Basket Case (1982)

Basket Case is a 1982 American horror film, written and directed by Frank Henenlotter, and produced by Edgar Ievins, which was released in 1982. It has two sequels, Basket Case 2 and Basket Case 3: The Progeny by the same director.

It is notable for its low budget and strong violence. The film gained an audience in the 1980s due to the advent of home video.

Plot
A young man carrying a big basket that contains his deformed Siamese-twin brother seeks vengeance on the doctors who separated them against their will.

Cast
Cast in alphabetical order.
 * Beverly Bonner as Casey
 * Diana Browne as Dr. Judith Kutter
 * Joe Clarke as Brian 'Mickey' O'Donovan
 * Bill Freeman as Dr. Julius Lifflander
 * Rick Hearst as Brian
 * Kevin Van Hentenryck as Duane Bradley
 * Sean McCabe as Young Duane
 * Ruth Neuman as Aunt
 * Lloyd Pace as Dr. Harold Needleman
 * Richard Pierce as Duane's Father
 * Annie Ross as Granny Ruth
 * Terri Susan Smith as Sharon
 * Robert Vogel as the Hotel Manager
 * John Zacherle as Aylmer

Special effects
The special effects for Belial consist largely on a puppet in some scenes and stop motion in others. When Belial's hand is seen attacking his victims, it is really a glove worn by Henenlotter. The full-size Belial puppet is also seen in the scenes where Belial is seen with an actor or where his eyes glow red. The Belial rampage sequence used stop motion animation.

Reception & Production
In a scene near the end when Duane gets into a subway train with Belial, a man with his supposed ex-girlfriend is seen. The man right in front of Duane looks drugged and that scares Duane off. The man is supposed to be Brian from Frank Henenlotter's later film "Brain Damage" which was a cameo.

Basket Case received fair ratings, earning 79% at Rotten Tomatoes out of 22 reviews.

Film mistakes

 * During the bar sequence, Duane refers to his brother, calling him Duane, instead of Belial.
 * As Dr. Cutter's date pours wine, the wine bottle swaps from her right to her left hand.
 * When O'Donovan is rummaging through Duane's room he finds Duane's money in a stack. Belial then kills him. Afterwards Duane returns and a cop searches his room and finds his money but now it's rolled up with a rubber band around it.
 * When Duane is sleeping Belial opens his basket and looks at him, the basket lock latch disappears/reappears.
 * When the guy steals Duane's basket at the movies he kicks the lock off, including the latch, but in the next shot, when Duane runs into the bathroom, part of the latch is still connected to the basket.
 * After Duane's father was killed, the fake legs fell on a rubber mat, which was clearly visible.
 * When Casey enters Duane's room to drop him off after he drinks a lot she proceeds over to the basket. By the basket is the file Duane and Belial retrieved after the first kill. On it is blood that is still red. With the amount of time that has passed it should have dried up and been maroon.
 * When Dr. Cutter is being strangled and bitten by Belial in her office, the crew member's arm can clearly be scene operating the puppet in multiple shots.

Trivia

 * Most of the credits that appear on the end of the film are fake. The crew was very small and rather than repeat the same names over and over again they decided to just make up names.
 * 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!".
 * In addition to providing a face cast for the Belial puppet, Kevin Van Hentenryck also performed the mutant twin's voice effects.
 * According to Frank Henenlotter, the hallways and most interior settings of the Hotel Broslin featured in the film were constructed from paper mache and cardboard.

Home media
The film was released on January 5, 1995 on VHS by Anchor Bay Entertainment. This was released on April 28, 1998 on DVD by Image Entertainment. This was released on Blu-ray on September 29, 2011 by Image Entertainment.