The Human Centipede II (Full Sequence)

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Myself

I know of many films that were released with the gimmick of Barf Bags being supplied but this is the first one I've actually been too. Oddly enough it's also the most political screening I've taken part in. This is a film series where it's notoriety is far greater than its actual content. So much was made of Australia being the only country to release it uncut but now, like the brilliant A Serbian Film that was released with an R18+ rating and then a week later banned outright, the Australian Classifications Board is in the process of re-reviewing it's rating. If they renege their rating, this screening could well be the only chance of seeing the uncut version in a cinema. It's rather infuriating, even with silly films like this one, if I was to see them I should be allowed.

And what a screening it was. According to lead actor Laurence R. Harvey, who was on hand for a Q&A, the Perth screening was the largest the film has yet seen. That does make me proud. The crowd had a great time and there were some cool tidbits learnt after the screening as well.

The first film was a very average slasher film but one with a great central conceit. Is it the most shocking depraved horror film ever made? Only if you've never seen a horror film before. They didn't do much besides introduce the idea in the first film. Unfortunately in the second they don't further its development besides adding 7 more people to it. It's another film that has an interesting premise but just don't do anything worthwhile with it.

For a film series so notorious, it's a great opportunity to examine the perceived effects of film violence on viewers. This film rather post-modernly follows a fan of the first instalment who takes it upon himself to recreate the events of the film himself. He's the ultimate fan boy. But once again, writer/director Tom Six seems to lack the capacity to say anything useful or insightful on the subject of its premise.

The film goes out of its way to live up to its own hype trying to lay on shock throughout the first half that feel rather hollow. Pretty much anything to do with the characters personal life doesn't work for me. I put it down to bad writing and bad acting. The old blanket excuse of being sexually abused and unloved by your parents turning you into a psycho is tired. It does allow for one or two funny moments with the Mother but really it just feels like padding.

Once the Centipede action begins it becomes marginally more interesting. Our protagonist, Martin, isn't a fun as Dr. Heiter from part 1 but his childlike glee at his creation and then his despair at his lack of technical knowhow that causes the early demise of a few patients is rather amusing.

The more over the top stuff plays like satire and it is quite funny. At least the crowd of horror fans were enjoying themselves and I really don't see how anyone could take this seriously. It's desperately trying to shock, masturbating with sandpaper, a rather gratuitous barbed wire rape and a hilarious emergency birth that has most assuredly been cut out of all other edits of the film, they all feel thrown in with no consequence. They have no weight behind them so it's hard to find it shocking and easier to laugh at the absurdity of it all.

Further distancing itself from part 1, this film is in black and white, except for some very subtle hints of brown, which if you have any idea what the human centipede is, I'm sure you can guess what the brown is... It also makes all the gore a lot easier to take. It is one of the few cases where Black and white doesn't make the film feel classier. It makes it look gritty and grimy though, all the characters are constantly covered in sweat, naked and look like crap. Thankfuller there are one or two lookers in the bunch, I know exactly where I'd want to be situated in that chain.

So you probably already know it you want to see this or not. I love my gratuitous extremes but I find this film even emptier than the first. However at this stage you might not be able to see it anyway. We'll have to wait and see if the Classifications Board can make up its mind.