The Test of Time: Basket Case (1982)

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

We all have movies we love. Movies we respect without question because of either tradition, childhood love, or because they’ve always been classics. However, as time keeps ticking, do those classics still hold up? So…the point of this here column is whether or not a film stands the test of time. I’m not gonna question whether it’s still a good flick, but if the thing holds up for a modern audience.

Director: Frank Henenlotter

Starring: Kevin Van Hentenryck, Terri Susan Smith, and Beverly Bonner

When it comes to true cult classics, there's always an endless supply of them, and each one appeals to a very minute audience. Certain ones like Evil Dead or Rocky Horror Picture Show are easy to figure out their love while others…well, ain’t as easy to understand. Case in point: a certain release that could be 1982’s most underestimated film. It’s definitely cult, but does it still hold up?

Under the examination: Basket Case

He's little, angry, and ready to kill!

THE STORY: Simple Duane Bradley is an odd dude because wherever he goes he carries around a wicker basket. He rents shit hole room seven at the Hotel Broslin, where he encounters every New York stereotype circa 1980. But Duane isn’t a complete dope as he's not just sightseeing. Nope, he’s actually hunting a trio of doctors who did he and his brother Belial very, very wrong back when they were children. See, they were Siamese twins. Duane had all the looks and hair while Belial…didn't.. Along the way, Duane meets the pretty but equally dumb Sharon. Can they find happiness once Duane's revenge is complete? Or will something…or someone get in the way.

WHAT STILL HOLDS UP: Basket Case holds up as long as the viewer understands what the hell they’re watching. This is one kooky, off kilter, strange, gory, and borderline insane film working in the most bizarre sense. I recently had the chance to catch it on the big screen with around 150 folks. It’s a great movie to see with others because you learn how funny and unique trash cinema can be. Oh sure, we all laugh with our friends or even alone with a viewing, but watching something in masses solidifies that you aren't secretly insane. Hell, if a crowd can laugh during the most uncomfortable rape scene ever put to film then obviously director/writer Frank Henenlotter knew what he was doing…or got really lucky. 

Ahhhh!

The oddball tone is also perfect, but I don’t understand how it works. It shouldn’t. Basket Case is a goofy ass film that knows it’s goofy. High camp movies, something I usually loath, usually try too hard to be outrageous.  But Basket Case finds a balance between heart and stupid. It’s still campy, but Henenlotter made sure that no matter how ridiculous the story of Duane and Belial seems, we still care about them.

In fact, the story is pretty good for what the film is. It might be a revenge movie, but we give a damn about Duane even before his motive (and brother) is revealed. We sympathize with them. We understand their bond. Even though we know it’s probably a Styrofoam dummy that resembles a blob of dried pancake batter, we still feel for the little guy. I love any movie that makes use of puppets and Claymation. It’s not something really done anymore, but both effects really give off a certain freaky quality, never looking clean or realistic, but…cinematic.

Belial takes a bite out of crime.

WHAT BLOWS NOW: Figuring out what blows can be a difficult thing to determine because what can be bad about a movie that’s defined as trash by all accounts. For one it’s a cheap film, made for around $35,000 so immediately everything gets a pass for looking, well, cheap. And it’s dated in all the right and wrong ways. The hair styles, especially Duane’s, is so bizarre that I don’t know if it enhances or distracts. Sometimes when he's talking, my eyeballs drift to the mass of follicles attached to his head. It's an amazing sight. The sets are all bare bone, but again it gives the movie a look and style. Of course, the effects could be better, but then it wouldn’t be Basket Case. To truly examine what blows now, I’d say the flashback run too long and seem ill placed. Why not reveal at the beginning since the posters and title all come from what's in the basket? 

THE VERDICT: All the things that could be labeled as shitty would take away from the Basket Case's appeal as a cult flick. Give it a budget, give it a quality cast, give it proper effects, and then it would blow. What blows is what makes the movie work.

GET BASKET CASE DVD HERE

Something tells me she had to do many, many takes.