This gore-drenched, low-budget gutter-trash classic is one of the key horror movies of the 1980s.
It tells the bizarre story of the Bradley brothers – fresh-faced 20-year-old Duane (Kevin Van Hentenryck) and his hideously deformed Siamese twin Belial (a badly-constructed special effect that moves via jerky stop motion animation), whom he carries around in a wicker basket – and how they wreak revenge on the quack doctors who separated them years before.
When they were separated as youngsters, Belial was a gross mutation, who was discarded in a Hefty Bag.
But he wasn’t dead. He lived on, acquiring titanic strength and the ability to chew people in half.
During the course of the film, he munches hamburgers and hot dogs, has temper tantrums, and even goes on a very weird first date.
Graphic blood-letting is juxtaposed with comic relief in cult director Frank Henenlotter’s distorted version of ET(1982), but lurking behind its cruel and crude façade is an accomplished shocker laced with great artistry, an authentically sleazy atmosphere and surprising pathos.
Duane Bradley
Kevin Van Hentenryck Sharon
Terri Susan Smith Casey
Beverly Bonner Dr Judith Kutter
Diana Browne Dr Harold Needleman
Lloyd Pace Dr Julius Lifflander
Bill Freeman Brian “Mickey” O’Donovan
Joe Clarke
Director
Frank Henenlotter
Video
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When they were separated as youngsters, Belial was a gross mutation, who was discarded in a Hefty Bag.
Henenlotter returned with Basket Case 2 in 1990.
