Basket Case 2 (1990) dir. Frank Henenlotter

Editor's note: my output has been fucking dismal this October so I'm making up for it with longer and crappier reviews. Lucky you!

If you're a goon for filthy, trashy and gory horror movies, then you probably already know Mr. Henenlotter's name and hold him in high regard. Throughout his film making career, he's done nothing but deliver the goods in the form of low budget, darkly humorous horror gems full of practical special effects and general grossness.

Basket Case, Henenlotter's first feature, concerns this Duane fella who was born with a siamese twin in the form a giant, bulbous head thing with an arm attached to his side. Naturally, this lil' guy known as Belial is just kinda evil and is rage-blackout-pissed all the time. Just super aggro. He can't really talk, so he just screams all the time like Sam Kinison or something. But, he does have psychic link with his bro Duane, of course.

Somewhere along the line, Duane's parents decided to separate the twins. Apparently this was an unethical move because they had to find some sketchy ass doctors who were willing to check their Hippocratic Oath at the door. Duane ends up keeping his evil lil' discarded bro in a basket to hide from the outside world.

Fast forward a few years. Due to the aforementioned psychic link, the bros decide to go to the filthiest burg of them all, New York City in the early 1980s, in order to exact sweet revenge on the doctors who separated them. They do just that, which results in this iconic scene, and lots of other wacky hijinks ensue due to Duane's previously sheltered life getting a big ol' dose of big city reality. It's a great, great flick. Tons of gore and really crappy/awesome creature effects for Belial.

So this here sequel that I intended to write about 4 paragraphs ago, it was filmed 8 years later with same dude who played Duane yet the events of the film are meant to take place directly after the end of the first one. Love it!

Duane and Belial get taken in by a long lost aunt who, bless her kind heart, has devoted her life to sheltering the freakshows of the world. She quite literally has an attic full of freaks she has taken in from all around the world. I mean, who doesn't, right?

Despite this seeming like the perfect place for Duane and Belial to get their chill on, wacky hijinks ensue, freaks assemble to defend themselves from invasive tabloid reporters, Belial continues to be kinda evil despite finding love with a shy female head-arm-thingy simliar to himself named Eve (yes, there's a tender love scene) and it ends with Duane flipping out because he can't be normal in spite of himself and ends up re-attaching Belial to his side with a lil' DIY surgery.

Overall, not as gory as the first one, but all the awesome creature prosthetics are great and it's a generally zany and bizarre lil' flick. And of course, there's still Basket Case 3: The Progeny out there, waiting to be viewed.