The third and thankfully last of Frank Henenlotter's BASKET CASE trilogy. I've watched all three recently; the first was a semi-decent and gory B-movie with grindhouse overtones, but the second descended into high camp and had no discernible storyline. The third starts out like the second, kicking off with the various freaks from the second film going on a cross-country bus trip due to the impending birth of Belial's child.
It's as bad as it sounds, and completely ridiculous. Henenlotter wallows in the cheesy costumes and absurdity of the situation, but it's not enough to make this a decent film. However, around the second half of the film, things begin to pick up. It all starts with a strong, TERMINATOR-inspired rampage at a police station which recalls the grisly horror of the original movie, and from that point in it bears much in comparison with the first film in the series which is a definite good thing.
This is certainly no classic, but seeing Belial in full-on monster mode is a lot of fun and it's almost as if Henenlotter decided to go back to his roots. It's not perfect, but then when is B-movie film-making ever fun? One of the biggest problems in the second and third films is Kevin Van Hentenryck's nominal lead, Duane. Once his secret is out in the open after the first movie, he becomes the dullest character imaginable and nothing can change that. Never mind - at least Belial is a bad guy again!
It's as bad as it sounds, and completely ridiculous. Henenlotter wallows in the cheesy costumes and absurdity of the situation, but it's not enough to make this a decent film. However, around the second half of the film, things begin to pick up. It all starts with a strong, TERMINATOR-inspired rampage at a police station which recalls the grisly horror of the original movie, and from that point in it bears much in comparison with the first film in the series which is a definite good thing.
This is certainly no classic, but seeing Belial in full-on monster mode is a lot of fun and it's almost as if Henenlotter decided to go back to his roots. It's not perfect, but then when is B-movie film-making ever fun? One of the biggest problems in the second and third films is Kevin Van Hentenryck's nominal lead, Duane. Once his secret is out in the open after the first movie, he becomes the dullest character imaginable and nothing can change that. Never mind - at least Belial is a bad guy again!