28 September 2011

September 28th

Basket Case 2 (1990) directed by Frank Henenlotter
What happened to Duane?  He used to be such a nice kid, if you ignored the whole "helping his brother murder people" thing.  In this movie, he's a kind of a douche.  Missing is that weird disconnect from normal life he had in the first movie.  Here, he keeps expressing a desire to live a normal life.  I don't think the Duane from part 1 would even know what that meant.  But, it is a story mover.  Duane gets to learn a hard lesson about what happens when he ignores his freak heritage and is silly enough to be grossed out by his girlfriend's tummy-snake.

The other freaks in the movie are very, very cartoony.  I'm tempted to love them -- the designs on many are really cool (my favorite is the dude with huge teeth jutting out) -- but I also miss the slightly more realistic world of the first movie.  Then again, how can I complain when Henenlotter decides to do some crazy shit on screen?  I love that the guy'll try this type of thing, even if it doesn't work out 100% of time.  I'd admire both his creativity and his guts.

I've gotta say I do like the ending, though.  Duane snapping and sewing poor Belial back onto his side is great.  I hope they walk around still connected in part 3 for a while.  (7/10)



Frankenhooker (1990) directed by Frank Henenlotter
More Henenlotter insanity.  Jeffrey is an electrician who dabbles in self-taught surgery.  One day his fiancee, Elizabeth, is run over by a remote-controlled lawnmower.  He decides to fix her himself, saving her head and a few other body parts in a vat of pink goo while he sketches out plans for an electrical-charged replacement body.  Ah, but where to get the replacement body?  Hookers, obviously.  Wacky hijinks then ensue.  

No, seriously: they are wacky.  How about a room full of hookers exploding like firecrackers after going crazy smoking some "super crack" Jeffrey whipped up in his garage?  How about the resurrected Elizabeth sexing up a john, the john exploding from her electricity, and his flying head talking about about what a good time he had?  Yeah, that happens.  And, then, at the end, with Jeffrey's new body...

I hadn't seen this one before, but I love it nearly as much as Brain Damage now.  Damn, what a good time.  (8/10)

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