases him off and warns Duane. Duane visits Dr. Harold Needleman with his basket and becomes friendly with Needleman’s assistant, Sharon. Needleman calls Dr. Judith Kutter about Duane’s visit and Lifflander’s death, but she ignores him. That night, Duane empties the creature onto the floor, revealing it as his twin brother Belial. Belial kills Needleman by gutting him with his claws. The next day, Duane meets Sharon at the Statue of Liberty and they kiss. Belial senses this and trashes the hotel room in a jealous rage, hiding when the manager checks on the noise. O’Donovan sneaks in to steal Duane’s money but is killed by Belial when he opens the basket. Duane feels the attack telepathically and rushes back. He tells Belial he deserves time alone. Later, at a bar, Duane drunkenly tells Casey that Belial is his twin. A flashback shows they were conjoined at birth, cared for only by their aunt, and surgically separated as children by Lifflander, Needleman, and Kutter. This explains their hatred for those doctors. They later killed their father, ruled an accident, then lived with their aunt until she died. Belial resents being cut off from his normal-looking brother, and Duane resents how cruelly others treat Belial.

Production

Writer-director Frank Henenlotter met producer Edgar Ievins during the production of Henenlotter's 1976 short film The Slash of the Knife. They collaborated on an unrealized film project titled Ooze, but when funding fell through, Henenlotter wrote a screenplay designed for a low budget. He wrote Basket Case while walking around Times Square, calling it a "seedy, wonderful atmosphere," and reportedly wrote dialogue on napkins in the basement of a Nathan's Famous. Henenlotter was influenced by Herschell Gordon Lewis and dedicated the film to him. The film was shot on 16 mm film during long weekends in 1981 on a budget of about $35,000, financed by a small production team using its own rental money. It was shot partly on Manhattan's 42nd Street, with Hotel Broslin scenes filmed in a friend's loft. The hotel hallways and rooms were made from cloth by Henenlotter, Ievins, and others. Additional locations included Franklin Street, Tribeca's Hubert Street, Liberty Island, and the Hellfire Club. The film was edited at Phantasmagoria, but Henenlotter did not have control over post-production, resulting in a dark, murky look with a different aspect ratio. Henenlotter's friend Ilze Balodis recruited students from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, including Kevin Van Hentenryck as Duane Bradley, who also provided Belial's vocal effects. Several actors had worked on Slash of the Knife. Terri Susan Smith, who played Sharon, wore a wig because her head was shaved for her punk band. Beverly Bonner was cast as Casey after Henenlotter saw her in the stage show Women Behind Bars. Due to the low budget and funding running out halfway through, remaining crew members took on multiple roles.

Critical reception

Diane Haithman of the Detroit Free Press gave Basket Case a score of seven out of ten, calling it "gratuitously bloody" and "occasionally much, much sicker" than other low-budget horror films, but finding it "likable, even touching" and comparing it to "E.T. as written and directed by a psychopath." A Variety reviewer called it "an ultra-cheap monster film" with a "tongue-in-cheek approach," praising performances but criticizing the audio recording, "grainy blowup from 16 mm," and score. John Stark of the San Francisco Examiner lamented it as a "crudely made, low-budget work" lacking the outrageousness needed for an underground film, criticizing the monster as a "badly constructed special effect." A quotation by film critic Rex Reed—"This is the sickest movie ever made!"—used in promotional materials came from a personal encounter with Henenlotter, not a printed review; Reed initially was furious but later relented. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 78% approval rating based on 27 critic reviews, with the consensus noting its "rich vein of genuine pathos." In 2001, G. Noel Gross of DVD Talk gave it five out of five stars, calling it an "undeniable, unavoidable and unforgettable clasSICK." Author Scott Aaron Stine wrote in 2003 that the film's "innovation and verve" surpass its shortcomings, and the actors' inexperience adds to its "squalid charm."

Home media

Basket Case was released on Betamax and VHS by Media Home Entertainment. Image Entertainment released it on DVD in 1998, and Something Weird Video issued a special edition DVD in 2001. Something Weird Video released a Blu-ray on September 27, 2011, supervised by Henenlotter, featuring a restoration from a 35 mm interpositive with the original 16 mm negative used as reference. Arrow Video released a Blu-ray and DVD on February 27, 2018, featuring a 4K restoration overseen by MoMA, with bonus features including an audio commentary by Henenlotter and Van Hentenryck, interviews, a making-of featurette, and Henenlotter's short film The Slash of the Knife.