this movie can SERIOUSLY mess you up!

I saw "Basket Case" about 6 years ago on the old VHS tape format. I have seen lots of movies, not particularly a "horror" fan. I am not an especially sensitive or squeamish person (I am actually a farmer, so I have "seen" plenty of things!)

However, I have to say that in 30 plus years of watching movies, this is the most disturbing movie I have ever seen.

Compared to so many modern horror films, it is not particularly gory. And certainly not the gross-out effects that modern movie technology has made possible. The violence in it is more implied then explicit.

I remember going past the video rental shelf at the store, and what caught my eye was that on the case it said "Critic Rex Reed has called 'Basket Case' "' the sickest movie ever made!'". And I suppose that is what made me take it home.

Watched it once, and that was enough for me. I'd am tempted to watch it again, but I honestly will have to work up my courage to do so.

I suppose all of this is really a complement to the film. This is truly a "horror" film---one of the few that comes along rarely. Seeing this film leaves the viewer with the feeling that people must have had when they first watched "Psycho". This movie should be a lesson to modern horror film producers. No matter how elaborate CGI you have, no matter how loud you make the sound, no matter how gory you make the effects; in the end you need a good story. And "Basket Case" has that vital last element. It gets you on a primal psychological level, where you truly feel vulnerable and horrified. The last movie I saw that sort of gave that feeling was "The Blair Witch Project".

Despite the low budget, you can tell this movie was made with some real talent. It has some humor in it at just the right times to keep it from becoming too depressing. It even has a wonderful quote from Shakespeare's "The Tempest" at just the right time in the story!

I would like to hear from others on this board what it is that makes this movie so disturbing.