Duane Bradley

Duane Bradley is the main protagonist of the Basket Case trilogy. Throughout the films, Duane attempts to accomplish and survive numerous things along with his miniature deformed formerly siamese twin brother Belial. These things include revenge on the doctors who separated them, running from the police, and surviving prejudice from the general public.

He is portrayed by Kevin Van Hentenryck.

Basket Case
In Glens Falls, New York, Duane, attached to Belial, killed his mother coming out of the womb, much to the anger of his father and other relatives. From that point, Mr. Bradley regarded only Duane as his son and Belial as a monster. Despite this, Duane loved his brother very much, forming a telepathic bond with him whilst still attached. For their first 12 years, the Bradley boys were kept as a family secret, receiving only homeschooling until Mr. Bradley consulted the doctor who attended his sons' birth as well as two others (One being a veterinarian), and paid them to forcibly remove the two, hoping Duane would survive and not caring about Belial's fate. Despite physical resistance from Duane, the surgery was a success, and Belial was thrown away. Late the same night however, Duane heard Belial telepathically call out to him, and rescued his brother from a trash bag. Even later on that night, either one or both of the brothers built a death-machine with which they used to kill their patriarch.

For the next few years Duane and Belial were lovingly protected by their aunt, who cared for the two until her death. At the same time, Belial apparently "grew stronger" both physically and in his telepathic connection to Duane (Whereas Duane's connection to Belial got weaker). An unspecified time after, Belial decided to take revenge on the doctors who their father hired, and Duane contently went along. Duane took Belial to the home of Dr. Lifflander (The one who attended the twins' birth), where the former brother seemingly cut the power and the latter murdered the doctor.

From that point, Duane hid Belial in a wicker basket and traveled to New York City, where he proceeded to eagerly track down the other two doctors for Belial to kill. In the process, Duane became enamored with Sharon, one of the doctors' secretaries and went along with her on an outing, where he experienced his first kiss, which Belial angrily sensed. When Duane returned to his hotel room, he was worried to discover Belial feeling not only jealous but betrayed. Despite staying dedicated to the revenge mission, Duane's feelings towards the secretary and Belial's jealousy continued. After confronting his brother, Duane went to a bar to get drunk for the first time in his life, and ended up telling his and Belial's story to a disbelieving friend.

After killing the final doctor, Duane was visited by Sharon, having just discovered that her boss was murdered. Needing comfort, she went with Duane to his room where they began to make love, only to have Belial emerge from his basket and begin violently screaming. Duane barely managed to get Sharon away and shut the basket back on Belial, giving up hope of love.

That night, Duane had a dream of running naked to the girl's own apartment and beginning to fondle her before waking up and realizing the dream was in fact psychically representative of Belial sneaking to her apartment and raping her. Duane ran to Sharon's apartment to find the girl dead with Belial on top of her. Duane threw Belial back in the basket and started to angrily throttle it, slamming it against things before returning to his hotel room, promising to kill Belial or at least never let him out of the basket again. In the middle of his rant, several onlookers gathered in his room looking at the spectacle in shock, before Belial burst from the basket and attacked Duane, pushing the both of them out the window.

Basket Case 2
After a short stay at the hospital, Duane's body was temporarily taken over by Belial, who helped them both escape from the hospital. Shortly after, they were both taken by Granny Ruth Smoeller, an infamous caregiver of "unique individuals" and a friend of their aunt, to live with her in her mansion. During the first months of their stay, Belial and to a lesser extent, Duane were given therapy from Ruth to help cope with their issues. Duane eventually recovered from his injuries and expressed a desire to leave and begin a "normal" life, despite his gratitude. Duane's desire to leave was partially brought on by Belial's seeming comfort in the mansion, having become lovestruck with a similar-looking mutant named Eve, and his own growing crush on Ruth's granddaughter, Susan, who he wished to leave with.

Duane's aspirations are not fruitful, however, as Susan did not wish to leave with him, and quashed entirely when Duane became responsible for attracting unneeded attention from a tabloid reporter who belittled and wished to exploit Ruth's "House of Freaks". Feeling responsible, Duane agreed to help Belial as well as the rest of the "unique individuals" kill the reporter and her associates.

After Duane succeeded in stopping the reporter, Susan began to return his affection, and started to make love with Duane. The two were stopped cold when to Duane's shock, Susan revealed that she was a unique individual herself, and that she was pregnant with a lamprey-like mutant named Bernard, who popped harmlessly out of her stomach, causing Duane to panic and in his fear, push Susan from the bedroom window, to her death.

Duane, having gone insane, proceeded to the attic with a baseball bat where Belial was making love with Eve, and knocked his now mellowly lovestruck brother senseless. Duane carried Belial to another room, where he took a large knitting needle with thread and violently reattached Belial to his side.

Basket Case 3
For 9 months, Duane was kept in a straightjacket in a padded room by Granny Ruth. Eventually, Duane made a slight return to his senses and was let out in time for him to accompany the other unique individuals on a trip to the deep south in order to celebrate the upcoming births of Belial's children. Still being kept in a straightjacket and forced to listen to the freaks' singing, Duane attempted to escape along the way with Belial, who had entirely cut off communication with his brother due to the incident at the end of the previous film. However, despite getting the attention of a local girl during a stop, Duane was unable to convince anyone to help him escape.

Appearances

 * Basket Case (1982)
 * Basket Case 2 (1990)
 * Basket Case 3 (1991)

Gallery
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