And so we come at last to the third and final of the Basket Case films - Basket Case 3: The Progeny. This film was in fact the first of the Basket Case films I saw as a young horror affectionado, my local video store being a well-stocked B-movie wonderland. I miss it sometimes. Thankfully, despite it being the third movie in the series I didn't have too much of a problem following the plot, as (a) what's gone before is helpfully recapped at the start; and (b) the plot's not really all that complicated to begin with. So let's take one final look in the basket...
We carry on several months from the end of the last movie (complete with flashbacks to melted space-hopper sex), so Duane and Belial are recovering from Duane's little psychotic break when he (spoilers for the previous movie) thought it would be a good idea to sew the two of them back together again. The awkward tension between the two of them isn't the only problem, however - Belial's girlfriend Eve is pregnant and so they, Granny Ruth and the rest of the "unique individuals" get to take a road trip down south to the only obstetrician who knows how to deal with "unusual" births. Unfortunately Duane's bumbling attempts to escape and/or reconcile with Belial only causes more problems for the group, and Belial once more has to rely on his natural talents to deal with problematic people.
I think Basket Case 3 is the first movie we've reviewed here that has a show tune break out part way through the movie. And it is, without a shadow of a doubt, the high point of the film. Seriously, go watch it here. I'll wait.
Done? Right, isn't it awesome? (And by the way, you're probably going to have that song stuck in your head for the rest of the weekend now. You're welcome.) Now, note that I said that this is the high point of the film - sadly the rest of the film falls somewhat short of the brilliance of this scene and of the previous two films in the series. This is because, while we still have the great physical make-up effects for Belial and the rest of the unique individuals, and Annie Ross and Kevin Van Hentenryck give us strong performances as the determined Granny Ruth and the slightly-deranged Duane, the actual plot for the film is rather weak. Duane and Belial are really only the focus of the story by coincidence - the "baby Belials" could have been replaced by any other random infant unique individuals and the majority of the story would have remained unchanged.
The film's antagonists are another weak spot. This time it's a bunch of bumbling sheriff's deputies who freak out at the sight of the unique individuals having a party and kidnap the baby Belials, and the Sheriff's spoilt daughter who has ideas about BDSM more twisted than even 50 Shades of Grey. The movie seems to be going to throw us a curveball early in the film when we meet the Sheriff himself and he seems to be someone happy to accept unique individuals and treat them just like everyone else... but the film seems to forget that plot point by the end because it's time for the Sheriff to fight Belial after the latter has more or less been turned into Krang from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon.
You might have guessed by now that this movie is kind of goofy. And it is. The deaths of the deputies stand out as particularly absurd in a movie already full to the brim with it, to the point where they're just laughable rather than horrific. Somewhere along the line, the dark satire and humour of the first two movies got lost and replaced with an attempt at horror slapstick, but with no Bruce Campbell in sight. I will admit, though, that some scenes succeed in recapturing those darkly humourous moments of the first films and the message that no-one should be treated differently because of their looks or anything like that, most notably Belial's dream scene and the scenes where Granny Ruth and the unique individuals decide that they're not going to hide any more. But overall, Basket Case 3 is something of a damp squib compared with the previous two films, even if I did find it far more entertaining when I was 15.
Comments