Tom Six really did it. He promised a sequel that would make the first film look like a Disney production, and honestly, he mostly succeeded in making people want to throw up. When The Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence) dropped in 2011, it wasn't just the black-and-white aesthetic or the grimy, silent-film-from-hell vibe that got people talking. It was one specific, gut-wrenching moment. You know the one. The human centipede 2 baby scene became the stuff of instant cinematic infamy, sparking massive debates about censorship, the limits of the "body horror" genre, and whether some things are just too much for the screen.
It's a lot to process.
The film follows Martin, a mentally impaired, silent parking garage attendant who is obsessed with the original movie. He isn't a surgeon like Dr. Heiter; he's a fanboy with a staple gun and a total lack of medical knowledge. That’s what makes the sequel so much more repulsive. It's DIY gore. In the middle of this chaotic attempt to build a twelve-person centipede, there is a sequence involving a pregnant woman attempting to escape. What follows is a scene so visceral that the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) initially refused to even give the movie a rating.
The BBFC Battle and the Censorship Controversy
Most people don't realize how close this movie came to never being seen in the UK. The BBFC is usually pretty chill with horror, but they drew a hard line here. They argued that the film combined sexual violence with "degradative" imagery in a way that could actually be harmful to viewers. The human centipede 2 baby scene was a primary sticking point. In the original cut, the birth occurs while the mother is trying to drive away, and the aftermath is—to put it mildly—graphically depicted under the driver's pedal.
The BBFC’s report was scathing. They claimed the work was "unacceptable" because it linked sexual arousal with the humiliation and mutilation of victims. Eventually, Tom Six had to concede. To get an 18 certificate, he had to cut nearly three minutes of footage. Most of those cuts targeted the birth scene and the more extreme instances of Martin’s "excitement" during the procedures.
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If you've seen the "colorized" version or the unrated director’s cut, you've seen what the censors were afraid of. It’s not just the gore; it’s the nihilism. There is no hero. There is no escape. There is just Martin and his duct tape.
Why the Human Centipede 2 Baby Scene Hits Different
Horror works on a scale. You have your jump scares, your psychological thrillers, and then you have "transgressive cinema." This film sits firmly in the latter. The reason the human centipede 2 baby scene remains a talking point over a decade later is that it breaks one of the few remaining taboos in modern media: the safety of an infant.
In most horror movies, children and babies are "safe" zones. When a filmmaker crosses that line, they are signaling to the audience that all bets are off. Tom Six wasn't trying to tell a deep story about the human condition. He was trying to provoke. He wanted to see where the line was and then jump over it with a grin.
- The Practical Effects: Despite the low budget, the grit of the film makes the effects feel "wet" and real.
- The Sound Design: Because Martin doesn't speak, the wet, crunching noises of the garage are amplified.
- The Psychological Weight: It’s the desperation of the mother that actually makes the scene hard to watch, rather than just the visual of the birth itself.
It’s messy. It’s loud. It’s gross.
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Laurence R. Harvey and the Performance of a Lifetime
We have to talk about Laurence R. Harvey. Without him, this movie—and that specific scene—would just be a bad underground snuff-flick knockoff. Harvey plays Martin with this wide-eyed, wheezing intensity that makes your skin crawl. He doesn't have a single line of dialogue, yet you know exactly how broken he is.
During the filming of the most extreme sequences, including the birth, the atmosphere on set was reportedly professional but incredibly tense. Harvey has mentioned in interviews that he looked at Martin as a tragic figure, a man who had been so abused by his own life that he could only find "connection" through the literal joining of others. It’s a high-concept way to look at a movie where a guy staples people together, but it’s why the movie works as a piece of art, even if it’s "trash" art.
The actress playing the mother, Ashlynn Yennie (who also appeared in the first film), had to undergo hours of prosthetic work. The scene was choreographed to be fast and chaotic to mask some of the technical limitations, which actually ended up making it feel more frantic and "real" to the viewer.
The Legacy of the Full Sequence
Does the movie hold up? That depends on what you mean by "hold up." If you mean "is it still one of the most disgusting things ever put to film," then yes. Absolutely. The human centipede 2 baby scene ensured that the franchise would be remembered for more than just a quirky German surgeon. It moved the series into the realm of the "Video Nasties" tradition.
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Critics were split. Some, like Roger Ebert, gave it zero stars, essentially refusing to even acknowledge it as a film. Others saw it as a biting satire of horror fans themselves—a meta-commentary on how we always want "more" and "worse" until we finally get something so bad we can't stomach it. Martin is, after all, just a fan who took his fandom too far.
Interestingly, the third film in the trilogy went in a completely different direction, leaning into campy, bright, over-the-top "American" excess. It made the second film look even more like a weird, dark anomaly in the series. The second one is the only one that feels truly "dangerous" to watch.
How to Approach Transgressive Horror Today
If you're looking to dive into this kind of cinema, you need a strong stomach and a clear understanding of what you're getting into. This isn't The Conjuring. It's a deliberate assault on the senses.
- Check the Version: If you want the full experience of what the director intended, you have to find the "Unrated" or "Director's Cut." The theatrical versions in many countries are heavily sanitized.
- Context is Key: Watch the first film first. Not because the plot is complex—it isn't—but because the second film is a direct reaction to the success and "cleanliness" of the first.
- Know Your Limits: There is no shame in tapping out. The human centipede 2 baby scene is designed to make you turn the TV off. If it does, the director won.
The reality is that films like The Human Centipede 2 exist to test the boundaries of free speech and artistic expression. Whether you think it’s garbage or a masterpiece of the grotesque, the fact that we are still talking about that garage and that baby scene proves that it left a permanent mark on the landscape of horror. It's a reminder that cinema can still be truly, deeply shocking in an age where we think we've seen it all.
If you are planning a deep dive into the "Extreme Cinema" subgenre, your next step should be researching the "New French Extremity" movement. Films like Martyrs or Inside offer a similar level of intensity but often pair it with a more sophisticated narrative structure. They provide a good counterpoint to the raw, nihilistic grit of Tom Six's work and will help you understand where the "body horror" trend is heading next.