'Human Centipede' Horror Sequel Banned in U.K.

LONDON – The sequel to the controversial low-budget horror film The Human Centipede - First Sequence will not inch onto screens small or large here in the U.K. after the British Board of Film Classification rejected it outright.

The British censor said it has “rejected the sexually violent, and potentially obscene” film, The Human Centipede II – Full Sequence, which means it cannot be legally supplied anywhere in the U.K.

See the teaser trailer here: http://youtu.be/lpmPJzLmGdI

The first film in a planned horror series directed by Tom Six, the first The Human Centipede movie saw a mad scientist stitch together three victims face-to-bottom creating the 'human centipede' of the title.

Buyers and festival goers alike were turned away from market screenings of the controversial film during the Cannes Marche du Film in 2010.

For that film the BBFC gave the uncut film an 18 certificate, allowing it to be shown in cinemas and eventually released on DVD.

Released in April 2010, the original film was widely referenced online, but failed to ignite the U.K. box office despite the trailer attracting more than 10 million YouTube views.

But the BBFC said the sequel, originally intended as a straight-to-DVD release,  was banned on the basis that it is "sexually violent and potentially obscene."

The BBFC said the sequel’s central theme is the “sexual arousal of the central character at both the idea and the spectacle of the total degradation, humiliation, mutilation, torture and murder of his naked victim.”



The BBFC said in a statement: "There is little attempt to portray any of the victims in the film as anything other than objects to be brutalized, degraded and mutilated for the amusement and arousal of the central character, as well as for the pleasure of the audience."

The censor also went on to propose that the sequel "poses a real, as opposed to a fanciful, risk that harm is likely to be caused to potential viewers.”

With scenes of masturbation with sandpaper, defecation into mouths and barbed wire wrapped rape of the woman at the end of Centipede no amount of cuts could render the DVD classifiable.

“The Board considered whether its concerns could be dealt with through cuts. However, given that the unacceptable content runs throughout the work, cuts are not a viable option in this case and the work is therefore refused a classification,” BBFC director David Cooke said.

It's the first film to be banned in the U.K. since 2009's Grotesque and the filmmakers have six weeks in which to appeal the decision.