Frank Henenlotter – Basket Case 3: The Progeny
1991 · Directed by Frank Henenlotter
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Best comments
1.“'Oh no,' he said in a calming manner.”
More comments
- 2.“He could have shot Belial. But that would imply common sense. Instead: point the gun away and say 'Oh, sweet Jesus.' Perfect.”
- 3.“If you can't act, overact.”
The story
This isn't a music video. It's a highlight reel of the hammiest acting in Basket Case 3: The Progeny, the 1991 horror comedy from Frank Henenlotter, posted by a German cult-movie channel that sums it up as trash so over the top it's a joy to admire. Fair.
The Basket Case films follow Duane Bradley and Belial, the deformed Siamese twin who was cut from his side. Part three sends them and a busload of fellow freaks (led by Annie Ross as Granny Ruth) down to a small town called Peachtree Valley so Belial's girlfriend can give birth. She has a dozen tiny Belials. Deputies grab the babies for a reward, the freaks fight back, and Belial ends up in a homemade robot exoskeleton. That's the plot. Really.
Henenlotter has admitted he had no proper story and ad-libbed much of it, and he's called the result a disaster. It was meant to shoot in New York for $2 million and got made in Georgia in 27 days instead. Variety complained about the wild over-acting, which is exactly why this clip exists. Gil Roper's sheriff made Henenlotter leave the set because he couldn't stop laughing, and Jim O'Doherty, playing the many-armed blob Little Hal, improvised his lines in a fit of hysteria. Bad acting on purpose, or close enough that nobody can tell anymore.
