Well That Misses the Point: Human Centipede 2 Full Trailer
By Steven Lloyd Wilson | Posted Under Trailers | Comments (17)
The full trailer for Human Centipede 2 just rolled out, and it amazing how much it resembles a train wreck without actually showing a train. That’s art right there. You all know the basics by this point. The original film (it sounds awfully generous to use that noun, but such are the limits of our tongue) gives us a Mengele stand-in doctor who has the bright idea of stitching together three poor individuals into a three segment human centipede. It was not a good movie, but it was a captivating one from a certain point of view. The concept sticks in your head and horrifies you far more than anything that actually was on the screen.
The second film has been purported to involve a dozen poor victims, and the makers of gleefully bragged about how much more over the top it will be, and almost stroked out in excitement when the UK Film Board wouldn’t allow its distribution. You just can’t buy publicity like that.
Here’s the trailer though, and see if you can identify exactly how it gets everything wrong that marginally worked in the original:
Yes, they’ve decided to make a meta film. Instead of being about a doctor performing sadistic experiments, it’s just some crazy guy who saw the film and snaps. Not to be pretentious, but a crowbar and some duct tape cannot create a human centipede. The original’s sole strength was in the pseudo-plausibility, the way a nightmare infects your subconscious by fuzzing over the details and focusing on the broad brush strokes of a mind-scalding situation. This? It’s just an excuse to plaster as much depravity on the screen as director Tom Six has the budget for, with no apparent consciousness of what was compelling at all about the original.
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Comments
Posted by: Robert at September 27, 2011 10:22 AM
but a crowbar and some duct tape cannot create a human centipede
Splitting hairs, I know, but he actually uses a staple gun for the stitches. The duct tape is to stop them from bleeding out and running away after getting bludgeoned with a crowbar.
And the film is splitting critics right down the middle right now. There are horror fans who have been absolutely offended and more mainstream critics who were shocked there was any merit at all in the film. Most reviews commend Tom Sixx on actually knowing how to build tension in a horror film and creating a more compelling villain for the sequel.