Fantastic Fest 2011: Human Centipede 2 Review

The big opening night film of the Fest this year was the sequel the relatively successful cult horror film Human Centipede. This is not terribly surprising given that the original was a huge hit at the festival two years ago and went on to receive tons of attention in mainstream media, even being parodied on South Park. The problem is, The Human Centipede is a piece of shit movie.

It reminds me of Snakes on a Plane. The premise and title were so ridiculous and yet somehow perfect. How has this thing not already existed? The mind races with possibility and the Internet explodes with all of the wonderful moments that will surely await. This is a concept that cannot fail, but it does. And how could it not? How could we have been so stupid? If a film is a slave to a concept or a single joke, there is no way it can break away from that to create something truly memorable. When the entire world has spent months creating a better story, better jokes, and better set pieces than the filmmaker could ever live up to, disappointment is the only outcome.

The plot of Human Centipede is as follows: guy wants to create a human centipede, guy creates a human centipede. That is not a story, there is nothing there. Everything you could get out of the film, you already got the moment you heard the title. What’s left is a somewhat charismatic villain staring at his creation for an hour. It was boring.

So, how do you follow that up? How do you revive a concept that’s already been beaten dead? If you are director Tom Six, you don’t. Human Centipede 2 fails in the same way as the first. There is no story apart from “dude wants to create a human centipede, dude creates a human centipede.” Six seems to be under the illusion that the concept itself is still interesting and shocking, still enough to justify a feature. It’s not. It’s over.

I do give him credit for some things though. First, he finds a clever way of connecting the two films. I won’t ruin it as it’s one of the few joys of the movie. He also completely changes the style for this sequel. The first was rendered in bright colors and clinical detail. The sequel is black and white. It’s dirty. Where the first one never actually showed anything too graphic, this one pushes the envelope at all turns. If this kind of shock cinema is enough for you in and of itself, then maybe you won’t be as bored as I was.

Six was on hand to talk about the film and he revealed his plans for a third and final film. It’s strange to me how invested he is in this idea, how much he believes it to be noteworthy and relevant. It’s not just him cashing in on a surprise success either. I talked with him two years ago when he revealed the first film and he was already excitedly talking about the sequel, and the movie I saw was exactly the movie he described. This is his grand artistic statement, and it is as shallow and empty as a work of art can be. It’s a bit tragic.