The Mother of Troma

Mother's day is the second effort by director Charles Kaufman, brother of the legendary B-movie director and Troma studios co-founder Lloyd kaufman. Charles Kaufman's first film was a little known comedy called Squeeze play, so with Mother's day he did a complete 180 and gave the horror genre a try. The movie starts off with a couple who hitch a ride home after a strange meeting with a old woman they don't know. The couple are obviously have a plan in mind of robbing the old woman, but when the car breaks down in the middle of nowhere mama's boy's emerge from the woods to off the would be criminals, this is where we get a great decapitation scene. Now we get the bloody dripping titles Mothers day, and after a very promising opening sequence we get introduced to three girlfriends Abbey, Jackie and Trina, heading deep into the woods for their annual camping trip. Things are going pretty good on the trip as the girls tell stories, play pranks on each other, smoke weed and find a swimming hole where the get topless. Little do the girls know they are being stalked by an unseen predator in the woods watching their every move.
One night while the girls are sleeping the two stalkers invade their camp, tie them up in their own sleeping bags and drag them to a house deep in the woods. We soon find out that this is the house of the old woman from the beginning of the film and her two demented sons Ike and Addley. The girls are tied up and held captive for days. At this point in the film we get a peer into the lives of these three maniacs and what goes on day to day in this nut house. The girls are assaulted and try to escape numerous times to no prevail. There is also a strange scene where Ike and Addley go through their daily training routine involving using machetes, smashing things and one armed push ups. The family also speaks of something called "Queenie" that remains a mystery until the final scene. Things really get crazy as the girls attempt a final escape from the house of horrors, but they don't plan on going without getting some revenge on the family of backwoods freaks.
Mother's day was released in 1980 during the beginning of the slasher boom. Mother's day is more of a Texas chainsaw massacre like exploitation film, with some intentional humor peppered throughout. The "mom" is a very hammy actor and the sons are completely over the top. The girls do some of the better acting in the film but that's not saying much. Then again no one should expect Oscar worthy acting from a low budget early 80's horror film. As writer and director of the film, Charles Kaufman really put the Troma stamp on Mother's day with it's campy feel and extremely dark humor, and with a budget of only $115,000 Kaufman did a great job of utilizing the funds in just the right areas. The film was shot right across the lake at the same time of the original Friday the 13th in New Jersey. Apparently the former owner of the house used in the film was murdered in it and prior to filming there was a dead body found in it.
Troma released a DVD of Mother's day with a digitally remastered director's cut of the film, a commentary with director Charles Kaufman and more extras. As cheap as the film is it looks pretty good and has that 80's feel that I am so nostalgic for in horror movies from that time.
Since watching Mother's day it has become one of my favorite Troma movies along with The Toxic Avenger, Surf Nazi's Must Die, Tromeo and Juliet, Terror Firma and the awesome new release of poultrygeist. If you like early horror films centered around a wacko inbred family and you enjoy the grimy dark humor that only Troma can come up with, than Mother's day is right up your alley.

Review by Jason

Rating: C-

We're gonna need a bigger basket.

In 1990, eight years after the original, Frank Henenlotter returned to the basket and brought us another insane story of his twisted creation...Belial. This time we get an ever crazier comedy/horror film than the first Basket case. It picks up right where the first movie ended when Belial and Duane (played by Kevin van Hentenryk who is in all three Basket case movies) fall from the window, survived and were taken to the hospital where the truth of Duane and his deformed twin brother are exposed to the world. Duanes creepy aunt Ruth ( played by Annie Ross, a well known jazz singer in real life) shows up and helps them breakout of the hospital and brings them to her home, a giant mansion that is somewhat of a hideout for freaks of all kind, so Belial fits in just fine. Living with aunt Ruth is her pregnant daughter Susan who has issues of her own. It doesn't take long before we get a predictable love story between Duane and Susan. Two reporters are hot on the case of finding Duane and Belial's hideout serving as a side story to the main which is the usual Henenlotter freak circus of bad acting, cheesy practical effects and a unbelievable plot. As the reporters get closer and closer to the truth of what is going on at aunt Ruth's house, Belial, Duane, Susan and aunt Ruth catch wind of this and devise a plan to get rid of the sneaky reporters once and for all. Will the secret of the freaks be revealed? Will Belial find true love?
Basket case 2 takes the insanity of the first film and turns it up to eleven. The make-up effects on the "freaks" living at the mansion are hilarious to say the least. In no way did anyone involved with this film ever think the were making a scary horror movie, this is in-your-face tongue-n-cheek. There is a lot of scenes involving the freaks just running around for no reason at all. The acting is a bit better than the first film but not by much. We also get treated to a nasty if not the most disturbing sex scene in movie history involving Belial, that's all you need to know.
There are actually some urban legends connected to the mansion they filmed at in Plainfield NJ.
The title it is also known by, House Of Freaks, is a very fitting title and sums up this film perfectly.
The budget for Basket case 2 was 2,500,000. I am positive a good portion of this went to the actual creation of the freaks including a man with a moon-shaped head. Even with a bigger budget than the first film it still holds true to staying as campy as possible, which is the heart and soul of all three of the Basket case films and why they are so fun to watch.
Synapse films released a superb DVD of Basket case 2 with a beautiful high-def anamorphic widescreen transfer from the original 35mm camera negative. The disc also includes an interview with David Emge who played the moon faced freak and a behind the scenes featurette. If you love this movie this DVD is the one to own.
Frank Henenlotter is truly a one of a kind director and he has such a love for he genre, which shows in his films. With the basket case films you get Henenlotter at his craziest and that is what makes these movies so unique, they are over the top campy classics that are made to shock and entertain the viewer, and Henenlotter is not afraid to throw some of the wackiest scenes on the screen to achieve this, those of which any other director probably wouldn't have the balls to do. Basket case 2 might just be the Citizen Kane of campy movies and in the end it's pure fun.

Joe Bob Briggs says "Four stars...why did this sequel take nine years to make? Because it's perfect. Check it out."

Review by Jason

Rating: C+

Very twisted and very mad!

Frank Henenlotter is one of my personal favorite cult film directors and in 1982 he
directed this low budget gem known as Basket case. When Duane Bradley rents a room in a New
York apartment building, the existing tenants have no idea what is in store for them. Duane does not have much belongings but he does carry around a large basket everywhere he goes. As he meets new people and runs into some strange situations he does his best to keep what is hiding in the basket a secret to everyone he comes in contact with. What is in the Basket is (Belial) Duanes Siamese twin brother who was attached to Duane at the hip until removed at a young age. We actually get a scene of the surgery to remove Belial that is really gory and a bit disturbing which is no surprise in a Henenlotter film. Duane can only contain Belial so long as the twisted creature becomes restless and stir crazy. Belial basically looks like a large head with hands and some growths all over. The puppet created for the movie is pretty funny in a cheap bad way. There is also some stop motion animation of Belial that is really cheesy yet hilarious. Things really start to spin out of control as Belial gets into all kinds of mischief and kills some people in the process. The sleazy landlord is well on his way to having a heart attack as he is constantly called to Duane's apartment for numerous strange occurrences. Duane ends up meeting a girl and as soon as he gets his chance to get some action Belial decides to rear his ugly mug scarring the girl away for good. Duane finally looses his mind as we enter the third act as one crazy scene after another rolls out before your eyes.
The gore in the film is excessive and well done for the budget they were working with. Apparently, when Duane checks in to the hotel and pulls out a wad of cash, this was the films entire budget. It is very apparent that Henenlotter was going for a comedy/horror with Basket case, as he has done with most of his films. In the original cut of the film all the gore was taken out to appeal to more of the comedy crowd, it was later released as "Fully uncut version" in it's entirety. Frank Henenlotter has a very dark sense of humor and you either get it and find it funny or you will probably just find his films dumb.
In 1982 the slasher trend was really taking off in horror films making Basket case a true stand out movie of it's time and for any time. There is no other film I can compare to Basket case in terms of it's themes and story. Although the acting is pretty terrible it works for this kind of movie adding another wacky twist into the pot.
Something Weird Video released a DVD of Basket case in 2001 with a plethora of extras including a great transfer of the film, commentary by Henenlotter, Levins and Beverly Bonner, Trailer, 2 TV spots, outtakes, a video short art, radio spots, interviews and more.
Basket case is definitely not for everyone but it is worth a watch and if you like this one you will surely like some of Henenlotters other films like Frankenhooker and Brain damage. In my eyes this is a classic of 80's horror/comedy cinema that will be displayed proudly in my collection right next to it's sequels with sadly are not nearly as good.

Review by Jason

Rating: C