This movie lives up to it's vile billing. I'll give it that much. Originally reviewed for dvdsnapshot, and now being actively scrubbed from my memory.
Official Synopsis:
The wait is over for the most
controversial movie of the year: The Human Centipede 2 (Full
Sequence), Tom Six's follow-up to his original cult horror smash!
The opening night selection of
Fantastic Fest 2011, the film ups the ante with a brute force
unparalleled in motion pictures today. The iconic Dr. Heiter has
inspired a real-life protégé,
the sickly, disturbed security guard Martin – who takes his gory
inspiration from the original film to horrific new extremes...and
one-ups the doctor with his pièce
de résistance, a
12-person human centipede of his own. Ashlyn Yennie, star of TheHuman Centipede (First Sequence),
returns in this no-holds-barred assault on the senses, presented here
totally uncut and uncensored!
Our Take:
Similar to Blair Witch 2: Book of
Shadows, Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence) starts with the
conceit that the first film is “just a movie” within the story.
The ending of the first film was hopeless, but implied the survivor
just might get saved in the end. Here, that minimal, stylish first
film has inspired a dark, dingy, black and white “by necessity”
neo-realist gorefest completely lacking in redeeming qualities or
hope for humanity. You don't watch
The Human Centipede
films to be entertained so much as to recognize the fact that someone
made them at all.
The first film's dazzling, over-the-top
Deitrich Laser's Dr. Heiter here inspires his polar opposite in
Martin, who is silent, sweaty, and truly off-putting. Laurence R.
Harvey, an unusual looking man, is a true find. He makes quite
a splash in his film debut with a career-defining, career-ending
performance. All sweat, bugged eyes, coughs and wordless grunts, he
commits with gusto to this awful character. It takes courage to
expose yourself in circumstances like this, and expose he does...
Parking lot attendant Martin is a
obsessed fan of the first film, and watches it repeatedly when he
isn't bashing in the brains of cranky patrons with a tire iron.
Martin is a truly pathetic vision. His horrible home life, complete
lack of skills, and loving scrapbook of Human Centipede
promo materials shows him to be a man of limited interest and
intellect... but big dreams. His dream (and shouldn't everyone
have one?) is to create his own, full-sequence centipede. 12 people,
sewn together heads-to-hindquarters, sharing one long digestive tract
and acting out the film for his amusement. Needless to say, bad stuff
happens. His great coup is luring the first film's lead actress
(playing herself as a bit of an airhead) to England and making her
the star of his show.
There's some wicked black humor here
that actually provokes laughs, but everything about Human
Centipede 2 is repulsive. From
Martin, a character irredeemably sick in both mind and body, to the
brown used as an accent color (in exactly
the manner you think),
the ugly is always in the viewer's face. Emphasizing the history of
physical and sexual abuse Martin's suffered as just pure, cruel
titillation is a particularly egregious choice made by the
filmmakers. The other, underdeveloped characters are just meat to
torture. Nudity, violence, feces, blood, gore... it's all here, and
all coldly calculated to provoke a response.
More
than that, it's just a grueling film to watch. Violence done to teeth
and with a staple-gun will have you watching the last third through
laced fingers, if you're still watching at all. Perhaps a case could
be made that this is some sort of mediation on film fan culture, but
that's an argument made after the fact and to justify. Where the
first film was too restrained, this one tries too hard.
Audio & Video:
The cinematography (shot in color but
converted to black and white for release) is crisp, with blacks that
never get too muddy in even the darkest scenes. It's not a pretty
film, but the visuals are clear and free of artifacting. The audio is
5.1 Dolby Surround, and catches ever squish and whimper.
Special Features:
- Deleted Scene
- Interview with Filmmaker Tom Six
- Commentary with Tom Six and Laurence R. Harvey
- “Set tour of warehouse” featurette
- “Foley sound effects” featurette
- “Making the poster” featurette
- English and Spanish subtitles
- A teaser, trailer, and promo for the film
- Trailers for other IFC releases
Conclusion:
Everything glossed over and left to the
imagination in the First Sequence is wallowed in and thrust in your
face (in black, white, and brown) in the Full Sequence. Effective
film-making that provokes an audience's response, but the joyless,
cruel exploitation here has no redemptive qualities.
Overall Picture:
Movie: C-
Video: A
Audio: A
Extra Features: B+
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