Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Basket Case (1982)




Directed by Frank Henenlotter.

Starring Kevin Van Hentenryck, Terri Susan Smith and Beverly Bonner.

IMDB

Way before Slimer loved hot dogs in Ghostbusters, there was Belial!!

And just like America, he also loved burgers (see one post below), tinfoil and all.

Basket Case is an absolute classic and a great starting point for anyone getting into grindhouse or exploitation cinema. Henenlotter grew up on 42nd street in New York and got his education in the famously run-down theatres and it shows in his first film, Basket Case. It is, at times, hilarious, disturbingly gross and, above all, eternally memorable.

Has to be seen to be believed.

While the Burger King commercial below projects a fantasized America, Basket Case is its true spiritual opposite. The American Dream is not possible in Henenlotter's film where call-girls, drunks and freaks find themselves sandwiched together in a seedy hotel with nothing to do but get through the night without getting killed.

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