What I'm Watching: Human Centipede 2

Ahhh, look at that, another post.

Oh god, another Human Centipede movie.

I'll admit, I...kinda like the original?  It's depraved, it's gross, but it's actually well made, there's a perverse sense of fun to it, and Doctor Heiter is still kinda awesomely evil.

So, what do I think of this second outing of depravity?

Well...it's about what you'd expect.

In fact, this is the movie I think everyone envisioned the original to be.  The original is Eww but not THAT bad, and it DOES have a story.  This one is everything everyone feared that first one would be, to some degree.

But ignoring the gore and violence and ick, how is it?  Well, the story is way more straightforward.  The villain this time out is not charismatic or anything like Heiter at all, by design.  He's silent, he's fat, he's creepy looking in the bad way, and just all together deplorable.  It's tough to really get behind him, but I like Martin in different ways than Heiter.  They're both foul characters, but fun to watch in their own ways.  Martin is a distant second though.

This film is loaded with black humour.  It takes the piss of the entire Human Centipede concept, and the criticism, and plays with them, and there's something there I like.  I love black humour, and it is all deliberate here, and SO over the top.  It is a good undercut to the sheer horror of what's on screen.

I like that the movie takes the criticism and fears of the original, the fears of all protective groups that say people will watch something and try to emulate it in the real world, and goes full on with that idea.  I don't think the story *quite* pulled itself together though, and it does get a bit repetitive with 2/3rds of the movie centering around Martin clubbing 12 people over the head with a crowbar to make his collection.  Yet at times, there's such an interesting quality to Martin, it's watchable in SOME entertaining way.  But it does drag a bit.

And that also leads to one of THE most hilarious scenes, that of Martin running around mostly naked save for a lab coat in a wide, overhead shot, hitting each and every one of his subjects with the crowbar as a means of anesthesia.  It is So over the top, and just keeps going for each and every person in one long shot.  I cracked up at the absurdity of the moment.

But all that being said, this IS a disturbing movie.  There are more disturbing movies out there, but this movie doesn't hold much back.  I mean, it's about 12 people being stapled together ass to mouth.  That's not a comfortable place to sit.

I liked this one, but nowhere near as much as the original, but it has its moments.  But much like the original, I can't recommend it, because who the hell would WANT to watch this, besides me?  And the Cinema Snob.

Also of note is one of the actresses returning from the first movie, but playing herself, since this movie takes place in the realish world.  Martin takes his obsession with the first movie to such a degree that he wants to add Ashlynn to the REAL Human Centipede he wants to make, and tricks her agent into thinking he's making a movie and wanting her to audition.  Ashlynn shows up playing the typical spoiled, clueless, stereotype of an actress that is so totally oblivious that she does not notice anything amiss until Martin conks her on the head with his crowbar.  It's a fun scene, and I love that she played that sort of character.  It was a nice bit of humour.

As for the ending...I have no idea what to make of it, but I won't spoil it, since it is something I think each person has to decide for themselves.  I have about three different competing theories I change every hour.

So yeah...if you liked the first, maybe catch this one on rental.  Everyone else with good sense and taste, stay away.  Ew. ;)

J

What I'm Watching: Late October, 2010

Happy Halloween!

Before I dive into the movies and such I've been watching lately, just some quick notes on what's coming to Trisk in the near future.

For those that have been here for awhile, you will remember the very quiet November from last year, as I partook in the yearly NaNoWriMo writing competition, and this year will be the same.  But with one main difference, there WILL be a review, come hell or high water.  I also plan to still do a Watching post at the very least, so it won't be a total ghost town around here.  Look for our Thanksgiving review on the 15th, to split the month up nicely in half to bide time between now and December.  And there's still one more review going up before then.

After that, Trisk will be diving right into more Christmas movies, and that will take us through 2010.  I've got only a little inkling of 2011 movies to kick off January.  There is a number of films jumping up and down to be reviewed, so they definitely have my attention.

Over the past few weeks, I've watched a number of horror movies; one rather strange, and one pretty straightforward but really good.

The stranger of the two was the rather infamous Human Centipede.  It's the rather simple story of a mad scientist who captures some hapless people stranded on the road, and then does crazy experiments on them, but taken to the Nth degree.  There's nothing that special in the plot, and what really makes the movie stand out is the nature of the experiments.  The crazy Dr. Heiter sews three people together with their mouths connected to the preceeding person's ass and connects their digestive tracts.

Ew, right?

Personaly, I found the Hostel movies far more disturbing, but I can see why this would squick people out.  I still found it to be an interesting study of the few characters in it, and was intrigued to see just how it would turn out.  While I find it hard to recommend something so bizarre and disgusting to many, if you can stomach it and aren't downright turned off by the description alone, I do think it is at least worth seeing, just for the experience of having done so.  I'm not going to get into the medical accuracy, or the movie's claims thereof.  Why start now?  NONE of the movies here are accurate to any sort of reality.  Isn't that half the fun?

From the weird to the almost normal, comes Frozen.  I really, really liked this movie!  I am sold on Adam Green's work, and am definitely moving Hatchet up my list of movies I need to see right the hell now.  Some people will sit down and nitpick apart every last second of the movie, trying to come up with things the trio of characters could have done differently once they get stuck on an abandoned skilift one weekend, or plot holes, or the usual.  However, in my opinion, I feel the movie addressed most of the major potential stupid moments very well.  Most ideas people come up with actually wouldn't work as well as you would think upon first thought.

The strength of Frozen is in its characters.  The secret to all good horror movies.  If you care about the people about to die, then you're willing to buy 90% of anything a movie might throw at you.  Since this movie is three people on a chairlift and nothing else for 80 of it's 90 minute runtime, you absolutely need great characters, and Frozen delivers.  Especially with the casting of Emma Bell as Parker.  She is absolutely adorable, and just on sight alone, you want absolutely nothing bad to happen to this girl.

Your desires will be completely denied, as much happens to Parker.

The absolute best scene in the movie is centered around what the movie doesn't show you, as a brutal attack that many movies would go to for the blood and gore, is left completely out of our sight, and we only experience it through the faces and reactions of the other characters.  That was brilliant and sold me on the movie.

Oh, and the writer/director is from my neck of the woods, and includes a lot of references to the New England skiing culture, so I may be grading on a curve just for those things alone.

But seriously, I could go on and on about this movie, and would love to talk more about it with anyone who has seen it.  If you haven't, I definitely recommend that you do.

And the reason I've kept this post on delay for so long, I literally just walked in the door from Paranormal Activity 2.  I talked about the original back in January, and wanted to get around to my thoughts on this as well.

It's not as good as the first movie, I'd say.  Whereas the original knew just when to get to scaring you, I felt the second time around they spent a little too much time with the characters.  It was ok stuff, but just a hair too long, and I started squirming in my seat waiting for things to get going again.

That said, the scares do make up for it, and are pretty good.  Some of them outdo the first movie, some don't.  It was a really good ride though, and a must see for any fan of the original.  A lot of the events were a bit confounding to me with how they lined up with the first, how they could possibly coexist, but that was explained nicely by the end.

I could have easily set fire to the three young women sitting across the aisle from me though.  They would not shut up and kept giggling.  Some of the giggling was warranted, but argh.

My one complaint is barely even a thing.  It has nothing to do with the plot, and it was a joke that got made by the husband.  His wife is in the bath, and he makes a joke about joining her and how he will, "Release the Kraken!"  In a movie set in 2006.  Um...  Gotta love anachronisms.

That's all for now!  Next full review up soon, and I'll see you when the snow flies.

J