Basket Case 2 (1990)
Director: Frank Henenlotter
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
With its prominent coupling motif, this sleazy romp would have perhaps been better entitled 'Bride of Basket Case'. After surviving a near-fatal fall from a New York tenement building, Duane Bradley (Van Hentenryck) and his twisted brother Belial find sanctuary from prying public eyes in the home of philanthropic granny Ruth (Ross), who presides over a menagerie of mutant misfits. While the brothers discover love is a many-splendoured thing, scheming journalist Marcie Elliot traces them to their new home, causing the normally amiable aberrations to turn nasty. Henenlotter's sequel to his shoestring-budget horror classic is an inconsistent affair which mixes comedy, shock and boredom in roughly equal proportions. Lacking the gritty, grainy quality of its predecessor, Basket Case 2 finds itself overstretched in its ambitious attempts to parody (or perhaps honour) Tod Browning's seminal Freaks, despite the impressive efforts of make-up artist Gabe Bartalos. However, the gratuitous unpleasantry is present, correct, and (unsurprisingly) sexual, and the occasional snappy one-liner is welcome.Author: MK
Cast & crew
Director: Frank Henenlotter
Producer: Edgar Ievins
Cast: Kevin Van Hentenryck, Annie Ross, Jason Evers, Ted Sorel, Heather Rattray, Matt Mitler full cast
Genre(s): Horror
Duration: 90 mins
Features
Gray's anatomy
James Gray wants to push buttons—again.
The next big thing?
Gigantic Releasing tries to rethink indie distribution…without movie theaters.
Red Diva: Lyubov Orlova, First Lady of Soviet Cinema
So you think you can dance, comrade?
Puppet master
Coraline director Henry Selick takes stop-motion animation into 3-D.
Socratic method
Laurent Cantet's approach on the set matches the message of his film.
Wander woman
Kelly Reichardt's Wendy and Lucy puts a Bush-era spin on the road movie.
Oscars
Read our interviews with the nominees, our reviews of the nominated films and more.

What do you think?
Post your review now