Tom Six’s controversial sequel fails to live up to the hype.
Having originally been banned by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) for its “revolting” content, director Tom Six finally got his way when the follow up to last year’s The Human Centipede was released straight to DVD.
The original movie caused a stir with the story of a mad German doctor kidnapping three individuals, who he then sewed mouth to anus in an experiment that was described as “100% medically accurate”.
Although hardly a horror master-class, the original film did have its moments of suspense, anguish and a good villain in the form of the mad and evil Doctor Heiter, played admirably by Dieter Laser.
Unfortunately the same cannot be said of the sequel. Shot entirely in black and white, the Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence) tells the story of Martin, a psychologically disturbed car park security man who lives with his abusive mother. The film starts with the ending of the original movie, before panning out to show Martin watching the DVD on his laptop.
Martin, played by Laurence Harvey, is obsessed with Six’s original movie and has desires to replicate what he sees in the film. The first half of the movie shows Martin collecting his victims, including a pregnant woman and his noisy neighbour, while the second half shows him crudely attempting to create the centipede that Doctor Heiter managed in the original.
The problem with the Human Centipede 2 is that, while all this sounds terrifying, it simply is not. There are many scenes that should affect the viewer, scenes that should make the skin crawl. However, due to a combination of poor acting and cinematography, most of these (especially in the first half) pass with little more than a whimper.
Much of this is due to Martin. Harvey does not provide the same tension as Laser, one of the redeeming features of the first film.
What the sequel does possess is more blood and guts. Laxatives, staple guns and Martin’s sexual fascination with his creation provide real moments of disgust and discomfort, but overall this film provides little in the way of tension, horror or suspense.
This film left me feeling empty. I didn’t enjoy it, I didn’t hate it, and I wasn’t hugely disgusted by it. It feels pointless, the acting is poor and the storyline is predictable.
