Yes, there’s a serious yuck factor to Human Centipede II: Full Sequence, but gosh, it’s great fun. Great, gross “I just vomited a little bit in my mouth/OMG! I’m sure that’s illegal” fun, but fun nonetheless.

The film starts with loner/low-life Martin (Laurence R. Harvey) watching the ending of the first Human Centipede film, where three people are linked together (the second person in the sequence has her mouth surgically attached to the first person’s anus and the third person’s mouth is attached to the second person’s anus, with one gastronomical track running through the three).
Inspired by what he’s seen, Martin sets out to recreate the centipede — this time with 12 people. Oh, and no anesthesia. Martin is a parking attendant; his lack of surgical skills adds to the repulsiveness factor. That’s pretty much the plot. (If you’re looking for much more of a story line, you’re in the wrong line.)

Director Tom Six is relentless in his pursuit of an atrocity that will finally make everyone run screaming from the theater. There are close-ups of tendons and buttocks being sliced. Teeth are hammered and broken off. There’s a rape with…wait for it…barbed wire. Through it all, Martin is played to perfection by Harvey. Bug-eyed, mute, without a single straight line in his body, Martin is alternately the victim and the madman. (Think of Harvey as a rounder version of Peter Lorre.) His abuse of his captives is brutal, but it’s Martin as a person that is terrifying. Standing still, looking into the camera, he’s completely mesmerizing. And monstrous.

A third Centipede installment is in the works (we kid you not), though we can’t quite imagine what Six will do to top himself. Maybe a centipede circle? Today’s midnight screening is the Houston premiere of Human Centipede II: Full Sequence. 11:55 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Through October 15. River Oaks Theater, 2009 West Gray. For information, call 713-866-8881 or visit www.landmarktheatres.com. $10.

Fri., Oct. 7, 11:55 p.m.; Sat., Oct. 8, 11:55 p.m.; Fri., Oct. 14, 11:55 p.m.; Sat., Oct. 15, 11:55 p.m., 2011

This article appears in Oct 6-12, 2011.