The third—and currently final—sequel in the twisted Henenlotter Basket Case series has simple-minded Duane(the child-like Van Hentenryck whose wide-eyed innocence is played to perfection here) trying to reconnect and apologize to ferocious, unhinged monster twin brother Dwight who has fathered an offspring! Annie Ross returns from the sequel as Granny Ruth, obviously batty but incredibly loyal to her merry band of grotesque freaks, who heads for Georgia where her son "Little Hal" (Jim O'Doherty, quite enthusiastic—and loud) and "Uncle Hal"(Dan Biggers, just a friendly town doctor the sheriff has a fondness for)live. Uncle Hal, Ruth feels, is the only one who could deliver Belial's unborn brood. When the Sheriff's (Gil Roper) bumbling deputies go hunting for Belial, a warrant out for his capture worth a million bucks, the mother of the monster children growls at them and they respond with a shot gun blast that kills "her". Well, sufficed to say, there will be hell to pay and the Sheriff will be out his policemen as Belial goes on quite a brutal rampage ripping heads off when he isn't chewing into their faces.
By the end of this series, Henelotter had just turned Bartalos and his make-up crew loose, not only creating a wide variety of surreal looking freaks, but gruesome gore (although, I was rather underwhelmed at the attacks from Belial on the police as they look so cartoonish, particularly when the emphasis was on prosthetics, I think the effects lost some impact; it was something right out of a comic book). I think moving the film from its origins in New York to a Southern town in Georgia also takes away from what made the first cult classic so interesting.
As we know all too well, Henelotter can't help himself and so the sheriff's daughter, who appears to be friendly and innocent, turns out to be into kink, her own special bullwhip in a box near the jail inside the station, with a dominatrix outfit appropriately hidden underneath her dress (probably the kind of dress she wears to church). Opal (Tina Louise Hilbert) can't contain her inhibitions and urges when naughty prisoners are in Daddy's jail cell and so she, whip in hand, is about to teach Duane (he is imprisoned by deputies who learn of his brother and Hal's house full of Ruth's "family of freaks") a lesson when the sheriff arrives to stop her. Too bad because I was hoping to see her in action—I just love Van Hentenryck's reaction when she comes toward him, the sound of the whip off from the floor, like a kid with Mother Superior and her ruler approaching him. Hilbert has that "girl next door" quality that makes her unveiling as a "teacher of discipline" shocking as only Henenlotter can achieve.
The film tries especially hard to get laughs out of the whole "family of freaks" scenario and I think the film succeeds when Van Hentenryck is on screen. There's a gag where he has Little Hal build a contraption for Belial with operational weapons that is rather amusing. I think it was a good idea of Henelotter to end the series here, although I imagine BC fans want another sequel. If he were to get the funding, I imagine he'd go the CGI route which would be unfortunate. The "birthing" sequence, while strange as intended, does go on a bit too long, but a basket full of little Belials is quite an image. THE PROGENY has enough camp value (..with a nice shot at Geraldo at the end as a lookalike host gets terrorized by Belial as Granny Ruth sends a direct message to "normal" folk about her freaks no longer hiding in secret) I figure for his fans who will find something to like, since there's plenty of "monster mayhem" and absurdity. Like the series as a whole, it's a cult movie intended for a specific audience who likes their movies off-the-wall.
By the end of this series, Henelotter had just turned Bartalos and his make-up crew loose, not only creating a wide variety of surreal looking freaks, but gruesome gore (although, I was rather underwhelmed at the attacks from Belial on the police as they look so cartoonish, particularly when the emphasis was on prosthetics, I think the effects lost some impact; it was something right out of a comic book). I think moving the film from its origins in New York to a Southern town in Georgia also takes away from what made the first cult classic so interesting.
As we know all too well, Henelotter can't help himself and so the sheriff's daughter, who appears to be friendly and innocent, turns out to be into kink, her own special bullwhip in a box near the jail inside the station, with a dominatrix outfit appropriately hidden underneath her dress (probably the kind of dress she wears to church). Opal (Tina Louise Hilbert) can't contain her inhibitions and urges when naughty prisoners are in Daddy's jail cell and so she, whip in hand, is about to teach Duane (he is imprisoned by deputies who learn of his brother and Hal's house full of Ruth's "family of freaks") a lesson when the sheriff arrives to stop her. Too bad because I was hoping to see her in action—I just love Van Hentenryck's reaction when she comes toward him, the sound of the whip off from the floor, like a kid with Mother Superior and her ruler approaching him. Hilbert has that "girl next door" quality that makes her unveiling as a "teacher of discipline" shocking as only Henenlotter can achieve.
The film tries especially hard to get laughs out of the whole "family of freaks" scenario and I think the film succeeds when Van Hentenryck is on screen. There's a gag where he has Little Hal build a contraption for Belial with operational weapons that is rather amusing. I think it was a good idea of Henelotter to end the series here, although I imagine BC fans want another sequel. If he were to get the funding, I imagine he'd go the CGI route which would be unfortunate. The "birthing" sequence, while strange as intended, does go on a bit too long, but a basket full of little Belials is quite an image. THE PROGENY has enough camp value (..with a nice shot at Geraldo at the end as a lookalike host gets terrorized by Belial as Granny Ruth sends a direct message to "normal" folk about her freaks no longer hiding in secret) I figure for his fans who will find something to like, since there's plenty of "monster mayhem" and absurdity. Like the series as a whole, it's a cult movie intended for a specific audience who likes their movies off-the-wall.