We all know Tom Six as “the Human Centipede” guy, who (hopefully) is done with that fetish after releasing The Human Centipede (Final Sequence) this past weekend. It’s about time Six move on from his medically accurate monstrosity, and it seems like that’s exactly what he wants to do. While doing press for his most recent ass-to-mouth epic, Six revealed that coming next is a film called The Onania Club, which he’s describing as “The most politically incorrect inhumane horror flick ever unleashed on mankind!” And this is coming from a guy who made his characters eat feces.
In an interview, Six confirmed the following about his new film:
“Again it will be a film that will explore the dark side. No romantic comedies for me,” said Six. “I am now in pre-production of The Onania Club, a very original, highly perverted black comedy that will shake up the world yet again.”
In a separate interview with The Wrap, Six made sure that the interviewer understood just how twisted The Onania Club will be:
I can’t say the plot yet because it’s so simple, but so out there. It’s so original, I’m sure that “South Park” is going to make another parody of it. It’s really crazy — a very pitch-black dark comedy with horrific elements. It will upset a lot of people again.
If you’ve been following the sideshow that is Six’s reaction to an abysmal critical reception on his latest film, you’d know that he’s fully embraced his status as a shock-cinema peddler. This isn’t a bad thing if your films have something to say, like The Human Centipede (First Sequence), or are artistically shot, like The Human Centipede (Full Sequence). If The Onania Club toes either of those lines, I’ll be happy to see Six mature as a filmmaker who acknowledges that there’s more to an exploitation flick than seething hatred.
If not, and if he doesn’t learn from The Human Centipede (Final Sequence), we’re seriously going to be in for a masturbation-centric abomination. Oh yeah – “onania” is synonymous with masturbation, which shouldn’t surprise anyone who has seen a Tom Six film.
The problem with such news is that Six has only been stroking his own ego since releasing The Human Centipede (Final Sequence). After assuring that all the negative reviews he reads are only “making his cock harder,” he started retweeting a bevy of superfans who are holding Six’s franchise higher than The Godfather or Star Wars. Critics have now become the enemy, including me after I posted my negative review, yet maybe Six is forgetting that The Human Centipede (First Sequence) is sitting at a 49% on Rotten Tomatoes out of 91 reviews.
Critics – ugh, OK, MOST critics – aren’t gunning for Tom Six just because he’s making movies about poop. I wanted The Human Centipede (Final Sequence) to succeed mightily, just like I believed in his original vision. But tweets like the following make me nervous about how Six is amending his approach to “dark comedy” and what he considers to be stinging social commentary:
Seeing the many gloriously positive reactions of fans and the "professional" bad reviews I know I haven't lost my touch #Iwin #THC3
— Tom Six (@tom_six) May 23, 2015
In any case, The Onania Club is going to cement the kind of filmmaker Tom Six will continue to be. Can he rebound from the “backlash” and return to artistic mindf$ckery, or will he exist only to please the adoring fans who have been shoveling his shit down their throats since 2009? Here’s to hoping that Six has plenty more to say, and the style to back it up. You know, something more than just a room full of people jerking off for two hours.
