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Siamese twins Duane (Kevin Van
Hentenryck) and Bilial, the latter a monster, have already been
separated after some gruesome (mis)adventures in parts one and two. Now
Bilial's "girlfriend" is pregnant, and local "normal" folk are non too
pleased....
A mildly amusing grade Z horror-comedy,
Basket Case (1981) proved
successful enough on the cult level to spawn a couple of sequels.
Released ten years after the original, Basket Case 3 adds
nothing new to the already-tired franchise. An inept mixture of lame
humor, poor production values and bad acting, the film lurches from one
would-be amusing episode the next. Apparently attempting to make some
social "point" about tolerance, it's a sign of the (overall
good-natured) film's lack of focus that director Frank Henenlotter
throws in gratuitous helpings of T&A and unconvincing gore. Indeed, were
it not for a couple of pleasingly photogenic instances of nudity, the
film would be virtually worthless as entertainment; Henenlotter even
sees fit to close the film on a smutty note as he revisits an earlier
scene in which Belial dreams about being in bed with two shapely bimbos
(the best part of the film for this sexist reviewer).
The sad thing about the film is that it's fairly obvious Henenlotter
felt it was working as a comedy, thus his reluctance to scale back on
absurdly protracted sequences of pratfalls and visual "humor." Lacking a
talented cast to make it work on any level, and just generally pushing
things to the point of irritation, Henenlotter shows little of the
talent he has sometimes revealed in other pictures, notably the original
Basket Case and Frankenhooker. Too graphic to be intended
for children, and too juvenile and downright annoying to work for
adults, Basket Case 3 is little more than a waste of
celluloid. |
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