*Update: Read two more reviews on Bloody.

Reviews have begun pouring online so I figured we may as well post our first in a series hitting Bloody Disgusting. Brad McHargue (@BradMcHargue) reports in from Fantastic Fest following the world premiere of Tom Six’s The Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence). Much like the reviews I’ve seen thus far, McHargue was NOT a fan, which actually makes me even more excited to see it myself.

You can watch the intro to the screening at Corey Mitchell’s online blog, with the first review inside. Watch this spot for David Harley’s thoughts in the coming week, with a potential third review if any of the staff like the film. I love a bit of controversy!! You’ll find the first theatrical listings here.

The Human Centipede is not a bad film. It’s certainly not a great film, but when viewed within the context of its incredibly narrow and disturbing concept, writer/director Tom Six managed to construct a movie that, although slightly disturbing, was more than just extended scenes of forceful defecation and coprophagia. With The Human Centipede 2: Full Sequence, Six took a different route, eschewing subtlety in favor of serving up some of the disgusting acts known to man on a silver platter.

The sequel tells the tale of a man named Martin who is obsessed with the first Human Centipede film. When not watching the film ad infinitum and dissecting each scene during his boring desk job as a security guard for a parking garage, he’s knocking people out with a crowbar, tying them up, and taking them to a warehouse so he can create his own human centipede. Hatred of everything ensues.

Let’s start with the good. Laurence R. Harvey was excellent as Martin, spending the duration of the film exemplifying a seemingly mentally challenged man through nothing more than grunts, cries, screams, and the distant look of a man who is clearly insane. He lives with his mother, an old woman with aspirations of killing herself and her son, and through this glimpse of his home life we see a man whose sole source of joy comes from a movie. In this we get rare moments where he manages to elicit a modicum of sympathy; it’s not Bambi, but many can empathize with a lonely man lost in a film. This, of course, is abandoned when he, say, rips out someone’s tongue or rapes someone with barbwire covering his penis.

Beyond that, the cinematography was quite good, with the entire film being shot in black and white, giving it a distinctly…disturbing feel that most likely would have been lost had it been in color. It’s dark, it’s gritty, and when the blood flows (and believe me, it does), it’s black, much like Tom Six’s heart. It’s well shot, but that can do nothing for the “bad” of the film, which is, well, everything.

The Human Centipede 2 should not exist. It is disgusting, offensive, and does nothing but push every possible button and cross every boundary of human decency without making any sort of statement beyond “I’m doing this because I can.” With scenes ranging from masturbating with sandpaper (with nothing left to the imagination) to a veritable conga line of fecal consumption initiated by a well-placed syringe of laxatives in the buttocks, each scene in The Human Centipede 2 serves as nothing more than a reminder that there is no God, and, if He does exists, then he sent Tom Six as punishment for our misdeeds. If torture porn exists as a maligned sub-genre, this film exemplifies it.

The Human Centipede 2: Full Sequence is a complete one-eighty from the first film. Whereas the first was a unique exercise that managed to satisfy (despite its premise) with an interesting story supported by a creepy main character, the sequel manages to be nothing more than a demented pervert’s greatest hits. Devoid of anything redeemable, The Human Centipede 2: Full Sequence is an affront to mankind, and I hate Tom Six for its existence.

If this is Six’s natural progression, then the third film will be investigated for crimes against humanity.

0/5 Skulls