Home video changed the world. The cultural and historical impact of the VHS tape was enormous. This film traces the ripples of that impact by examining the myriad aspects of society that were altered by the creation of videotape. From: IMDb.com

Directed by: Josh Johnson

Starring: Atom Egoyan, Mamoru Oshii, Frank Henenlotter and others

Current release date: 2013

(Review originally written at 14 January 2008)

What can I say, they really overdid it this time. The previous Basket Case movie was still a fun self aware silly movie but this movie really crosses the line. It's just plain bad and embarrassingly forced silly, without the fun and entertainment level of the first sequel.

And then there is the story. Well, there really is hardly any story this time. It's just a lame excuse for Frank Henenlotter to show more of the evil Bradley twins and more of their freaky looking friends. It's definitely a simple story. It's like they didn't even really tried, though I do admit some of the dialog was highly amusing.

The first movie "Basket Case" was still a horror movie, while "Basket Case 2" was more like a horror comedy. "Basket Case 3: The Progeny" on the other hand is a full-blood comedy and simply for most part has abandoned the tension and gore the previous two movies still had. There are still some gory moments but they mostly are part of the humor and camp of the movie.

But still because of the reason that this movie is a completely silly one, the movie remains still far more entertaining and watchable than just the average B-horror movie. Therefor you just can't really regard this as one of the worst movies ever made. Still I'm glad that this is the last (as of yet) Basket Case movie.

4/10

(Review originally written at 10 January 2008)

The first "Basket Case" movie looked like it was made on a shoe-string budget. It also featured some horrible acting and directing. But director Frank Henenlotter obviously had learned since and gained more experience. The movie is more consistent this time, also in its pace.

There was obviously some more money to spend this time, compared to the first movie. The movie is overall more professional looking and so is the Belial character. There is more movement and detail in the guy. It's professionalism also makes this an overall more effective genre movie.

Luckily the movie obviously also doesn't take itself very serious, which in the end also is this movie its strongest point. It knows it's ridicules and it actually exploits this by putting in more ridicules new looking characters and silly moments and dialog and the actors also seem to be totally aware of this. It's also a reason why this movie is a totally pleasant genre movie to watch. It knows it's a B- and cult-movie and it doesn't resists against it. Not in the least of course due to the later success and cult following the first movie received.

Kevin Van Hentenryck is still as horrible as ever before in his acting but they cleverly resolved this by putting in way more characters this time, so the entire focus of the movie this time isn't just upon Duane and Belial. It also lets Duane act more as a psycho this time, which also allows Van Hentenryck to do his bad overacting and make him get away with it.

The story is of course silly but it also still is a notch up when compared to the first movie. It's at least more layered, also of course due to the fact that there are more characters in it this time. But no, overall you can't really call the movie anything more than just plain silly. Fun but silly.

Supriningly much better than the first movie, due to the fact it was made with more money and people involved and because the movie luckily doesn't take itself serious at all. It makes sure that you as a viewer also just can't take it serious at all and therefor lets you sit back and just enjoy the ride!

7/10

(Review originally written at 13 August 2007)

I couldn't believe how bad this movie was. This movie is a sort of a fan-favorite, mostly because of the reasons that this is an incredible trashy movie, so I expected some good old fashioned poorly made but yet great entertainment. In that this movie most certainly didn't disappoint. It's one of those movies that's almost so bad that it becomes a good one but not fully so I'm afraid.

The movie is incredibly cheap looking, with bad sound recording and dubbing, simple compositions, almost entirely hand-held camera-work and lots of fake '70's blood. The movie was obviously made on a shoe-string budget. The movie really has some laughable bad looking sequences, mostly involving the Belial character going berserk, including some really bad stop-motion effects. The weak acting makes the movie seem all the more cheap. Most of the actors never worked again after this movie, or even before this for that matter. Really, who are all those people? But the people involved in this movie were definitely creative with its horror- and gory moments. The director obviously has some passion for the genre. Some great creativity here. Lots of these sort of movies were made in the '70's and '80's all over the world. More than enough for the genre fans to watch in a lifetime.

The movie has a real cool and also original horror concept. The story itself is of course quite silly and extremely far fetched but also all the more original because of that. It in all fairness really deserved a better execution, or at least an higher budget. That way this movie would probably also be a better known one and would it also be more appreciated.

It's a movie that is filled with some great horror moments and some very gory killings. So plenty here to enjoy for the fans- and to make this is a memorable B-horror movie.

6/10