Review: Basket Case 2 (1990)

Review by Disgruntled Monkey

Director: Frank Henenlotter
Starring: Kevin Van Hentenryck, Judy Grafe and Annie Ross
Writer: Frank Henenlotter

I was not the biggest fan of the first Basket Case and honestly I wondered why it got so much love from the Cult Horror circles. Watching the sequel I am beginning to realise. You see the first was just Henenlotter setting up, the sequel is everything I could of hoped for. Flawed but a much more entertaining time.

Things take place after the first, and instead of the brothers dying, it was all a ruse. You see they survived in a critical state. Thankfully they come into contact with Granny Ruth who runs a retreat for other freaks. It's here that the fun really begins.

Henenlotter really let's his imagination run free as we get some really creative freak designs. It helps that the people in the make up just seem to be having an absolute ball. The make up itself is over the top but it does have a unifying factor which makes you believe that all the freaks belong.

Another upgrade to the movie is the acting. Everyone does a much better job and Annie Ross as Granny Ruth is actually a slice of awesome. Kevin Van Hentenryck reprises his role as Duane and is the weakest out of everyone. Mind you he just has to act insane so his bad over acting kind of fits. Kind of.

However the movie still suffers immensely from the script. While Henenlotter let's his imagination go, the movie is a mess with ideas being flung at the audience left and right. There also seems to be an attempt at a message but it kind of misses the mark and fades to the background when you have freaks viciously killing people.

Basket Case 2 still isn't the classic Henenlotter that I've heard about, but it's definitely better than the first movie. I really dug the creature designs as they were over the top but kind of matched the evil Looney Tunes vibe I was getting from the whole thing. At least it makes me want to watch the third in the series.

Category	Rating	Reason
Entertainment	1 basket out of 1	A lot more entertaining with an evil Looney Tunes vibe.
Script	0 baskets out of 1	It's a bit of a mess with too many ideas.
Acting	0.5 baskets out of 1	It's better but not great. The point is really for Annie Ross and her Granny Ruth character.
Directing	0 baskets out of 1	I still don't get what all the fuss about Henenlotter is.
Technical	0.5 baskets out of 1	It's cheap but there is some imaginative designs going on.
Overall	2 baskets out of 5	From bad to decent. Some fun stuff but not enough to make it good.