HUMAN CENTIPEDE 2 (2011) Dir: Tom Six

Ok, here comes Richard's review of one of my most hated films, I absolutely despise this film and i trashed the hell out of it when i reviewed sometime last year, it also made the #1 slot on my worst films of 2011 but films are subjective and everyone is entitled to their own opinion even if they're wrong. Anyway Richard has reviewed it and his take is much different to mind. Check it out After the Jump...



Written By Richard Long

Human Centipede 2, for those that haven’t seen it is a film by Dutch filmmaker Tom Six. Where the first movie had an aesthetic approach to it the sequel is completely different.

The movie, banned in the UK, and then submitted to the BBFC with cuts, was eventually released with 32 cuts which were compulsory due to what the BBFC deemed the films ‘revolting’ content.

Now, cuts aside, the Human Centipede 2 is a dark grungy horror movie which answers the audience of the first movie that said ‘that wasn’t gory, it was tame, you didn’t see anything.’ In the sequel all the critics who wanted more from a film that’s main idea was people’s mouth stapled to another arsehole and so forth get what they desired.

The film centres on Martin, a loner who works nightshifts at a parking garage in London. Martin is obsessed with the first movie Human Centipede, so much so his unhealthy fascination leads him to masturbating over the movie, making a scrap book of its stars and watching scenes over and over until he decides to make his own human centipede.

The film isolates itself from the outside world in many ways. Almost every scene has Martin in it as we follow him in clubbing his victims and placing their bodies in a warehouse for his dream of making the human centipede. Hey, we all have a dream.

The first half of this movie is tense, and there’s a cold quality that may come from the film being shot in black and white. Aside from the car park we see Martins home life with his crazed mother and pet centipede.

As victims mount up we learn Martin didn’t have a good relationship with his father and is visited by a doctor whom seems just as messed up as the rest of the cast.

Martin is played fantastically by Laurence R Harvey who doesn’t speak in the movie. The few times he makes any sounds are when he cries or gets excited and giggles sinisterly. Harvey portrays Martin without emotion on his face, yet you can see by his eyes a calculated mind ticking away. He reminded me a lot of old German expressionism movies like the Cabinet of Dr Caligari.

In action Martin is slow and suffers asthma and doesn’t seem he would be much of a fight for people, yet this makes him more realistic than Michael Myers. I wanted to know more of this character. I wanted to hear him say something which was probably Six’s intention.

The violence before Martin delves into making his human centipede was strong but not excessive. When Martin hit anyone over the head, rarely was it seen in detail (until the scene at home), and I felt yes its dark but the film has a curious side to it and was so much more than a cheap shock tactic affair. Everything feels cold and damp and dirty within the movie, from the weather (always raining), to the car park. In this dwelling place, as a viewer the only company or character we have to hate or pity is Martin and watching him in his intimacy was fascinating and frightening.

Human Centipede 2 was lacking a music score, but there was, during many scenes, a dull grinding similar to, but not as irritating as, Eraserhead.

Now just over halfway through the movie gets to Martin’s masterpiece, any subtly the film has had before this point has now gone. It feels like the director is saying, okay you want to see it, here it is.

There are moments when Martin is making his centipede that I felt disgusted and I grimaced many times. Then as it goes on and on unrelenting scenes become more and more absurd to the point of comical. At times I thought of the early Warner Bros cartoons. There is a moment when Martin wants his creation to empty its bowls (nice), and he grabs a bottle of laxatives. The whole scene looks cartoonish as we watch Martin grabbing the bottle with the bold words of what it is written on the side. All it needed was high thundering over the top music, which it didn’t have.

The Human Centipede’s creation seems to go on and on with some disturbing moments. Eventually just as I started thinking I had seen enough and felt my stomach rolling I found myself laughing at the sheer awfulness of it. In horror there is that fine line. Push gently and everyone is scared. Push a little further and everyone is shocked or disgusted but then keep going and people will either switch off or laugh at the craziness of it all. I laughed.

Maybe Human Centipede thought it was being more satire than it was, but despite great cinematography and wonderful acting it just wasn’t as focussed or clever as early David Cronenberg movies because it never knew when to hold itself back or when excessive gore was bordering on tiresome.

The end, which I won’t give away, left me with a lot of questions and it will be interesting to see where the series ends up. I didn’t hate this film after it finished. I actually quite enjoyed it. I didn’t think it was a cinematic horror masterpiece like some said, and it wasn’t as mature or clever as it wanted to be but it is worth watching and despite the controversy it was, for the better parts, well made and a well acted film.