The Human Centipede 2 Review
Wow, I really need to get around to writing another 'what I've been watching' post. The list is 11 films and growing. In the meant time I'll knock together a review of The Human Centipede 2 while it's fresh in my mind.
Written and directed by Tom Six, Dutch film-maker and creator of the series: The Human Centipede 2 takes place in a world where the first exists as a fictional movie and we follow the protagonist/villain 'Martin' who has fetishized the idea of a human centipede and begins gathering victims to create his own, twelve person abomination.
The first thing to note about this film is that it is not simply 'pointless shock value' or 'sick for the sake of being sick', I perceive a very clear message to this film. By having the main character inspired by the first movie, Six is pointing out the absurdity of someone carrying out such crimes because they saw a horror movie as suggested by some of that film's detractors while simultaneously creating a work that is far more likely to deprave and corrupt. He's saying to those who called the first film obscene 'look at how absurd and twisted reality would have to be for my film to actually have a corrupting effect on someone'. He must have been laughing his head off when the BBFC missed the point completely and decided to cut his movie, merely contributing to the controversy and mythical status he wished to achieve.
I'm going to quote the notoriously dumb IMDB message boards here:
Does anyone really believe crime is lower in the UK (if it even is) because of censorship? No. And that's the whole point.
As with the first film's villain Doctor Heiter, the villain of part 2 is played to perfection. The actor who portrays him has no lines of dialogue and merely utters excited squeaks or rage-filled grunts throughout. Despite this handicap, he is able to convey his thoughts and emotions well to the audience and he just oozes a psychotic feeling throughout. The less said about the rest of the performances the better really, not that any of the other characters have much development, mainly they exist to be victimized by our hero.
Six has certainly progressed as a film-maker since part 1. Where that film felt very formulaic in it's composition and cinematography, this is shot like a black and white art film. Almost any frame could be extracted and it would be a masterful piece of depraved artwork. I also detected some themes reminiscent of Norman Bates in 'Psycho' and even 'Schindler's List's use of limited colour to draw your eye to key elements. I especially enjoyed Six's gleeful twist on the 'blood spattering the camera lens' shot that is frequently used in horror or war movies.
As with many of these types of films, the content is so outrageous that it rings completely false and ends up losing all shock value. A film like 'Zodiac' is far more disturbing to me because it is played completely po-faced and is based on real events that took place. In The Human Centipede 2 you can always feel the hand of the director urging the cast on to greater levels of insanity, and ultimately that is why the film fails to stir much within the viewer.
Written and directed by Tom Six, Dutch film-maker and creator of the series: The Human Centipede 2 takes place in a world where the first exists as a fictional movie and we follow the protagonist/villain 'Martin' who has fetishized the idea of a human centipede and begins gathering victims to create his own, twelve person abomination.
The first thing to note about this film is that it is not simply 'pointless shock value' or 'sick for the sake of being sick', I perceive a very clear message to this film. By having the main character inspired by the first movie, Six is pointing out the absurdity of someone carrying out such crimes because they saw a horror movie as suggested by some of that film's detractors while simultaneously creating a work that is far more likely to deprave and corrupt. He's saying to those who called the first film obscene 'look at how absurd and twisted reality would have to be for my film to actually have a corrupting effect on someone'. He must have been laughing his head off when the BBFC missed the point completely and decided to cut his movie, merely contributing to the controversy and mythical status he wished to achieve.
I'm going to quote the notoriously dumb IMDB message boards here:
"the rules are there to protect us. Do you really want some sick bastard to watch it and get psychologically disturbed by it for the rest of his life? and Maybe turn into the maniac who's portrayed in number II ?
The UK will always be a safer home than the US, and that's why I like it here."
Does anyone really believe crime is lower in the UK (if it even is) because of censorship? No. And that's the whole point.
As with the first film's villain Doctor Heiter, the villain of part 2 is played to perfection. The actor who portrays him has no lines of dialogue and merely utters excited squeaks or rage-filled grunts throughout. Despite this handicap, he is able to convey his thoughts and emotions well to the audience and he just oozes a psychotic feeling throughout. The less said about the rest of the performances the better really, not that any of the other characters have much development, mainly they exist to be victimized by our hero.
Six has certainly progressed as a film-maker since part 1. Where that film felt very formulaic in it's composition and cinematography, this is shot like a black and white art film. Almost any frame could be extracted and it would be a masterful piece of depraved artwork. I also detected some themes reminiscent of Norman Bates in 'Psycho' and even 'Schindler's List's use of limited colour to draw your eye to key elements. I especially enjoyed Six's gleeful twist on the 'blood spattering the camera lens' shot that is frequently used in horror or war movies.
As with many of these types of films, the content is so outrageous that it rings completely false and ends up losing all shock value. A film like 'Zodiac' is far more disturbing to me because it is played completely po-faced and is based on real events that took place. In The Human Centipede 2 you can always feel the hand of the director urging the cast on to greater levels of insanity, and ultimately that is why the film fails to stir much within the viewer.
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