Basket Case 2 (1990)

Duane and his basket-bound mutant brother are taken in by a secret home for wayward freaks with journalists hot on their tail.

Director:

Frank Henenlotter

Writer:

Frank Henenlotter

Stars:

Kevin Van Hentenryck, Judy Grafe, Annie Ross

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kevin Van Hentenryck	...	Duane
Judy Grafe	...	News Woman
Annie Ross	...	Granny Ruth
Heather Rattray	...	Susan
Chad Brown	...	News Man
Beverly Bonner	...	Casey
Leonard Jackson	...	Police Commissioner
Alexandra Auder	...	Nurse Sherri
Brian Fitzpatrick	...	Cop
Gale Van Cott	...	Desk Clerk
Kuno Sponholz	...	Sick Old Man
Kathryn Meisle	...	Marcie
Dominic Marcus	...	Security Guard
Doug Anderson	...	Snoring Cop
Jason Evers	...	Lou the Editor

Storyline

Frank Henenlotter's BASKET CASE 2 picks up right where the original BASKET CASE leaves off. After surviving the fall from their hotel room window, Duane Bradley and his misshapen, basket-dwelling brother Belial are taken to the city hospital. By now, their attempt at leading a secret life is blown, and the pair have become media darlings across the country. Meanwhile, Duane's long-lost Aunt learns of their situation and, along with her pregnant daughter Susan, helps them escape from the confines of the hospital and the eye of the press. Duane and Belial's aunt, known as Granny Ruth, takes them under her wing at her mansion, which serves as a safe haven for hideously deformed freaks of all shapes and sizes. Unfortunately, the whereabouts of this dynamic duo don't remain secret for too long, and Duane and Belial team up with Susan, Granny Ruth, and her houseful of mutants to devise a plan to do away with the exploitative reporters once and for all.

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Plot Keywords:

grindhouse | grindhouse film | psychotronic film | psychotronic | cult director | 

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Taglines:

We were cut apart AND NOW... we're together again!

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Genres:

Comedy | Horror

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 October 1990 (USA)

Also Known As:

House of Freaks

Filming Locations:

Newark, New Jersey, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$2,500,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Shapiro-Glickenhaus Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Was filmed in parts of Plainfield and Newark, New Jersey. The mansion used in the movie was linked to a couple of urban legends in Plainfield, New Jersey.

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Goofs

In the ending credits the title of "Faust" 's aria "Dai campi, dai prati" is misspelled as "Dai campi, dai 'prapi'".

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Quotes

[Granny counsels Belial after he and his Siamese Twin have been surgically separated]
Granny Ruth: I think it's time we really confronted your feelings about your *separation* from Duane. To you it was more than losing a brother. You also lost a piece of yourself.

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Connections

Edited from Basket Case (1982)

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Soundtracks

Dai Campi, Dai Prapi
from Mefistofele
by A. Boito
Performed by Charles Rudolph

User Reviews

Truly demented, somewhat grotesque, yet wickedly fun...

Duane and his mutant brother Belial are back in this first sequel to the ever-classic tongue-in-cheek series.

For this go-round, Duane and Belial escape from a hospital (after Belial makes sure a few of the staff members are missing their faces)and find refuge in the house of Granny Ruth (Annie Ross), who lives in a spacious house which cares for "differently abled" um, "persons." Some of the "people" in Granny Ruth's house have animal like features, such as claws and gills (even Belial, in a masterfully done puppeteering and make-up venue, is simply a hideous head with evil eyes, very sharp teeth, and two arms with claw-like fingernails extending from the hands).

Belial never really speaks. He just sort of grunts. He does this louder when he gruesomely massacres the snoopy tabloid reporter. Basically, he "jumps" at people, locking his sharp teeth onto their face, sometimes eating certain facial features off. However evil he may seem, he is, in an extremely morbid way, like Freddy Krueger or the Leprechaun. His therapy session with Granny Ruth is a blast (I laughed my a** off(!), and his, um, engaging in an attempt at pro-creation with a female member of his genus at the end is so disgusting and putrid it's downright hilarious).

While at Granny Ruth's house, Duane meets her lovely daughter, Susan. Susan appears, shall we say, "normal," but at the end, we find she just as much qualifies for the attic just as much as the rest of Granny's tenets.

The ending ends with the evil winning (personally I don't think of Belial as THAT evil, just a little "delinquent" mayble),I will tell you that, but in a way, it should. Of course, director Hennenlotter probably intended this, sense it sets up room for another sequel.

"Basket Case 2" is wicked fun! Some may find it hard to understand how some of the downright evil things that happen are funny, but they are, and they are intended to be, especially in the campy context in which they happen. Overall, this is highly recommended. Belial is, in a way, this viewer's new horror hero!

Rating: *** out of ****.