Basket Case: Limited Edition – Arrow Video (4k UHD)

Theatrical Release Date: USA, 1982
Director: Frank Henenlotter
Writer: Frank Henenlotter
Cast: Kevin Van Hentenryck, Terri Susan Smith, Beverly Bonner, Robert Vogel, Diana Browne, Lloyd Pace, Bill Freeman, Joe Clarke

Release Date: April 29th, 2024 (UK), April 30th, 2024 (USA)
Approximate Running Time: 91 Minutes 15 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1 Aspect Ratio / 2160 Progressive / HEVC / H.265 / Dolby Vision HDR10
Rating: 18 (UK), R (USA)
Sound: LPCM Mono English
Subtitles: English SDH
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: £29.99 (UK), $49.95 (USA)

"Duane Bradley seems like a pretty ordinary guy. His formerly conjoined twin Belial, on the other hand, is a deformed creature who lives in a wicker basket. Arriving in the Big Apple and taking up a room at a seedy hotel, the pair set about hunting down and butchering the surgeons responsible for their separation." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 5/5

Here’s the information provided about the transfer, "Basket Case has been restored by the Museum of Modern Art in cooperation with director Frank Henenlotter.

The film was scanned, graded and restored at Cineric, New York. The original 16mm AB negative was scanned in 4K. A 35mm interpositive element was also scanned for certain shots. The restoration work included full picture stabilisation and the removal of dirt, debris, scratches and other signs of wear. The mono soundtrack was restored from the original 35mm magnetic tracks by Audio Mechanics, Los Angeles.

All materials for this restoration were made available by Frank Henelotter, who has approved this restoration."

Here is additional information about the transfer, "The film was graded in HDR10 and restored in 4K at R3Store Studios, London. The Dolby Vision grading was completed by Fidelity in Motion, New York."

Basket Case comes on a 100 GB triple layer 4K UHD.

Disc Size: 87.9 GB

Feature: 63.8 GB

The source looks excellent, flesh tones look healthy, colors are perfectly saturated, image clarity, contrast, black levels, and compression are solid, and the image always looks organic. It is hard to imagine Basket Case looking any better than this release.

Audio: 4.5/5

This release comes with one audio option, a LPCM mono mix in English with removable English SDH. The audio is in great shape, dialog comes through clearly, everything sounds balanced, and ambient sounds are well-represented. Range-wise, considering the limitations of the source, this audio track sounds great.

Extras:

Extras for this release include image galleries; promotional stills (46 images), behind the scenes (108 images), ephemera (21 images), advertisements (43 images) and home video releases (9 images), two radio spots (1 minute 51 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), a T.V. spot (55 seconds, LPCM mono English, no subtitles), three theatrical trailers (4 minutes 54 seconds, LPCM mono English, no subtitles), a short animated film titled Belial’s Dream (4 minutes 49 seconds, LPCM stereo English, no subtitles), a featurette titled Making Belial’s Dream (2 minutes 6 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), a short film titled Slash of the Knife with an optional audio commentary by director Frank Henenlotter (30 minutes 13 seconds, LPCM mono English, no subtitles), an image gallery for Slash of the Knife, outtakes for Slash of the Knife (5 minutes 30 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), an interview with film critic Joe Bob Briggs titled Belial Goes to the Drive-In (6 minutes 55 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), outtakes for Basket Case (6 minutes 13 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), a short film titled Basket Case 3 1/2: An Interview with Duane Bradley (8 minutes 30 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival locations featurette from 2001 titled In Search of the Hotel Broslin (16 minutes 8 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), a 2017 Q&A from the film’s restoration premiere at the Museum of Modern Art titled Basket Case at MoMA (37 minutes 12 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with Director Frank Henenlotter (3 minutes 50 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), a video essay about Basket Case titled The Frisson of Fission: Basket Case, Conjoined Twins and ‘Freaks’ in Cinema (23 minutes 3 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with Edgar Ievins, Ilze Balodis, Ugis Nigals and Kika Nigals titled The Latvian Connection (27 minutes 33 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with actress Beverly Bonner titled Blood, Basket and Beyond (6 minutes 4 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with actresses Florence and Maryellen Schultz titled Seeing Double: The Basket Case Twins (8 minutes 55 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with actor Kevin VanHentenryck titled Me and the Bradley Boys (16 minutes 24 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), a documentary titled What’s in the Basket? (78 minutes 41 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an audio commentary with Frank Henenlotter, producer Edgar Ievins, Beverly Bonner and filmmaker Scooter McRae, an audio commentary with Frank Henenlotter and Kevin VanHentenryck, reversible cover art, a slipcover (limited to this edition), a double-sided fold-out poster, and 28-page booklet with cast & crew information, an essay titled “Case” History written by Michael Gingold, Cham-pain in the Park! – A Basket Case Comic Strip by Martin Trafford and information about the transfer.

Summary:

When it comes to horror cinema, far too often there is a tendency to try to recycle a successful formula. That said, there are a handful of unique films that are an exception to the rule. Case in point: Frank Henenlotter’s (Brain Damage) feature film directorial debut, Basket Case.

Basket Case features what is arguably one of cinema’s most bizarre premises. The narrative is well executed, and Basket Case’s ample amount of “WTF” moments ensure that there is an issue in regards to pacing. And nowhere are these “WTFs” more evident than when it comes to the scenes where Belial unleashes his homicidal rage. Needless to say, these moments of bloodletting are overflowing with gore.

Without a doubt, Basket Case’s greatest asset is Kevin Van Hentenryck’s (Basket Case 2, Basket Case 3) performance in the role of Duane Bradley. His character spends most of his screen time interacting with his brother Belial (who lives in the basket he carries around). Another performance of note is Beverly Bonner (Frankenhooker) in the role of Duane and Belial’s neighbor Casey.

From a production standpoint, there is no area where Basket Case does not excel. The visuals do a superb job of capturing the mayhem that unfolds. Standout moments include a flashback scene that reveals how Duane and Belial were surgically separated and a scene where Belial sneaks into Casey’s room. And the finale provides a perfect coda for the events that have just unfolded. Ultimately, Basket Case is a one-of-a-kind cinematic oddity that is a perfect blend of humor, horror, and mayhem.

Basket Case gets a definitive release from Arrow Video, highly recommended.

Note about the 4K screenshots: It is not possible to make Dolby Vision or HDR10 screenshots that faithfully match the experience of watching a film in motion on a TV. Instead of not having any screenshots, all of the 4K screenshots are m2ts taken with a VLC player and lossless PNGs.

Written by Michael Den Boer