THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE II (FULL SEQUENCE) (2011)

To call The Human Centipede II (Full Sequence) one of the most disgusting films ever made is probably a misuse of the phrase "one of." This pronouncement would no doubt be music to the ears of Tom Six, its director, who desires so desperately to offend that he didn't blink once when the UK banned his film from release.  They claimed it could actually cause harm to audiences.

Shock filmmakers like William Castle used to market their films with promotional gimmicks: The House on Haunted Hill featured "Emerg-O," in which a fake skeleton emerged from behind the screen; and the producers of The Screaming Skull famously offered free burial services to anyone who died of fright from watching their film.  Six should have taken their cue and offered vomit bags at the entrance and a free therapy session on the way out.

The British Film Council's claim does more than lend Six's film intriguing notoriety and free advertising: it plays right into his theme.  The Human Centipede, you remember, was about a mad surgeon who surgically attached people together mouth-to-anus in order to create the title creature.  The Human Centipede 2 is about a mentally unstable man who's obsessed with the original film and decides to create his own.  You see?  They were right.

Martin (Laurence R. Harvey--no relation to the other Laurence Harvey, I assume) is the archetypal psychotic case.  He's a parking garage attendant living with his abusive mother (Vivien Bridsen), who constantly derides him for ratting out his pedophile father.  Oh, and he loves The Human Centipede.  In the first few minutes we see him watching the end of the film, then he dutifully rewinds all the way back to the beginning and starts again.  Of all the atrocities committed in the film, I think this is the most horrifying.  Very soon he gathers victims of his own and puts into action his plan to create a bigger centipede.

The point--I suppose--is that violent movies inspire violence in those who already have a predilection toward it.  This idea comes not without a huge portion of ego.  The notion of someone being driven to murder by a movie is interesting, but the possibility that anyone could be inspired as such by The Human Centipede is slim.  It may have had a dastardly premise, but it was the biggest bore of a shock film I've ever seen.  It lacked the courage of its convictions to be either a classy suspense film or a splatter fest.

Six avoids that pitfall this time around by upping the gore ante extensively.  While the first film surprisingly pulled its punches in the disgusting department, this sequel delivers what many were probably expecting all along.

One of the most disconcerting things about The Human Centipede II is how well-made it is.  It's beautifully shot in black and white.  The atmosphere is chilling and Mr. Harvey's performance is quietly affecting (he never speaks a word).  A tongue-in-cheek appearance by Ashlynn Yennie (the C spot from the original) is surprisingly clever.

Mr. Six is, I fear, not a rabid splatterer but a legitimately talented director whose cinematic ambitions have been outweighed by his desire to offend.  The movie doesn't simply offend; it's exceptionally good at offending.  Six shows quite a bit of restraint in his use of gore, as many brutal moments are left off-screen.  But rest assured that this is not because of any human decency; rather, it's because he knows that what's implied is often more disturbing than what's shown.  He knows that too much in-your-face violence is numbing, so he is careful only to show what is necessary.  Here is a movie that is finely tuned to be as squirm-inducing as it possibly can.

It all culminates in a final half-hour that is the closest a movie has ever come to making me vomit.  But to willingly watch a movie like The Human Centipede II is to ask for it.  The titular creature is cobbled together in sloppy and sick fashion.  Martin, being no doctor, screws up from time to time, sometimes at the expense of his subjects.  There are scenes here which are a trial to sit through.  The bit involving the pregnant woman is particularly unforgivable, which I'm sure was precisely Six's intention.  The supposed climax involves the brief addition of the color brown to the palette.

In its own way, The Human Centipede II is an effective social comment, though a tad self-defeating; it brutally mocks anyone who watches it by equating their curiosity with that of a mentally challenged lunatic.  But Six's work here is less graceful than, say, Michael Haneke's Funny Games, in which the movie never quite lowered itself to the level of its villains.  Here, the movie drags us right down into depravity with its lead character.

So what do we make of The Human Centipede II?  Is it a good film or a bad film?  Well, let me put it this way: there's not a thing it sets out to do that it doesn't accomplish.  It's without a doubt the Human Centipediest movie that's ever been made, and if you watch it, you get exactly what you deserve.

Note: I've been predicting ever since the release of the first Human Centipede that Tom Six has a career ahead of him.  Not unlike John Waters, as soon as his notoriety as a purveyor of trash jettisons him into the mainstream, he'll make some actual good films.  The IMDB reveals that his next film is... The Human Centipede III.  For Christ's sake.

See also:
Shock and Yawn: THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE (FIRST SEQUENCE) (2010)