B-Sides: These Freaks Got Personality

“Personality” was first performed by Dorothy Lamour in the 1946 film Road to Utopia. That’s not why it’s this week’s B-Sides. Being sung by a busload of human oddities in a Frank Henenlotter flick is the reason why this freakish take on “Personality” made the B-Sides.

Actress-singer Annie Ross has had a storied career that began with an “Our Gang” short and near its end saw her cast as the freak-loving “Granny Ruth” in the 1992 threequel Basket Case 3: The Progeny. A nutzoid mother hen to a gaggle of freaks similar to the franchise’s star mutant, Belial, it’s her love for these freaks of nature that leads to this amazing big band, bus-bound musical number from the most insane entry in Frank Henenlotter’s Basket Case franchise – and that’s saying something.

This scene is also a little depressing because looking at the wonderfully imaginative make-up designs on the various freaks serves as a sad reminder of modern cinema’s over-reliance on computer effects over practical effects.

Along with Ross, the flick also stars Kevin Van Hentenryck, Denise Coop, and Gil Roper.