*Spoiler Warning
There's nothing I hate more than a mean-spirited horror movie with the pure intent to shock. In my book, films in that vein score an immediate 0 skull rating. So what separates Tom Six's The Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence) from pics like Chaos and Morituris? Not only is the movie ingenious, but it also shows us just how big Six's balls are. Centipede 2 is literally a big "f*ck you" to critics of the first Sequence, and once you understand this you'll also realize that his 12-person concoction is actually a comedy. Yes, a comedy (albeit it a sick one).
Six's flick is an over-the-top and in-your-face splatterfest that spends an hour and half making one bold statement: Centipede 2 isn't real life; it's just a movie. Six is screaming at the top of his lungs that everyone is taking his sh*t way too seriously. It's simple art and nothing more. Stop over analyzing it.
The sequel has an absolutely brilliant opening as the footage from the end of First Sequence transitions into "real life" where Martin (Laurence R. Harvey) is watching the film at his job as a parking attendant/security guard. Martin's world is bleak, dark and hopeless; the audience is taken through a sad journey of his life as they learn of his former child abuse and watch as his mother verbally assaults him. He's mentally handicapped and his only outlet is his creepy obsession with Human Centipede (First Sequence, a brilliant meta device that strings together the gut-punching sequences.
Human Centipede 2 follows Martin as he collects his own human specimens and jots down the first film's "directions" for assembly (being that it was "100% medically accurate") While the first movie had sterile environments with precision cutting, the sequel pulls a complete 180 and takes the victims to a disgusting warehouse where Martin uses kitchen tools for his deviant plans. In a curve balls twist, Martin brings Ashlynn Yennie (who starred IN the 2009 film) to town for an audition for a new "Quentin Tarantino movie." Little does she know that this time around she'll become a human centipede for real…
Six uses this plot to drive his position home, almost to the point of beating a dead horse. He explains through actions (which I won't reveal) that, in real life, there are no happy endings. And he pushes everything in the flick too far, so much so that Human Centipede 2 intentionally becomes silly (a woman gives birth in her car and sacrifices her baby in order to escape Martin's grasp).
Don't get me wrong; it's a truly disturbing and disgusting film. But it's so insanely excessive that it's straight up funny. There's literally a scene where Martin gives all of the specimens laxatives, which pays off in a hilariously orchestrated muddy mess all over the warehouse. Six literally builds up the insanity in an obvious attempt to piss viewers off. You can just imagine him kicking dirt at the audience and screaming, "You thought that was offensive? Check THIS out. Go ahead and complain about THIS…"
Look, I completely understand everyone's hatred for Human Centipede 2. It's an extremely malicious film where Six spends the duration proving his point instead of telling an engaging story. But to his point, who gives a sh*t? It's art, it's his movie and it's his statement; at least he's actually saying something. He doesn't have to make a movie FOR you, nor does he owe it to anybody to do so.
Human Centipede 2 is a brilliant response to critics of his first film. It makes a strong statement that it's just a movie and that people take his work way too seriously, while also implementing a unique concept. I found it an intensely engaging and absolutely hilarious meta experience that gets its point across with flying colors (in black-and-white, nonetheless). Still, Six's screenplay does lack serious depth and is pretty f*cking mean-spirited. If anything, Human Centipede 2 beats a dead horse to no end – but at least that was Tom Six's intention.
Score: 7 / 10
