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 film | psychotronic film | cult director | cult film | second in trilogy | 

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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

Did You Know?

Trivia

Frank Henenlotter made it clear to makeup designer Gabe Bartalos that the freaks were to be cartoonish.

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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

Susan: We're all of the same flesh, Duane.

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Connections

Referenced in Adjust Your Tracking (2013)

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Soundtracks

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

User Reviews

Second coming for Belial!

If you have seen the first movie you'll probably be wondering how can another Basket Case movie be a continuation of the first! Well, it's easy enough, but I don't want to ruin your "surprise"!! Anyway it begins just from where the first end. Soon, just a matter of few minutes, you are introduced in a new character that will also link this one to its sequel: that's Granny Ruth, one of the most entertaining in the whole series! This little, mid-aged lady together with an girl help Duane and Belial to escape and shelter from the police, chasing them for the first movie's massacre! Soon you discover that they're not alone in Ruth's house: not only the girl helping Granny Ruth is there, but an entire freaks community! Seems like Duane and Belial found a family, but soon troubles arrive as a journalist discover the Bradley twins shelter! It's time for massacre again!

To be honest I found this one really entertaining, much more then the first one that was more like an"original" slasher movie! This time Gabe Bartalos give "tru life" to Belial, using an animatronic model instead of a still one animated in stop motion! It really looks great! Also the other freaks look really good, and there are really a lot! A social critic find place in this movie too: as Henenlotter did in all his movies, any "strange thing" you see here sounds like a metaphor of true life. So the freaks community been chased just for their "differences" from the mass seems to be a more intense and "intellectual" reading key for this movie, much more than you could have been thinking.

Crazy and really good special effects, technically much better than the average low budget movie, funny plot: it's got much more than you could expect from a movie of this kind!

I can't say if I prefer this one ore the next one, but sure this two are very different from the first Basket Case: here you will find true comedy painted in a gory way, but no suspense or thrills!

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