Basket Case 3 (1991)


Basket Case was a strange little film that got director and writer Frank Henenlotter noticed, but it has also been a bit of an albatross for him.  Its existence has made it hard at times for him to get investors interested in the movies he wants to do; not because they have any problem with it, but because the question always comes up about another sequel.  Henenlotter never intended to do a sequel in the first place, but relented and pitched Basket Case 2 along with Frankenhooker in order to help get the latter made.

Basket Case 2 was quite the departure from the first movie, removing the brothers from the gritty New York setting of the first and having them hide out in a mansion with a number of imaginative freaks that look similar to the creatures in Nightbreed.  It was still gory enough to carry on from the first, but the comedic aspect was emphasized more and, this time, it left things on a definite cliffhanger.

It has been a number of months sense Duane (Kevin VanHentenryck) accidentally killed his girlfriend and the creature gestating inside her.  Auntie Ruth (Annie Ross) has kept him locked up away from the rest of the inhabitants of the house, and Belial is refusing to speak to him after having to be rescued from Duane's impromptu attempt to reattach him.  Meanwhile, Belial's girlfriend Eve (Denise Coop) is now in a family way.  Concerned about the pregnancy Ruth decides to load everyone on a bus for Georgia to visit Hal (Dan Biggers), a doctor who knows about freaks due to his son Little Hal (Jim O'Doherty) being one. 

Problem is Duane keeps trying to find ways to escape and take Belial with him.  This leads him to reveal who he is to Opal (Tina Louise Hilbert), the daughter of the local sheriff (Gil Roper) who has been protecting Little Hal for years.  However, it is not he who hears Duane's confession, but his deputies, who decide to go to Hal's to see what's going on.  This results in tragedy and the police stealing Belial's children.  However, with the help of a steampowered junkbot put together by Little Hal, Belial may be able to handle things himself this time. 

Henenlotter agreed to make Basket Case 3 less gory than the other two and has regretted that decision since.  He also rushed it into production hoping to do two movies at once like did with Basket Case 2 and Frankenhooker.  The second film, Voodoo Doll, didn't get financed, and there wasn't much script going into the sequel.  It is obvious by the fact that it is all over the place.  Still, it doesn't keep it from being entertaining and fun.  It's just not up the standards of the first two, even if the freak makeup is better this time around. 

There is also no problem with tone as this is more straight comedy than part two.  It just builds on being more and more outrageous.  Part of that I am sure was to keep investors from asking for a part four, but, as usual, they did, leading Henenlotter to take a break from filmmaking for over a decade.  He was aware there was nowhere else to go with the story, and he was tired of it himself.  He did the right thing by stopping here and letting fans enjoy three of the strangest films ever made. 

Basket Case 3 (1991)
Time: 90 minutes
Starring: Kevin VanHentenryk, Annie Ross, Dan Biggers, Tina Louise Hilbert, Jim O'Doherty, Gil Roper
Director: Frank Henenlotter
 

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