The Human Centipede III (Final Sequence) (May 29th and 30th at the Cedar Lee Theatre and Capitol Theatre)

[THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE III (FINAL SEQUENCE) screens Friday May 29th and Saturday May 30th at midnight at the Capitol Theatre and Friday May 29th at midnight and Saturday May 30th at 9:30 pm and midnight at the Cedar Lee Theatre.]

Review by Bob Ignizio

Like it or not, there is now a third (and supposedly final) installment in the HUMAN CENTIPEDE series. The premise of HUMAN CENTIPEDE III (FINAL SEQUENCE) is that a psychotic prison warden (Dieter Laser, star of the original HUMAN CENTIPEDE) is desperate for a new way to punish his inmates. His second in command (Lawrence R. Harvey, star of HC2) suggests taking a cue from the HUMAN CENTIPEDE movies and surgically connecting all the inmates together ass to mouth.

The general tone this time around is less one of horror and more over the top comedy. I suppose one could find some degree of satire directed at the American justice system if one looks for it, but mostly it seems like Six is going for gross-out laughs. He's kind of like a less clever John Waters. Hell, he's not even as clever as Troma's Lloyd Kaufman. Which is not to say that the film doesn't have scenes that will make fans of sick humor chuckle; it does. They just don't have much impact beyond their initial visceral shock.

The Hot Flashes (now on video)

Review by Bob Ignizio

Exploitation filmmaker Herschel Gordon Lewis began his career by asking himself a simple question: “What kind of motion picture might there be that the major companies either could not make or would not make?” At the time, which was the 1960s, the answer was to make films that played up nudity and gore. These days, with Hollywood largely having taken over the horror business from the independents, and hardcore pornography having replaced the far more innocent “nudie cuties” of Lewis' time, the answer to that question would be very different. One possibility: movies starring and about middle aged women that deal with their issues. Hollywood sure isn't making many of those.