I am a fan of the first two BASKETCASE movies. The original
was a gritty looking piece of grindhouse horror that met all the criteria of
that genre. The second was a worthy follow up that continued the story of the
conjoined brothers who had been separated but remained together. Then they
decided to make a follow up, a film that went straight to video.
Having been discovered by the press and the police, Granny
Ruth (Annie Ross) takes her troop of “freaks” on the road to escape. Heading to
the Deep South and the home of a friend to the “family”, this road trip offers
various moments of humor among the group. It also lets us realize that Eve, the
girlfriend of the series “hero” Belial, is expecting a brood of children.
At the end of the second film the relationship between
brothers Duane (Kevin Van Hentenryck) and Belial wasn’t very good. Duane had
lost his mind for a while and the two were at odds. After arriving at the home
in the South, Duane leaves the compound and heads out on his own only to be
captured by the local sheriff’s department. Realizing he is a wanted man they
immediately realize his brother must be in the house and they head out to
capture him as well. Instead they find the newborns and take them in. Big
mistake. The end result is gore filled and expected but what happens in the
movie is not.
Sure we have the same cast of characters brought together
once more by director/writer Frank Henenlotter. But the once polished story
seems to have lost a little of its glimmer with this film. The surprise at
seeing the group of “freaks” is no longer something that stuns. The behavior of
Duane, Belial and even Granny Ruth is more predictable this time around. The
stupid actions of the local sheriff’s office feel stereotypical rather than
realistic. Not all law enforcement outside of the confines of New York City are
the country bumpkins they are usually portrayed as.
The gore factor here is turned up a notch but doesn’t offer
anything frightening or new. Whenever a movie series moves forward it seems that
everyone feels more is better but that’s not always the case. Sure some scenes
require it and perhaps the fact that this movie came out 9 years after the
first means that more was acceptable than in the earlier incarnation. But at
times it feels cartoonish and not needed.
The end result is that the movie can be fun and does round
out the trilogy well enough. But it isn’t one that will bring back fond
memories like the first two films in the series do for me. Still fans will want
to make sure that they add this to their collection to make it complete. Horror
fans will want to make a point of at least watching it to say they’ve done so.
And with any luck we won’t find out that a remake is in the works planned by
people who have no concept of why the movie worked in its original incarnation.
Kudos to Synapse for producing a quality version of the film
for those who love it. That they would go to the effort to do so shows their
dedication to preserving movies that many will overlook, a sad situation with far
too many films. Extras are the most minor, a theatrical trailer, but by the
time this movie came out the odds of finding much to use as an extra were
pretty slim. Suffice to say that the transfer is worthy of the series and well
done.
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