Back in 2009, when The Human Centipede (First Sequence) burned through the internet, the basic concept possessed a freakshow fascination that spilled over from the horror fanatic’s churning pit of despair into the American mainstream’s semi-jaded maw. Here was an audience that was just figuring out how to deal with the twisted horrors of the Abu Ghraib prison photos (released in 2006) depicting Americans posing with human beings on boxes with electrical cables tied to genitals. After all, a key part to the Iraqi war was our moral superiority to the enemy who would bomb us, and suddenly we were forced to confront the idea that we are no better than them. Just as we were putting these ideas behind us, suddenly here comes a piece of entertainment that allowed us to steel ourselves against the concept, and even use it as a form of collective catharsis. It could be turned into jokes about our own injustices, and became a cult hit. Set in Germany, a country with its own twisted past that Americans could feel superior to, with a formula as old as time, being about three kids who get abused by a psychotic German doctor (Dieter Laser), First Sequence could be about the origins of modern horror.

In 2011, Tom Six released The Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence), unleashing the blackly comic horror that everybody expected out of the first movie. Horror fans, upon seeing First Sequence, had decried its lack of actual body horror, and emphasis on the slow burn. If the tame nature of First Sequence made torture sequences almost tolerable, the gritty graphic grostequerie of Full Sequence refused to allow the catharsis given by the first movie. Released as a black and white film and seemingly shot on 8mm home video, perfect for capturing that hybrid sensibility of Eraserhead and a snuff film, Full Sequence was a cavalcade of over-the-top violence and offensiveness. Set in Britain (as opposed to the original’s Germany), Six‘s main point with Full Sequence seemed to be a kiddy commentary on punk, with perhaps an emphasis on Thatcherian politics. However, all that was lost as we watched a mentally ill man (Lawrence Harvey), who lived with his mother, destroy twelve people with unspeakable creativity in his quest to make a longer centipede than the first.

In 2015, Tom Six unleashed The Human Centipede 3 (Final Sequence), a Grand Guignol sitcom set in Texas. Dieter Laser returns to the series as ten-gallon-hat fetishist William Boss, a German immigrant who has somehow gained control of the George H.W. Bush Prison, home to the most dangerous criminals ever. Unfortunately, the prison has been running over budget, what with funding being slashed, overpopulation, and an uncontrollably violent population creating skyrocketing medical expenses. Fortunately for Big Boss, his assistant, Dwight (Lawrence Harvey), is in charge of monitoring expenses and cutting costs. Dwight, a fan of the Human Centipede movies (again), suggests making the whole population into a giant centipede to save on food, guards, and medical expenses.

Laser plays Boss with a delicious and obnoxious relish. Maintaining his thick German accent, Laser screams and elongates every syllable, stretching each line to the point of madness. If I were to guess, Dieter and Six saw early John Waters, and thought they were far too moderate for the amount of grotesquery held within these cinematic walls. Boss is everything wrong with American politics channeled into a sideshow mirror of bombastic proportions, constantly showboating and making everybody know that he’s the one in charge. During a meeting with Governor Roberts, Boss takes offense as Roberts’ insistence on smoking only Cuban cigars, draping himself in the American flag of patriotism to denounce those dirrrrrrrrty communists. But, his patriotism is merely a guise to hide his truly disturbing nature; as Daisy, his secretary, puts it, Boss hates anything that is more sick than he is. Daisy should know, as she has been made into Boss’s slave for his releasing her father from prison, and is forced to objectify herself and have debasing sex with Boss at his command. Her body is no longer hers, belonging to the disturbing Texan. If none of these tropes sound familiar to the American political landscape, you either aren’t an American, or you haven’t been paying attention.

If First Sequence was a traditional horror movie, and Full Sequence was a blackly comic punk movie, Final Sequence is a full-out sitcom. Final Sequence is a big cartoonish display of constant violence and offensiveness that channels the mutant baby of John Waters, Hunter S. Thompson and Troma…but with a big difference. John Waters and Troma use endearing goofiness to hide their love for the outlandish. Their cartoonishness hides the all out tastelessness they dish out. Tom Six has no love for the content or characters within Final Sequence. He’s pissed off at America and their policies. Make no mistake, Final Sequence is a satire, it just isn’t that funny. It’s a satire that’s out for blood, and has things to say about the way American politicians conduct themselves, and it wears that imagery on its face.

The Human Centipede 3 (Final Sequence) is an obnoxious movie, and it means to be. Every tone is cranked to the point of distortion, becoming a funhouse mirror of reality. It’s loud, it’s violent, it is racist, sexist, and is offended by itself. It hates its own violence, it hates Big Boss and all of his sycophants (including the Hitler-moustache-donning Dwight), it hates America, it hates politics, it hates that it needs to exist, and it wants you to know that these things are all part of the problem. Can a movie that wants you to hate it ever be a success? If you hate it and everything it stands for, it’s a success, and if you see what its doing, its still a success. The only way it can be a failure is if you find Big Boss to be the hero of the film, and it goes out of the way to make that as difficult as possible.

Even if Final Sequence is, at times, almost unwatchable, and far too long (102 minutes is far too long for a movie like this), it still makes a point for its own existence. Is that a recommendation? That depends on your own tolerance for this sort of shit show (note: there are no actual feces in this movie). You’ll immediately know whether this movie might be up your alley. Final Sequence isn’t a movie that will cross over into the mainstream, and that’s perfectly acceptable.