More than four decades ago, Basket Case was released onto the midnight movie circuit and an iconic horror franchise was born. From the mind of Frank Henenlotter, the film follows Duana Bradley (Kevin Van Hentenryck) as he moves into a dilapidated hotel in New York City with handfuls of cash and a mysterious basket. In it is his grotesquely deformed conjoined twin Belial whom he was separated from in a traumatic surgery, with Duane seeking vengeance upon the doctors who performed the operation.
It became a hit among the midnight crowd, quickly becoming a cult classic that Arrow Videos has released in Limited Edition 4K UHD for genre fans to snap up. No one is more surprised about the film's enduring popularity than Henenlotter himself, who spoke to FILMHOUNDS all about Basket Case‘s creation, the struggles bringing it to the big screen, and the franchise's future.
Basket Case has gotten a special 4K release from Arrow 42 years since it was released. What is it like that this film is still so celebrated today?
It's about the best you can hope for. I thought the film would show once for one week on 42nd Street and then be lost and forgotten. So everything else is a surprise. It's just an absolute surprise and then we had the remaster that Arrow is using that was created by the Museum of Modern Art. Figure that one! So, you know, I have nothing to complain about.
Fans were lining up to see it. It was released as a midnight movie originally and Basket Case just took off. It played at the Waverly Theatre and stayed there showing for two and a half years. And then me and the producer Edward Ivans took it back and sold it to a small company to get it out of midnight. Then we got our home video and it has since always been available in some format or another. So you know, I don't know what the next step is. If you've got Ultra HD, I don't know what the next point is. I'm the last one to understand its popularity or anything. I don't get it. But I don't have a clue as to why, like, why it's successful. I don't I really don't know.
As well as the horror, the films are undeniably incredibly funny. For you, how difficult was it to balance these two opposing styles almost or was it a naturally occurring thing?
I liked the idea that you don't know whether you're going to get a punch line gore in your face. I think it keeps audiences off-kilter. And the other thing is, if you're going to put comedy in a horror film, you got to play it straight. You can't have dumb characters with their eyes crossed and making dumb jokes. Just play it straight. And more wacky, too.
The story of Basket Case is pretty wild. How did you come up with it?
All I had was an idea in my head. Usually when I'm writing a script, I think visually, and all I had for Basket Case was a bunch of shots in my head. Somebody opens a basket and the thing jumps out – I saw it like a reverse jack in the box. But the problem I had was, why? Why would a creature be living in a basket? Why would a normal person be carrying around the basket? It just made no sense to make. And I was in Times Square at a Nathan's Hotdog place and it suddenly popped into my head – ‘brother'. I thought, ‘Oh, my God. They're brothers.' And suddenly, the whole thing was crystal clear to me. I started writing dialogue on a napkin.
I've read a lot about how people have interpreted the character of Belial, with some saying he represents the devil on your shoulder and our dark impulses, while others think he's a commentary on abortion rights. I was wondering what he means to you?
All it meant to me was that you had a good monster! I don't overthink this stuff. I don't take an intellectual approach to any of the films I've done. I'm aware that some of them may have meaning on the outside of my brain, but I didn't purposefully bring that into the film. If it gets there, that's fine. I'm a guy who likes who grew up watching exploitation movies on 42nd Street. Don't give me a message, just give me a lot of blood and a lot of boobs. But I appreciate how different people see my films and what they take away. I saw a case study that said that Belial was actually a female which I found interesting – maybe something for a future remake.
Speaking of Belial, how did you come up with the design of his character and make it a reality?
I had a few designs for Belial when I was writing the scripts, but I wrote the script for a project that needed a little more money. We met a makeup effects artist, Kevin Haney, and he was terrific. He knew we had no money, but he didn't care. We didn't even have enough money to get all the plasticine we needed. I would stop by every so often for a couple of hours and say, ‘Oh, can you change that to this?' and there was no attitude from him. But we were running out of plasticine. So he stuck a Coke bottle in the clay. And I said, ‘I like it. That's a bone sticking out of his back.'
Despite all of its horror, Basket Case looks like it was such a fun film to make. What was it like to work on?
Basket Case was no fun at all. It was held because I had no money, so we'd shoot and then we couldn't get the film out of the lab because you have to pay. And so I didn't know if the footage was good. For me, it was pure hell getting that film done. It was just work, work, work, and none of it came out the way I wanted because I didn't have the money. It looks like fun because of the way it was edited and the sense of humour. Every day I came back to my apartment saying, ‘Oh, God, what shot Am I missing? Did I miss the shot? Oh, God, I didn't do the shot where?' Kevin? You know? Yeah. I used to have to live with live with a missing shot because we don't have the location or I go back and we should.
Later though I made Bad Biology, and I have never been more relaxed. All I did was laugh on that film. I had such a good time. Mainly because we didn't have anything to prove. I just had the best time ever making a film.
What was it that spurred you on to release two more Basket Case films?
If you're offered money to do a film, I think it'd be foolish not to. I never had a goal and I never wanted filmmaking as a career, as much as I like filmmaking. After Basket Case, I had written a script called Insect City which no one wanted to touch or put money into. Believe it or not, it was difficult to raise money for Basket Case because everybody just thought it was a fluke. It didn't look like it was good directing and there was the debate as to whether the comedy was intentional or not. Nobody jumped on it saying, ‘Hey, come on, and make a film for me' so I couldn't get Insect City made. I put it on the back burner and wrote Brain Damage.
Lastly, we are living in an age where we are seeing big horror titles come back to the big screen with sequels and remakes (such as a new Exorcist movie). Is there a chance we could ever see a fourth Basket Case film or a remake?
I sold the remake rights to Anthony Sneed, who was in Bad Biology. So he will remake it, but I don't know when. I don't want to get involved or influence what he wants to do. I think he said he wants to shoot it in Mexico, so that's interesting.
Basket Case Limited- Edition 4K UHD is available now via Arrow.
