(Contains comical images throughout that don't fit the tone of the blog lol)
If you are not aware and have been living under a rock recently, the sequel to the shocking Human Centipede has been outright banned in the United Kingdom by the BBFC (ratings board) from release on DVD, Download or in theaters for being "sexually violent and potentially obscene". This means EVEN ADULTS cannot see this film.
Firstly, let me point out that whether you hate these type of movies or not, we are supposed to be living in a democracy (so they say), but it's apparent that we are now in a society where an unjustified authority board is banning a person's artistic expression, -(no matter what you call it extreme horror it is still an art form). -The BBFC are no different than the censorship culture in the Nazi regime, omitting what they don't want the public to see. Ironicall the Nazi's were the very skum who actually did sexually abuse, torture and do mad experiments on innocents just like in the movie. Now I thought we were past banning films, I thought that it was an outdated over-reaction buried in the past when the Conservative party was in power in the 1980s/90s, but I guess I was completely wrong. We haven't moved on. Maybe it's a coincidence that A Serbian Film got banned from frightfest last August, and now this movie gets banned outright not long after the Conservatives are back in power... this theory is not the issue though, although I do suspect a snobbish Eton-twat style influence in the BBFC.
Secondly, it's ONLY A MOVIE, there is NO EVIDENCE that horror films have ever turned anyone into a psychopath, there is no evidence disney films have made psychos normal either! On a sidenot, there is evidence however that the establishments stupid one sided propaganda news (ITV, BBC, SKY NEWS, CNN, FOX NEWS, ABC NEWS etc.) influences 1000s upon 1000s of citizens to join up to risk their lives to foolishly fight wars to kill others brutally, and by the way, ALL WARS ARE UNJUSTIFIED, and are all based on lies by Politicians (the same class of people who like banning films in there little censorship boards). The main reasons war happens is because of profit, power and religion. Very rarely is it self defense, and never should it be supported in any way. Nobody seems to care about how damaging the news can be in influencing negative decisions. Some people would rather blame movies for the horrors of the world.. If people listened and tolerated everyone's different view/religions/ideologies, then war wouldn't exist. "War is over!...... if you want it" -John Lennon. No one on this planet has a natural right to control you! So how can it be justified for a small group of people to CONTROL what the majority can or cannot see?
Thirdly the horror genre, like many other genres needs to transcend or push the boundaries in order for the genre to survive, otherwise it will go the way of the dinosaurs or the Western, in filmic terms. The Human Centipede film series is an example of the bar being raised, expanding the genre a little bit further. Therefore I have always been open to films which offer something new or different from current trends that end up transforming the genre, be it the the Blair Witch Project, Last House on the Left, or Psycho. These films massively shaped the modern and postmodern horror genre. Without these films which pushed the boundaries in their own way, the genre wouldn't look the same. Imagine if Hitchcock never made Psycho, you know, the film which has transgressive scenes such as a cross dressing murderer, voyeurism, a thieving protagonist who unexpectedly gets killed half way in the movie, a twist ending, an unsubtle music score. Without Psycho, there would be no Black Christmas (1974) which inspired Halloween (1978), which in turn inspired Friday the 13th and the entire slasher genre. Additionally filmmakers whose careers are outside the horror genre were also inspired by Hitchcock's work in Psycho. Without Psycho, the horror genre could have possibly died back in the late 60s, sticking to the old Universal horror style formula and got boring to people, dying like the Western genre has. We would have been stuck with Hammer horror, (the Universal studios formula but with colour), which pretty much died in the late 60s.. Colour didn't save the Western genre either. And if you think the western genre is still alive, name another movie other than True Grit that came out in the past 3 years. It's no longer an existant genre. It is a one off thing now. Anyways going back to the horror genre, without Last House on the left, we wouldn't have extreme exploitation horror movies such as I Spit on your grave, Cannibal Holocaust, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre etc.. Without Cannibal Holocaust, we wouldn't have the plot for the Blair Witch Project, and without Blair Witch Project, we wouldn't have REC, Cloverfield, Paranormal Actiity, and The Last Exorcism. Without the post-modern Scream, there wouldn't be I Know What you did last summer, Urban Legend, Halloween H20, Cherry falls etc.. And without Saw you wouldn't have Hostel, the torture genre, and the Human Centipede.
Now you may be thinking, how can he compare the masterpiece that is Psycho, to a piece of trash like the Human Centipede 2? If you are still asking this question, you obviously haven't understood the last extensive paragraph... Horror is meant to be transgressive and at times original. Horror is meant to scare the viewer, not just be entertaining. You know films have muliple purposes and the unique thing about one spectrum of the horror genre is that it has a different purpose from the other 85% of genre cinema. In that sense and i've always thought this, original groundbreaking horror is close to art films, as art films are an expression of an idea that is not necessarily meant to entertain the viewer, but to express something through a medium. Art is also challenging at times at what it puts accross. So are Horror films. which are not necessarily meant to entertain the viewer. Horror films CAN (but not always) have the sole purpose of scaring the viewer in one way or the other, deliberately making them feel uneasy for 90 minutes. There are 3 different modes which define the horror genre, that scare the audience:
-Creeping them out (the feeling of goosebumps you get in presence of the unknown)
-Digust - feeling sick and uneasy from something gory or implied gore through editing and sound
-Shocking your audience - putting something on screen that society hides away from - a graphic rape for instance.
A pure horror film will include 1, 2 or all of these 3 elements. Human Centipede mostly falls into the shock mode of horror. However, if you are lucky you come accross a film which does the following:
-An Original Ideology or idea/or subplot running in the background that is in itself scary (e.g. 'Martyrs', 'The Human Centipede')
-Raw ingredients the filmmaker skillfully places within the film that the audience uses their imaginations to create fear within themselves without much effort
There are more techniques that can be listed, (not including the multiple subgenres with horror, or the crossing of different genres) but to list all of this and it's intended purpose would sidetrack my main argument too much.
What I am saying is the horror genre has multiple purposes for it's audience, and needs to transcend itself into something new every once in a while for it to survive as a filmic genre for the coming years. For this reason alone, the Human Centipede franchise needs to be embraced by horror fans, at least given a watch. It should not be banned. We are responsible adults. Your not gonna let your kid watch something that extreme because it will frighten them way too much. It doesn't make sense why you should you be treated like your kid by the BBFC, them acting as father/mother figure dictating and teaching you that this film is too bad for you to watch.
Do you like being treated as a child? Do you like being asked to have your chewing gum taken out your mouth?
I haven't seen this movie yet, and thanks to the BBFC, it will be a bit of an inconvenience now to watch it. I predict some other countries will also ban the film as humans like to jump on a bandwagon. If you truly want to see this film, you will find a way: either by a torrent download or a foreign import..
In the meantime, keep an open mind and don't believe everything you read, see, or hear
-John Mitchison
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