Basket Case 2

The saga of Duane and Belial, his grotesque Siamese twin, continues as they both escape from hospital and media attention to hide out in a Staten Island shelter for freaks run by Granny Ruth (Annie Ross). Suffering from latex monster overkill and with too many references to Tod Browning's Freaks for comfort, director Frank Henenlotter's poor follow-up is nothing more than a cynical and calculated cash-in on the original's reputation. It's also missing the gruesome high notes, sharp satire and sympathetic characterisations that made the first film stand head and shoulders above its stalk-and-slash contemporaries.