Comparison between the shortened UK DVD (BBFC 18) and the uncut Video-on-demand version from bountyfilms.com


- 27 cuts
- Difference in time: 182.1 sec (= 3:02 min)
All information on differences in time refers to PAL speed.

The Movie

In 2009, director Tom Six released The Human Centipede: First Sequence which was an appeal for genre fans just because of its concept. Apparently, the movie was based on a humorously vicious statement that every child abuser should be punished in this way. The plot revolves around a crazy German scientist who wants to build a human centipede by seaming several persons together mouth to derriere.
The whole thing was advertised with the slogan "100% medically accurate" which was (allegedly) confirmed by a surgeon who was present while the movie was shot. What was actually surprising was the fact that Dr. Heiter acts so serious and that the movie is not all that graphic - the shock value rather comes from your inner cinema as well as the psychotic acting of Dieter Laser. It's a comparatively intelligent piece of distusting cinema which was able to dodge all the criticism of being "torture porn".

During the production of the first movie, Six already announced that he was working on a sequel which was going to make the first part look like a kid's movie. In fact, The Human Centipede II: Full Sequence goes into a completely different direction in terms of style: it takes place on a meta level, where the first part exists as a movie and an insane fan of the movie - a rather chubby man named Martin - wants to re-enact the film's plot. Since he doesn't have the same medical skills to pull the act off, this movie - opposite to its slogan "100% medically inaccurate" - is pretty chaotic. Teeth are getting smashed out with a hammer, the sewing gets done with a stapler - thus, the sequel shows everything one might have imagined seeing after hearing of the first movie. The film is full of blood and torture which is not really mitigated by converting to black and white.

Overview of the different versions:

In the following segment, we're trying to show you - as far as possible chronologically - the individual releases of the movie.


1. Great Britain

Runtime: 84:21 min (PAL DVD) / 87:57 min (Blu-ray)

In June 2011, the BBFC rejected to rate the uncensored version of the movie, thus making it impossible to release it in the UK. However, the label refuted the decision and in October there were conditionally pleasant news that the BBFC rated a censored version of the movie with the highest possible (BBFC-18) rating.
Since November 21st, 2011 this version can be purchased on both DVD and Blu-ray. The 30 cuts resulted in about 2.5 minutes of missing footage.



2. USA

After the news of the heavily cut UK version, it was announced that the US version would also be censored. The censorship included a few cuts during the rape scene (which included barbwire being wrapped around a penis) towards the end of the movie. This is probably the (Unrated!) version which hit the US theatres on October 7th 2011.
As a result, the following Video-on-Demand release included the exact same censorship. Since it's not yet clear whether or not the DVD/Blu-ray release will be censored or not, information to these releases will be listed separately.

a) The Video-on-Demand version

Runtime: 88:01 min (NTSC)

Since October 29th, 2011 (being released before the UK version, even though the conditions of censorship were announced later) you can watch a Video-on-Demand version (for example on amazon.com). This version includes 4 cuts which cut out roughly 3 minutes of the movie. Unlike the UK version, the US version exclusively misses out on scenes with sexual content.
On Amazon it is listed as "R-Rated", however, since there's no special MPAA-entry for it, it's highly doubtable that this is the accurate rating. It's rather likely that this version is based on the Unrated US theatrical release.



b) The DVD/BD

Runtime: unknown (allegedly 91 min)

On February 24th, 2012 an Unrated DVD/Blu-ray will be released in the USA; thus far, there's no information whatsoever on whether or not these discs will be censored. What's noticeable is the listed runtime of 91 min which would then correspond to the uncensored version. Yet again, even though the movie's theatrical release was "Unrated" they still had to cut some footage out, thus there might be a (more or less) "good" reason to do the same thing for the home theatre releases. Another possibility would be that the DVD/Blu-ray version is not as heavily censored as the Video-on-Demand version, yet still stlightly cut (the same thing happened to the scandalous A Serbian Film).
Remember, these are just speculations that were written down for our little overview.



3. Australia

Runtime: unknown (allegedly missing out on 30 seconds)

At first, everything seemed to be pretty good for Australian audiences: shortly after the BBFC's denial to rate the flick, it was announced that the Australian censorship agencies didn't ask for any cuts, thus the theatrical release was uncensored. Unfortunately, in December 2011, the rating was abolished. After cutting out roughly 30 seconds of footage, the movie was rated again.
This was the version which from then on was shown in theatres and which will be released on DVD and Blu-ray on February 17th, 2012.





4. bountyfilms.com Video-on-Demand

Runtime: 87:12 min (PAL) / about 90:55 min in NTSC

This version marks the (so far) only uncut alternative. Since December 14th, the movie can be acquired via the homepage of the British company in form of Video-on-Demand (price for unlimited application: $14.99). (Link). What you get is an mp4-file in 720p with a size of 1GB.

The British Version

In general, the BBFC's denial for a rating from June 2011 criticized that the movie has an inhuman undertone and heavily focuses on the combination of violence and sexual satisfaction. According to their official statement, even censorship wouldn't tone down this problematic aspect of the movie.



In the BBFC's press release from October 6th you could read that the BBFC's decision was refuted and that most of the censors accepted to rate the movie after several cuts were made. It's interesting to mention that the BBFC's vice president referred to the decision from June and thus still refused to rate the movie.




With roughly 30 censored scenes, the British version might appear heavily butchered. However, one has to keep in mind that quite a few violent scenes were not censored and that the cuts were made with caution: despite the censorship, there aren't too many continuity errors or "choppy" scenes. Overall, this version is still watchable.
Of course, if you're really interested in the movie, you should watch an uncut version.

Besides the sexual aspects (which didn't have to be toned down as much as for the US-VOD) the UK version misses out on the squashing of the baby, a part of the cruel scene where a few teeth are being smashed out with a hammer and quite a few shots of passing dung through the centipede. The only scene which was not even suggestively included is the scene with the baby. However, you won't miss it if you don't know it. At other parts of the film you only miss out on the most violent parts of the scenes, thus the sense of the scene isn't lost.
A rather quaint part of the UK version is additional dark flickering which slightly retouches the rape scene. You might not even notice it because there are some other scenes in the movie that include dark flickering (e.g. the scene inside the warehouse). It is possible that the BBFC censors counted this "stylisic device" more than once, which is why they talk about 32 cuts, while in our report we could only find 30 cuts.



Time designations will be listed as follows:
UK DVD in PAL / Uncut VOD in PAL

Credits
00:00 / 00:00-00:11

Only the Uncut-VOD includes the Monster Pictures Logo; on the UK DVD/Blu-Ray this is shown in a separate file before the actual movie starts.

Uncut 11 sec longer

27:45 / 27:56-28:08

Martin wraps the sandpaper around his penis.
At least the last shot of his face was included in the UK version - unlike the US VOD version.

11.4 sec

27:58 / 28:20-28:23

Just before the movie cuts back to the girl in the parking garage you see a close-up shot of Martin masturbating with the sandpaper in his hand.

2.1 sec

53:42 / 54:06-54:10

Another shot of Martin looking in tent; then he smashes two more teeth out of his neighbour's mouth.

3.6 sec

53:43 / 54:11-54:21

A few more hits damage the rest of the teeth.

9.4 sec

53:45 / 54:22-54:40

The next cut follows right after the tool landed on the table: Martin pulls the loose teeth out of the mouth with his hands.

17.8 sec

59:13 / 60:08-60:12

A close-up shot of Kim's lips getting stapled to Candy's derriere.

3.6 sec

59:17 / 60:16-60:18

Another shot of Kim.

2 sec

59:21 / 60:22-60:26

Martin waves the stapler around in front of her face.

3.9 sec

70:36 / 71:41-71:45

In between 2 shots of Martin laughing (which follow right after each other in the UK version and result in an ugly jumpcut) you see dung running down on one of the victim's derriere since Martin apparently didn't "seam" them together properly.

4 sec

70:38 / 71:47-71:52

Another jumpcut in the UK version (in this scene it's supposed to look like an intentional stylistic device): another part of passing the dung through the centipede was cut out; you just see Martin laughing.

5.4 sec

70:41 / 71:55-71:57

Ditto, the camera lense gets a slight brown (!) color.

2.2 sec

70:44 / 72:00-72:02

Ditto, before the dung finally reaches the end of the centipede.

1.7 sec

70:50 / 72:08-72:13

When Martin becomes rather reflective you see 2 shots of the victims.

You don't really notice the cut since the "framing" shot of Martin is shown in one piece.

4.9 sec

70:53 / 72:16-72:18

Another shot where some dung runs down one of the men's derriere and thus also the mouth of the person behind.

2.2 sec

72:02 / 73:27-73:56

Martin bends down (the beginning of this shot was included in the UK version - unlike the US-VOD!), picks up a piece of barbwire and wraps it around his penis. Then you see the girl nervously looking around.

28.5 sec

The first few frames of the following shot were extended by using some dark flickering.



72:07 / 74:01-74:07

Close-up shot of the barbwire wrapped around his penis. Then you see Martin standing behind the centipede a little earlier.

6 sec

After that you in the UK version see Martin standing behind the centipede. The rest of this shot was edited with dark flickering so that you can't really see the barbwire.
Here you can see a comparison, however, the brightness varies throughout the scene.

Britische DVD	Uncut VOD

72:07-72:08 / 74:07-74:12

In the UK version you see a few additional frames of the black screen. After that you see Martin behind the centipede - he's already on his knees.

In the uncut version you actually see a long shot and the shot of Martin behind the centipede begins a little earlier. He goes down on his knees.

Uncut 4.4 sec longer

72:30 / 74:34-74:40

A shot where Martin thrusts several times.

5.6 sec

72:33 / 74:43-74:46

Ditto.

3.1 sec

72:40 / 74:53-74:58

After the long shot it happens again.

5.5 sec

72:49 / 75:07-75:15

And again.

7.4 sec

72:51 / 75:17-75:24

Ditto, the girl unsuccessfully waves her arms around several times.

7.2 sec

73:07 / 75:40-75:41

After you saw Martin climaxing the UK version again uses the dark flickering to retouch another cut. It trims the shot down to half a second (the scene sort of runs in fast motion) and is vaguely visible.

Normally the scene runs with regular speed and you see some saliva coming out of Martin's mouth.

Uncut 1 sec longer

74:58 / 77:32-77:33

A short shot of Rachel kicking the baby underneath the gaspedal before she puts the key in the ignition lock.

0.6 sec

75:00 / 77:35-77:37

The baby's head is lying on the gaspedal and is squashed by Rachel's foot. After that you see Rachel screaming.

2.6 sec

75:18 / 77:55-78:00

The neighbour is able to break away and spits the piece of dung out. The person in front - Ian - looks tormented.

4.2 sec

75:41 / 78:22-78:23

Another short shot of Ian's ragged derriere.

1 sec