Director – Frank Henenlotter (Frankenhooker, Bad Biology)
Starring – Kevin Van Hentenryck (Basket Case, Catch of the Day), Annie Ross (The Ghosts of Motley Hall, Superman III), and Dan Biggers (Crossroads, Flash)
Release Date – 1991
Rating – 3.5/5
Tagline – “It’s time to build a bigger basket”
I hate when a film spawns an amazing sequel and then follows that up with a third film and completely ignores what was established in the previous films. I’m not saying these films are bad I’m just saying I hate when they ignore the stories from the first two films and goes a different route to cash in on the film’s name. The most notorious film to do this is Halloween III: Season of the Witch.
Now, like I said earlier, I’m not saying these films are bad I just don’t understand why they have to carry on the original film’s name. Anyway, after watching Basket Case 2 I had to watch the third and final film in the series but I was worried. Rarely do I see a third film in a series that is actually worth a damn even though BC 2 was a great film. However, deep down I knew Henenlotter would not let me and his fans down!
**Spoiler Alert**The film picks up months after the first film (9 months to be exact). Granny Ruth (Ross) has Duane (Hentenryck) in a padded room until he realizes he can live without being attached to Belial. Ruth lets Duane out of the room for a special occasion. Belial fell in love with another girl with the same deformity as him and she became with child.
However, Granny Ruth is no doctor and does not know how a girl so deformed could have a child so she is taking all the freaks south to a doctor who has dealt with something like that before. They all pile in a bus and head that way when Granny Ruth runs into the local sheriff before making it to the doctor’s home. Once there we discover that the doctor and Granny Ruth once knocked boots and had a son with 11 arms nicknamed Little Hal. He is a medical genius. Eve, Belial’s girlfriend, gives birth to over 10 babies and all the deformed party it up to celebrate. However, the police arrive looking for Duane and Belial only to find a house full of freaks and a basket full of Belial’s babies.
They kidnap the babies and flee thinking the doctor’s home is full of Satanic cultists. Before leaving they shoot Eve thinking she is Belial which sends him into a frenzy. Granny Ruth lets Belial loose on the police station where he kills everyone including the sheriff’s daughter. The sheriff arrives to find everyone butchered and holds the babies ransom forcing Belial to meet him face to face but Belial is no fool. Little Hal builds an exo-skeleton machine for Belial to drive for his encounter with the pissed off sheriff.**Spoiler Alert**
I love a good trilogy. Every horror fan enjoys a good movie night and most movie marathons involve films with several sequels but most of the time the marathon starts out on a great note and ends on a terrible one. Not many films in a series of trilogy is worth a damn after the first or second film and only continue as a way to make money on the film’s name. However, The Basket Case trilogy is solid all the way through and ends on a a great note with another amazing film.
The acting in this film is great by the entire cast once again. Kevin Van Hentenryck gives another fun performance and his character slips even further into insanity. By this point he has perfected the character of Duane and it shows. The remainder of the cast is fucking amazing and Annie Ross is a show stealer just like she was inBasket Case 2. Her role is so large that the viewer has a hard time remembering that she is not the main focus of the film. She definitely lets her presence known.
The story for this one is a little more of the same from part two but they toned the comedy down and gave us a little more horror. The story follows what was established in the previous film but we do get some unexpected scenes of horror that the first film lacked.
Finally, the film has the same great practical effects that we saw in the second film with all the creatures but now we got some great on screens kills that the second film lacked. Overall, Basket Case 3 is a great follow up to Basket Case 2 that brings the Basket Case trilogy back into the horror genre. I can not recommend this one enough.
