I have various ways to pick what films I review on this blog. Sometimes it's just a film from my collection that I feel like watching and reviewing. Sometimes it's a film that catches my eye for whatever reason. Sometimes it's whatever's on Netflix. And sometimes it's what Amazon's Lovefilm By Post sends me. In this case it's definitely the latter, as we're currently halfway through them sending me the Basket Case trilogy (so expect to see the third and final installment here in a week or so). Spoiler alerts obviously come into play here in case you don't know what happened in the first film.
Basket Case 2 picks up where the previous film ended, with Duane and Belial Bradley bleeding out on the sidewalk of Times Square after their dive from the hotel window. This time however they're not quite dead and are taken to hospital, with everyone talking about the "monster" Belial is and the murders they committed. A woman called Granny Ruth and her granddaughter Susan are watching events unfold on the news, and they head off to rescue the Bradleys, taking them to their home where Granny Ruth maintains a secret community of other "unique individuals" like Belial, taking care of them and protecting them from the outside world. Here the two of them heal up from their injuries and Belial finds himself for the first time in a community that not only accepts him for what he is, but is just like him as well. He even gets himself a girlfriend! Their newfound tranquility is threatened, however, by a sleazy tabloid reporter snooping around who won't take no for an answer, and so Duane, Belial, Granny Ruth and the others band together to protect their community in a very final manner.
Basket Case 2 is much more of a horror-comedy than the original Basket Case, although the humour is still very dark and subtle. Most of it revolves around the residents of Granny Ruth's community/commune, who all look pretty "freakish" by "normal" standards but are shown to have normal lives and even talents like beautiful singing voices. They're not presented as figures to be poked fun of; it's more of a surreal living situation where suddenly Duane finds himself the outcast, as he's the "normal" one, while Belial finally finds acceptance. This also leads to a reverse of the relationship between the two brothers from the first movie, where Duane finds himself first wanting to just leave and start a new life on his own, and when that proves impossible, finds himself growing more and more resentful of Belial's new life - and of course, we can tell that this is going to end about as well as it did in the first movie. Of the two "moments" that make up the film's ending, one echoes back to the ending of the first movie, while the other is a slightly predictable ending, albeit one that makes a good deal of sense with Belial and Duane's arcs through the film.
The "normals" are very much intended to be the antagonists of the film - they're sleazy, corrupt people who see Belial and the others as little more than animals to be exploited or disposed of, and we're very much encouraged to cheer when they get what's coming to them. In this way the film reminds me more than a bit of that classic 1932 film Freaks, by Tod Browning (particularly reporter Marcie's eventually fate), which dealt with many of the same issues and was controversial enough to be banned in many places for decades afterwards. Is there a moral message about treating people who look different with the respect and kindness they deserve? I'd certainly say so, but I also love Nightbreed, which delivers a similar message in a different way.
The budget for Basket Case 2 was obviously a good deal larger than the first film as well, as the special make-up effects for the other members of Granny Ruth's community are quite lovingly crafted and really spectacular, Belial included - although his look has been "upgraded" from the first film, he's still recognisable as the melted space hopper we all knew and loved.
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