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The Crew Reviews: Synapse Films Bring BASKET CASE 3: THE PROGENY To DVD!

Picking up immediately after the events of the last film, director and writer Frank Henenlotter once again takes us into the bizarre relationship of brothers Dwayne and Belial Bradley. Belial isn’t speaking to Dwayne anymore after he tried to sew him back on his de and one egg short of a dozen Dwayne isn’t taking it very well. Also Eve, Belial’s smoking hot blob of a girlfriend is pregnant and starting her labor contractions. Not knowing how to handle the tuation, Granny Ruth loads up the freak bus and heads to see her old flame Dr. Hal and their love child little Hal to help with the birth of Belial and Eve’s child. But once the freaks cross the border into Peach Valley, all bets are off and things are going to get ugly, REAL UGLY!

The Progeny is the perfect mix of horror and comedy as it goes from scenes of laugh-out-loud parody humor to great scenes of visceral carnage and fountains of spraying gore all held tightly together by the story of vengeance and brotherly love. Although Belial is still the man in this one, Henenlotter lets the leash off the Dwayne Bradley character and actor Kevin Van Hentenryck runs with it. Dwayne is off the hook without Belial and his telepathic communication, and Van Hentenryck plays him as daffy and daft as he can and delivers a great and truly absurd performance.

Also Granny Ruth and a lot of the supporting freaks get more fleshed out roles and backgrounds in this one, as they are ck and tired of living in normal society’s shadow.

But like the other films in the series Belial is still the star of the show. When he loses all he holds dear, one thing is for sure, someone’s going to pay for it, and pay for it they do. He bites, chomps, claws and rips his way through nearly all of Peach Valley’s law enforcement, and what happens in order for Belial to complete his mison of vengeance is nothing short of amazing.

October 9th is the big day! Synapse Films releases what I and many horror fans have been craving, a remastered Widescreen release of BASKET CASE 3: THE PROGENY. I’ve always been a fan of the franchise and can remember back to 1991 when it was first released on VHS. I had that copy for a long time and watched it a lot. In 2004, when I heard that it was getting a DVD release I was ecstatic. Finally, I could toss the VHS and, nce DVDs were MUCH higher quality, I expected to pop it in and be blown away. Here’s the problem, not only was it extremely hard to find but when I was able to find a copy I was very disappointed at the result. It was a bare bones release with a Fullscreen transfer and a mono soundtrack. It felt like someone slapped my old VHS copy onto a DVD. I had hoped that one day someone would get it right.

Fast forward to a few months ago when I got the news that Synapse Films was releang the movie on DVD, they had done an amazing job with other clascs such as Maniac Cop, Basket Case 2, Embodiment Of Evil, and countless others. I knew that Basket Case 3 was in very capable hands. A few days ago I had the chance to check out Synapse’s Basket Case 3 release and I was pleasantly surprised. A 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer that is a vast improvement over the 2004 DVD release. This is the BEST the film has ever looked, it is a top notch remaster that is crisp, clean and upconverts nicely in my blu-ray player. (Sony BDP-S580) The 2.0 stereo track was also much better than the mono track from the previous release.

Dialogue can be heard clearly throughout and the score creates the perfect atmosphere and really brings the viewer into the film. The only supplement is the theatrical trailer. Based on the strong video and audio presentation this is a MUST own for fans of the series. The trailer is a nice touch and rounds out the package nicely. I highly recommend this release!

AUDIO/VIDEO: 9/10 SUPPLEMENTS: 7/10 OVERALL SCORE: 8/10 Buy The DVD: http://synapse-films.com/dvds/basket-case-3-the-progeny-dvd

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