Review for The Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence)

The Human Centipede 2: Full Sequence is a vile film. A film that was banned for being too extreme, perverted and disgusting. This review will not be a liberal 'How could we allow blahdiblah'? Or an indictment over what Writer/Director Tom Six produced on the screen in terms of violence, gore and the rest. Instead, I will be looking at the film as a film and ask myself the question many wll want to know:

WHO EXACTLY DID HE MAKE THIS FOR?

The Human Centipede First Sequence was a sleeper word of mouth hit from 2010. Its premise (if it can be called that) is a mad doctor who decides to capture three people and sew them together mouth to anus to create a human centipede. This is really all the first film had to offer in a very dull viewing that seemed to intrigue and disgust just as many people. In the sequel Six has upped the ante and by doing this he seemed to have focused more on the disgusting aspects of the first and forgot about actually creating a good film around it.

Martin is a carpark attendant with some form of social disability. It is never stated what this is, but it seems to stem from abuse suffered from his father-which is explained in a very unsubtle way, it's meant to shock, but really by using the same thing a number of times it fails. Martin lives with his mother who loved his father and seems to resent that he is in jail for what he did to Martin. Lovely mother who forces Martin to undergo therapy sessions with a perverted therapist.

In a meta-element, Martin is obsessed with the first film and decides to kidnap twelve people and recreate the film but create an even larger centipede. Why? It's never explained. One by one, in a rather heavyhanded manner he collects his victims from the carpark. During this not one police officer attends to check out the disappearances of the people, the fact that cars are going missing, babies are being left in cars or indeed the fact that Martin seems to just throw caution to the wind and shoot multiple people. Did no one hear the gunshots? His main desire is to capture one of the actresses who played one of the victims of the first films. He does this by pretending to be Tarantino's agent trying to cast her. Yes folks, it's that easy.

The ninety-sum minutes of the film can be divided into two, the capturing of the victims and then the creation of the centipede. Both sections have their flaws and this is where the film falls down. The people Martin capture are not nice people, in fact you feel no sympathy for a good portion of the people he kills and this is the problem. In the first film you did feel for all three characters being forced to endure this sick experiement, in this one, you get the feeling that most of them deserved it. By doing this, you don't really care about what Martin does to them and this really makes the film an even worse experience. Because if you don't care then what are you watching for? I then again have to ask:

WHO EXACTLY DID HE MAKE THIS FOR?

The dialogue (none spoken by Martin who remains mute throughout) sounds like Six has been watching too many Ray Winstone performances and the characters are so one dimensional that the dialogue comes across very forced and hugely unsubtle. The mother sounds at times like she is reading her lines from cue cards and a speech Martin's therapist gives about the significance of the centipede is one of the worst, most painful cod-philosphy nonsense I have ever heard.

When we get down to the disgusting part the problem is that because Six wanted to show more it actually has less effect. The fact that Martin doesn't know what he's doing (as evidenced by the 100% totally inaccurate tagline) you would have thought that there would have been more made of this. The original Doctor does the experiment in a clinical rather Frankenstein type way, whereas Martin is almost like The A-Team trying to create a bomb out of duct tape and sand. Really there should have been more mishaps, blood shooting off from botched cuts. The blood, guts and disgusting elements are difused somewhat by being filmed in black and white and I'm not sure whether in colour it would have had more effect. If Six had wanted this to be the sickening experience that he claims, it seems that the lack of colour only robs the film of some of this. It should be noted that in one scene there is colour and in the Extras interview Six has the audacity to call it his 'Schindler's List moment'. That's not a joke.

By the end of the film you are left stunned at what you have seen. Not in a 2001, what did all that mean? Or a Dark Knight, I need to watch that again. But in a 'I never want to see this film and will never recommend it to anyone'. The effective ending of the original looks like a masterpiece compared to the ridiculous two endings this films has. I have never wanted to scrub a film experience from my memory more than from watching this film. The sad thing is, it is not because of the violence or gore, it is because of the awful film that surrounds it. It feels like a cheap tacky ripoff that the Sci-Fi channel would commission and the more I think about it, the more I have to wonder:

WHO EXACTLY DID HE MAKE THIS FOR?

Extras come with a worthless deleted scene, a behind the scenes section mainly looking at the centipede scenes, a look at how they created the sound effects and an interview with Six. The lack of a commentary is a surprise as I thought with all the problems with the film, its creation and distribution that Six would have relished the chance to explain what he was trying to do. That being said, I don't think I would want to listen to him explain the ridiculous end sequences for fear that my head would explode from the absurdity.

The Human Centipede 2: Full Sequence is a bad film. Not because of the disgusting elements, but because Six has taken disgusting elements and surrounded them with a terrible film. Characters are badly drawn, actors wooden, dialogue painful and by showing more it had less effect. The BBFC banned the film on the grounds of artistic merit, but they really should have banned it for being a terrible film.

Again I will ask:

WHO EXACTLY DID HE MAKE THIS FOR? Because it wasn't for me, that's for sure.