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Monday, June 4, 2012

Maniacal Movie Poster Monday #71!

Theme week! I hope figuring out what it is doesn't leave you a basket case...



Basket Case  (Rugged Films Inc, 1982)


This was the first movie I ever purchased! Thanks to the genius of director Frank Henenlotter - who convinced Media Home Entertainment to put this movie out at the cost of $20- at a time when VHS movies were routinely retail priced at around $80 or $100! He told me they moved thousands of copies and kind of started the whole 'sell-through' home video craze that's still going on! And even better news on that purchase - since I was working in a video store at the time - I got mine at cost - $15! It was awesome! I still have that VHS somewhere - though it must be on a back shelf in the video vault as I've not layed eyes on it in years.





Basket Case 2  (Shapiro Glickenhaus Entertainment, 1990)


In the late 80's home video was at its peak - and movies that you never would have believed would ever have a sequel - got a sequel. Or two. Or seven. Shapiro Glickenhaus Entertainment fronted the money for two sequels from director Frank Henenlotter, who brought even more of a sense of the absurd to the second and third films. I can't say I love this poster much - it's such a retread of the first movie's - but at that time distributors wanted to do everything possible to make sure you knew this was a sequel to that other movie you loved - right down to recreating the poster so the two would look so good and complimentary next to each other on the video shelves.





Basket Case 3  (Shapiro Glickenhaus Entertainment, 1992)






Now that's more like it! A brand new poster design, and it's pretty cool to boot! By the third film in the series, Frank Henelotter brought in former Fangoria magazine editor Robert "Uncle Bob" Martin to co-write - and the movie is the wildest yet.



If you'd like to know a bit more about Uncle Bob's involvement in these movies - here is a link to a post with an exclusive interview with the man himself!




The saga of Duane and Belial ended with part 3 - unless Frank Henenlotter decides to do a part 4 sometime!

Until next post, you Can Poke Me With A Fork, Cause I Am Outta Here!

5 comments:

  1. Wonderful trilogy, love them all 3, especially 1 & 3. Henenlotter is one of the coolest and most inventive genre directors of all time.

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    1. He is indeed - I have a Netflix DVD of Bad Biology sitting out in the living room to watch soon - looking forward to it!

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    2. Bad Biology isn't as great as his old classics, but it's still very Henenlotter-esque :) I'm sure you'll enjoy it!

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  2. I loved these movies. So twisted and you gotta love mutations. I remember renting these with my friends from the video store. Those were the days. I wonder what happened to my tapes? Sigh...

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    1. They are marvelous for sure. Don't you just wish you could magically lay hands on stuff like that when you think of it - that would be so cool.

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