The Human Centipede 3 (Final Sequence)

Last updated

The Human Centipede 3 (Final Sequence)
The Human Centipede 3 Poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Tom Six
Written byTom Six
Produced by
  • Tom Six
  • Ilona Six
Starring
CinematographyDavid Meadows
Edited byTom Six
Music by Misha Segal
Production
company
Six Entertainment Company
Distributed by IFC Midnight
Release date
  • 22 May 2015 (2015-05-22)(United States) [1]
Running time
102 minutes [2]
Countries
  • United States
  • Netherlands
LanguageEnglish
Box office$18,976 [3] [4]

The Human Centipede 3 (Final Sequence) is a 2015 black comedy body horror film written and directed by Tom Six and starring Dieter Laser and Laurence R. Harvey, the leading actors from the first two films in new roles, Robert LaSardo, Tommy "Tiny" Lister, Jay Tavare, Eric Roberts, Bree Olson, Clayton Rohner, and Bill Hutchens as well as a cameo by Six. The film tells the story of a psychopathic prison warden and his accountant who create their own "human centipede" from the inmates. It is the conclusion to Six's The Human Centipede trilogy. [5] The Human Centipede 3 was released both theatrically and on video on demand on 22 May 2015. [1] The film was poorly reviewed from critics due to its overwhelming gore and repetitive plot to its predecessors.

Contents

Plot

At George H. W. Bush State Prison somewhere in the Southwestern United States, William "Bill" Boss, a cannibalistic, psychopathic warden, watches the end of The Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence) with his accountant, Dwight Butler.

Bill receives a threatening prank phone call from an inmate. He then has a medical checkup with Dr. Jones in which Bill believes there is nothing wrong with himself. Bill then waterboards the inmate who prank called him with three buckets of boiling water as punishment, horribly disfiguring him. Governor Hughes arrives, ordering Bill and Dwight to put a stop to the violence and promising that they will both be fired otherwise. In anger and retaliation, Bill orders a mass castration of the inmates, and brutally castrates one of the prisoners himself, then cooks and eats the testicles for "energy food."

Dwight pitches an idea to fix the prison's horrible retention and violence rates to Bill: suture all of the inmates together mouth-to-anus, forming a giant human centipede, which would be the ultimate deterrent to crime. Bill is skeptical and opposed to the idea. Bill then has a nightmare about being attacked by inmates, and raped by the inmate he castrated. Bill then summons the director of The Human Centipede 2, Tom Six, to the prison. Bill is assured that the films are "100% medically accurate." Six gives the prison permission to use his Centipede idea, provided that he is permitted to witness the operation. The first two films are then shown to the inmates as a display of their future, which causes a riot. Inmates chase Bill and Dwight to the warden's office where they beat his assistant Daisy unconscious.

Bill goes around each cell and shoots every inmate with tranquilizers, readying them for the operation. Incompatible inmates are shot and killed. They discover an inmate with Crohn's disease, who suffers from severe diarrhea. Bill orders the man who raped him in the dream to be attached to him as an added punishment. Daisy is in a coma, where she is raped by Bill. Six returns to the prison, where he is met by Bill and Dwight. After touring the cells, they discover a mentally unstable inmate eating his own feces wanting to be sewn to the centipede. Bill shoots and kills the inmate as he does not want anyone to enjoy the punishment.

Upon the centipede's completion, Governor Hughes arrives greatly disgusted at what he sees. In addition to the centipede, a "Human Caterpillar" has been created by suturing together death row inmates, along with those who were given a life sentence, and amputating their limbs. Daisy has been sewn into the Centipede while one inmate from the Centipede is in the infirmary, having been disconnected because he served his time. Hughes leaves the prison, telling Dwight and Bill they should receive the death penalty. In anger, Bill shoots Dr. Jones dead. However, Hughes returns to prison with a sudden change of heart, stating that the Centipede punishment is "exactly what America needs." After Hughes leaves, Dwight and Bill celebrate their success. Dwight is then shot and killed by Bill for trying to take credit for the idea.

In the final scene, a naked Bill screams with joy in the lookout tower overlooking the Centipede while the Star-Spangled Banner plays.

Alternate ending

In an alternate ending, Doctor Josef Heiter lays in his bed, implying that the previous events were part of a dream. He finds his three rottweilers, his first centipede creation, deceased. The camera pans over his house and the film transitions into the beginning of The Human Centipede (First Sequence) .

Cast

Production

Six noted that casting for the third film was much easier than the first, as more people were familiar with the concept and wanted to appear in the film. [7] To this end, Eric Roberts was easier to attract to the film, because according to Six, he was a fan of the original. [8] Six decided to cast porn actress Bree Olson because he wanted a female character, even though the movie was set in an all-male prison, and wanted "the ultimate American female," which he believed to be a porn actress. [8] Both Laser and Harvey had starred in previous entries as the main antagonists, Dr. Josef Heiter and Martin, respectively. [8]

Six chose a prison setting to bring back the theme of "punishment" that generated the idea for the series, although Six admits that "I totally ignored [it] in the first two films." [8] Six filmed the movie in the style of "a Hollywood film," which according to him meant shooting "everything widescreen with over-the-top color grading and big Hollywood music," after receiving encouragement to do so from film festival audiences [8] Six noted that this helped bring out how "ridiculous" the concept was. [8]

Six has stated that some of the crew members did not agree to put their full names in the credits, and adding these same members did not have such reservations about the second part. [9] In order to promote the film, Six distributed 250 hand-signed prints of the film in March 2015. [10]

Release

On 7 April 2015, Entertainment Weekly announced the film's theatrical and video on demand release date to be 22 May 2015. [1]

The film passed uncut in Australia on 6 May, with an R18+ rating, and screened in a national tour throughout June, with Harvey appearing as a special guest. The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray in Australia on 22 July 2015. [11] [12]

Despite controversy over the second film in the franchise, [13] the film passed uncut in the UK with an 18 certificate and in New Zealand with an R18 certificate. It was released in the UK on 20 July. [2]

Critical reception

The Human Centipede 3 was poorly reviewed from critics. On review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 20% rating based on 46 reviews with an average rating of 2.2/10. The site's critical consensus states that "Human Centipede fans may find enough extreme body horror in the third installment to satisfy, but filmgoers of every other persuasion are strongly advised to stay far, far away from Final Sequence." [14] Metacritic reports an average score of 5 out of 100, indicating "overwhelming dislike" from 15 critics. [15]

Entertainment Weekly ranked the film as the second worst movie of 2015, specifying, "sleazy sadism served with a wink and a smile, Six’s anus-to-mouth trilogy is a satire without any clue of what it’s satirizing." [16] Additionally, The A.V. Club also ranked the film as the second worst of 2015, declaring, "Writer-director Tom Six lives for disapproval, and he’s finally made a movie that basically no one—not even those amused or unnerved by the past two installments—could possibly enjoy." [17]

In his review for Variety , Dennis Harvey noted, "As with earlier chapters, the packaging is as competent (if not particularly inspired) as the content is remedial. Indeed, perhaps the series' only really good joke has been the inherent absurdism of seeing an ever-rising level of expense, polish, and now "name" actors applied to something so fundamentally dumb." [18] Eddie Goldberger of New York Daily News concluded his review with, "The movie passes time until it can get to the centipeding. Even the big namesake event, when it finally arrives, is ho-hum. Turns out, whether it’s three people stuck together or 500, if you’ve seen one human centipede, you’ve seen them all." [19]

The New York Times critic Jeannette Catsoulis said of the film, "An ugly, claustrophobic celebration of sexual violence that’s anchored by one of the most repellent characters ever to appear on screen: the prison warden Bill Boss. Portrayed by Dieter Laser, Boss is a capering obscenity whose oft-protruding tongue deserves its own agent." [20]

Greg Cwik of Indiewire gave the film a C− and said: "Final Sequence is too self-serious to be camp, but too silly to be scary, so Six just settles for gross." [21]

Home media

The Human Centipede 3 (Final Sequence) was released on DVD and Blu-ray on 27 October 2015 in the United States. Additionally, a Blu-ray box set containing all of the films was released on the same day. [22]

Accolades

At the 36th Golden Raspberry Awards, Final Sequence was nominated for Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off or Sequel with Six being nominated for Worst Director. [23] [24]

Related Research Articles

<i>Natural Born Killers</i> 1994 crime film by Oliver Stone

Natural Born Killers is a 1994 American romantic crime action film directed by Oliver Stone and starring Woody Harrelson, Juliette Lewis, Robert Downey Jr., Tommy Lee Jones, and Tom Sizemore. The film tells the story of two victims of traumatic childhoods who become lovers and mass murderers, and are irresponsibly glorified by the mass media.

<i>Half Past Dead</i> 2002 American action movie by Don Michael Paul

Half Past Dead is a 2002 American action film written and directed by Don Michael Paul in his directorial debut. The film was produced by Elie Samaha, Andrew Stevens, and Steven Seagal, who also starred in the lead role. The film co-stars Morris Chestnut, Ja Rule, Tony Plana, Kurupt, and Nia Peeples. It tells the story of a criminal who infiltrates a prison to interrogate a prisoner about the location of a fortune in gold while an undercover FBI agent has to stop him. Distribution and copyrights were held by Columbia Pictures. Half Past Dead was released in the United States on November 15, 2002, by Screen Gems. The film garnered negative reviews from critics, and only grossed $19 million worldwide against its $25 million production budget. Half Past Dead was Steven Seagal's last widely released film before he shifted to several direct-to-video films in many years until 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joliet Correctional Center</span> Prison in Joliet, Illinois

Joliet Correctional Center was a prison in Joliet, Illinois, United States, from 1858 to 2002. It is featured in the motion picture The Blues Brothers as the prison from which Jake Blues is released at the beginning of the movie. It is also used for the exterior shots of the Illinois "state prison" in the James Cagney film White Heat, and the location for the first season of Fox Network's Prison Break television show, and the movie Let's Go to Prison. In 2018, it opened for tours.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Attica Prison riot</span> 1971 prisoner rebellion in New York

The Attica Prison riot took place at the state prison in Attica, New York; it started on September 9, 1971, and ended on September 13 with the highest number of fatalities in the history of United States prison uprisings. Of the 43 men who died, all but one guard and three inmates were killed by law enforcement gunfire when the state retook control of the prison on the final day of the uprising. The Attica Uprising has been described as an historic event in the prisoners' rights movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Quentin Rehabilitation Center</span> Mens prison in California, US

San Quentin Rehabilitation Center (SQ), formerly known as San Quentin State Prison, is a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men, located north of San Francisco in the unincorporated place of San Quentin in Marin County.

<i>Escape from Alcatraz</i> (film) 1979 film by Don Siegel

Escape from Alcatraz is a 1979 American prison thriller film directed and produced by Don Siegel. The screenplay, written by Richard Tuggle, is based on the 1963 non-fiction book of the same name by J. Campbell Bruce, which recounts the 1962 prisoner escape from the maximum security prison on Alcatraz Island. The film stars Clint Eastwood as escape ringleader Frank Morris, alongside Patrick McGoohan, Fred Ward, Jack Thibeau, and Larry Hankin with Danny Glover appearing in his film debut.

The women in prison film is a subgenre of exploitation film that began in the early 20th century and continues to the present day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nevada State Prison</span> Former prison in Carson City, Nevada

Nevada State Prison (NSP) was a penitentiary located in Carson City. The prison was in continuous operation since its establishment in 1862 and was managed by the Nevada Department of Corrections. It was one of the oldest prisons still operating in the United States. The high security facility housed 219 inmates in September 2011. It was designed to hold 841 inmates and employed a staff of 211.

Red Onion State Prison (ROSP) is a supermax state prison located in unincorporated Wise County, Virginia, near Pound. Operated by the Virginia Department of Corrections (VADOC), it houses about 800 inmates. The prison opened in August 1998.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bree Olson</span> American former pornographic actress (born 1986)

Bree Olson is an American actress, model, and former pornographic actress. She performed in over 170 adult films from 2006 to 2011. Since retiring from pornography, she has been critical of the discrimination and social stigma directed at adult film performers.

<i>The Human Centipede (First Sequence)</i> 2009 film by Tom Six

The Human Centipede (First Sequence) is a 2009 Dutch independent body horror film written, directed and co-produced by Tom Six. The film concerns a deranged German surgeon who kidnaps three tourists and conjoins them surgically, mouth to anus, forming the eponymous "human centipede". It stars Dieter Laser as Josef Heiter, the creator of the centipede; and Ashley C. Williams, Ashlynn Yennie, and Akihiro Kitamura as Heiter's victims.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dieter Laser</span> German actor (1942–2020)

Klaus Dieter Laser was a German actor. Laser's career spanned over five decades, appearing in both German and English-language productions. He achieved recognition for his lead role in the 2009 film The Human Centipede and also starred in the third entry in 2015. On television, he had a recurring role on Lexx from 1998 to 2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Six</span> Dutch filmmaker (born 1973)

Tom Six is a Dutch filmmaker, writer, and actor. He is best known for his trilogy of body horror films; The Human Centipede , The Human Centipede 2 , and The Human Centipede 3 . Six was an original director of Dutch reality TV series Big Brother, which has since become an international franchise.

<i>The Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence)</i> 2011 film by Tom Six

The Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence) is a 2011 psychological body horror film written, directed, and co-produced by Tom Six. An international co-production of the Netherlands and the United States, and the sequel to Six's 2009 film The Human Centipede (First Sequence), the film stars Laurence R. Harvey as a psychiatrically and intellectually impaired English man who watches and becomes obsessed with the first Human Centipede film, and decides to make his own "centipede" consisting of 12 people by using crude and violent techniques to connect their lips to each others buttocks, including Ashlynn Yennie, an actress from the first film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women</span> Prison in Wetumpka, Alabama, United States

The Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women is a prison for women of the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC), located in Wetumpka, Alabama named after prison reform activist Julia Tutwiler. All female inmates entering ADOC are sent to the receiving unit in Tutwiler. Tutwiler houses Alabama's female death row, which qualifies it for the "maximum security" classification.

<i>The Task</i> (film) 2011 British film

The Task is a 2011 British horror film directed by Alex Orwell, written by Kenny Yakkel, produced by Christopher Milburn and Courtney Solomon, and starring Alexandra Staden, Victor McGuire and Adam Rayner. The film, inspired by MTV's Fear, was produced by After Dark Originals and released by Lions Gate Entertainment on 28 January 2011.

<i>Orange Is the New Black</i> American comedy-drama television series

Orange Is the New Black is an American comedy-drama television series created by Jenji Kohan for Netflix. The series is based on Piper Kerman's memoir Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison (2010), about her experiences at FCI Danbury, a minimum security federal prison. Produced by Tilted Productions in association with Lionsgate Television, Orange Is the New Black premiered on Netflix on July 11, 2013. Its seventh and final season was released on July 26, 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary</span> Island prison in San Francisco Bay

United States Penitentiary, Alcatraz Island, also known simply as Alcatraz or The Rock, was a maximum security federal prison on Alcatraz Island, 1.25 miles off the coast of San Francisco, California, United States. The site of a fort since the 1850s, the main prison building was built in 1910–12 as a U.S. Army military prison.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laurence R. Harvey</span> Actor

Laurence Robert Harvey is an English actor.

The 36th Golden Raspberry Awards, or Razzies, ceremony, held by the Golden Raspberry Foundation, identified the worst films the film industry had to offer in 2015, according to votes from members of the Golden Raspberry Foundation. Razzies co-founder John J. B. Wilson has stated that the intent of the awards is "to be funny.". The satirical ten-category Golden Raspberry Awards, commonly known as the Razzies, were presented during the ceremony. The nominations were revealed on January 13, 2016. The ceremony was held on February 27, 2016, beginning at 8:00 p.m. PST at the Palace Theater in Los Angeles, California.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "'Human Centipede Part 3': Exclusive release date and synopsis details". Entertainment Weekly . 7 April 2015. Archived from the original on 9 April 2015. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  2. 1 2 "THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE III (FINAL SEQUENCE) (18)". British Board of Film Classification . 14 May 2015. Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
  3. ↑ "The Human Centipede 3 (Final Sequence) (2015)". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on 31 May 2015. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
  4. ↑ "The Human Centipede 3 (Final Sequence)— Financial Information". The Numbers. Retrieved 26 October 2024.
  5. 1 2 Child, Ben (30 May 2013). "Eric Roberts to star in The Human Centipede 3". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 19 September 2014. Retrieved 9 June 2013.
  6. 1 2 3 "Eric Roberts, Tiny Lister, and Bree Olson Added to The Human Centipede 3: Final Sequence". Dread Central. Archived from the original on 26 September 2013. Retrieved 9 June 2013.
  7. ↑ Hanley, Ken W. "Q&A: Director Tom Six on "THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE 3: FINAL SEQUENCE"". Fangoria. Archived from the original on 24 January 2016. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Snieder, Jeff (22 May 2015). "'Human Centipede' Director Tom Six Takes on Censorship, Critics: 'I Like the People Who Hate It' -". The Wrap. Archived from the original on 18 March 2016. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
  9. ↑ Siclen, Alison Van. "Tom Six, the 'Human Centipede' Director, Is 'Very Proud' of His Work". Vice. Archived from the original on 9 March 2016. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
  10. ↑ Rigney, Todd (7 November 2013). "The Human Centipede – Tom Six Offers Extremely Limited Number of Hand-Signed Prints". DC. Archived from the original on 8 March 2015. Retrieved 7 November 2013.
  11. ↑ "THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE 3 (FINAL SEQUENCE) To Tour Australia With Laurence R. Harvey in Attendance". Horrorcultfilms.com. 30 April 2015. Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  12. ↑ "Human Centipede 3, The: Final Sequence". JB Hi-Fi. Archived from the original on 21 July 2015. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  13. ↑ "BBFC rejects THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE II (FULL SEQUENCE)". British Board of Film Classification . 6 June 2011. Archived from the original on 13 November 2019. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
  14. ↑ "The Human Centipede III (Final Sequence)". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on 22 November 2019. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
  15. ↑ "The Human Centipede III (Final Sequence)". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 20 August 2015. Retrieved 13 July 2015.
  16. ↑ "10 Best (And 5 Worst!) Movies of 2015". Entertainment Weekly . 7 December 2015. Archived from the original on 9 December 2015. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
  17. ↑ "The 20 worst films of 2015". The A.V. Club . 16 December 2015. Archived from the original on 19 December 2015. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
  18. ↑ "'The Human Centipede III' Review: Tom Six's Latest Offense". Variety . 20 May 2015. Archived from the original on 22 May 2015. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
  19. ↑ "'The Human Centipede 3' review: Rear end, finally". Daily News . New York. 20 May 2015. Archived from the original on 8 November 2017. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
  20. ↑ Catsoulis, Jeannette (22 May 2015). "Review: In 'Human Centipede 3' There's No Humanity Left". The New York Times . Archived from the original on 13 March 2018. Retrieved 3 March 2017.
  21. ↑ "Review: 'The Human Centipede: Part III (Final Sequence)'". Indiewire . 19 May 2015. Archived from the original on 21 May 2015. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
  22. ↑ "The Human Centipede 3 DVD Release Date October 27, 2015". DVDsReleaseDates. Archived from the original on 6 August 2015. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  23. ↑ "Razzies nominations 2016: Fifty Shades of Grey, Pixels lead pack of year's worst". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 16 January 2016. Retrieved 16 January 2016.
  24. ↑ "Razzie Awards 2016: The Complete List of Nominations". United States: ABC News. Archived from the original on 31 March 2021. Retrieved 16 January 2016.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.