Comparison between the
shortened US Video-on-demand version and the
uncut Video-on-demand verson from bountyfilms.com
- 4 cuts and one zoomed shot
- Difference: 182.1 sec (= 3:02 min)
The difference in time refers to NTSC-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 US Video-On-Demand Version
As you could already see in the overview, most of the scenes that were taken out take place towards the end (where you see barbwire being wrapped around a penis). While the UK version in general includes the rape (however, any shot that would show the barbwire was cut out), the US Video-on-Demand version misses out on the entire scene.
The same goes for a scene during the first half of the movie: In the US Video-on-Demand version most of the scene where Martin uses sandpaper on the penis was cut out. However, you see him holding sandpaper in his hand, which (if you don't know what would follow) seems to be quite pointless.
The "advantage" of the US Video-on-Demand version is that all the other gory/violent scenes were left in the movie. As usual, the only problem the US censors had were scenes with sexual content, all the other cruelties were (apparently) not bothering them.
Time designations will be listed as follows:
US VOD in NTSC / Uncut VOD in PAL
Credits
00:00-00:20/ 00:00-00:14
The
US-VOD includes a warning notice at the beginning of the film, followed by the IFC Films logo.
The
Uncut version only shows the Monster Pictures logo.
US VOD 5.2 sec longer
29:13 / 27:56-28:13
Martin's aroused and wraps sandpaper around his penis.
17.7 sec
29:21 / 28:20-28:23
Before the movie cuts back to the girls in the parking garage you see a close up shot of Martin masturbating with the sandpaper in his hand.
2.2 sec
76:06 / 73:13-74:13
Martin is standing behind the centipede and is obviously aroused - he touches his crotch. He bends down, picks up a piece of barbwire and wraps it around his penis. In between you see the girl at the end of the centipede uneasily looking around while Martin gets down on his knees behind her.
61.9 sec
76:10 / 74:17-75:53
After you saw somebody waving his/her hands around for about 4 seconds the US-VOD now misses out on the entire rape scene. In between you again and again see other victims at the front of the "centipede".
At some point Martin finally climaxes and slumps down.
100.3 sec
Zoom
76:10-76:14 / 76:53-76:57
At least the last 4 seconds of the longer shot of Martin on the girl are included in the US-VOD. However, the scene was zoomed so that you can barely see the girl.
No difference in time.
