Basket Case (1982) - Newspaper Ad [San Francisco Examiner - July 16, 1982]

While I was unable to see Basket Case on the big screen, I was able to see Basket Case 2 on the very same big screen, it seems. Because the sequel, released in 1990, also had a series of midnight screenings at the very same Roxie theatre. Go figure.

Another 'quick' trip down the rabbit hole of memory lane versus magazine and newspaper archives places my first learning of the existence of Basket Case at either the very end of 1981 or the very beginning of 1982. Whenever it was that I first cracked open the sixteenth issue of Fangoria magazine and studiously examined the plethora of grisly stills from the film.

I did not see the film itself until 1983, when it was released on home video by Media Home Entertainment, and I loved it. So much so that I bought my own VHS of the release, just so I could watch it on the regular. Which I did, with relish.

Brain Damage (1988) - Newspaper Ad [San Francisco Examiner - June 16, 1988]

While I know I watched this back in the day, I think it might have been a bootleg of the unrated edition. Because the notorious (at the time) fellatio sequence was intact.

I also purchased and read the film's limited small press hardcover novelization, written by former Fangoria edition Robert "Uncle Bob" Martin and signed by both Martin and writer-director Frank Henenlotter. Still have it, too. #81 of 1000.