Human Centipede 2-review

Dutch writer/director/producer Tom Six hit gold when he came up with the first “Human Centipede.” It was a gross movie with a fun over-the-top mad scientist and that made a ton of money.  It certainly wasn’t a great movie by any rights but it was a decent and original enough horror movie that will be remembered for years to come.  Tom Six claimed that he wanted to make the original look like “My Little Pony” compared to the sequel. What we get was one of the most exploitative movies outside of Hershell Gordon Lewis movie.

The story is about Martin Lomax, an obese, asthmatic, tollbooth attendant in his 40s who is obsessed with the film “The Human Centipede.”  He lives with a lot of abuse and he starts taking it out on people around him.  He begins collecting folks to make into a huge human centipede just like in the movie he idolizes. Will he succeed? What will he do if and when his mad experiment is complete?

There are a lot of things wrong with this movie. For one thing the protagonist is also the antagonist and he is a wretched creature.  At times the writer seems like he wants you to feel sorry for Martin. Why? He does horrible things to people. He is a disgusting man and there is no way to look at this character with no redeeming qualities as someone you can relate to or care if he succeeds. 

The violence in this movie is way over the top.  I can take a lot when it comes to violence, but they did it for no other reason than to shock the audience which makes it just another exploitation movie. Baby stomping, tongue pulling, teeth yanking, severing tendons, and that is the TAME stuff they show.   Even the ending is a huge middle finger which makes the movie a total waste of time.   They even decided to go black and white for the photography of the real world.  Why? Ninety percent of the movie is filmed in a dank warehouse.

I can’t help thinking that the way people will think about “The Human Centipede 2” will be like how people thought of “The Blair Witch Project 2: Book of Shadows.”  An instance where they had a movie that did really well with a couple sequels lined up, but shot themselves in the foot trying to do something else meta and different.  There are so much anger and bitter emotions wrapped up in the violence of this movie.  It’s a movie that gives you a hollow feeling to sit through, and it’s nowhere near the worst thing out there.