One of my favorite creepy horror actors, Richard Lynch, has died.
Lynch was reportedly found dead at his home early yesterday morning [June 19th, 2012]. He was 76. Details of his passing are yet to be released.
Best known for playing villainous characters in such movies as Vampire (1979), The Sword and the Sorcerer & the Chuck Norris Commie-basher Invasion U.S.A., where he played the main terrorist Mikhail Rostov.
Lynch who was often cast in these roles do his distinctive face (scarred as a result of setting himself on fire in New York’s Central Park in 1967 while tripping on LSD) began his career in acting after serving four years in the Marine Corps, studying underneath famed acting teachers Uta Hagen and Lee Strasberg and became a lifetime member of the prestigious Actors Studio in 1970. Lynch early in his career appeared in many stage productions such as William Shakespeare’s Richard III and Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge on and off Broadway. In 1973 Lynch made his screen debut next to Gene Hackman and Al Pacino in Scarecrow.
Although while building up a hefty resume through the seventies Lynch took a step backward in the 90’s and 2000’s where he took many roles in low-grade genre films that usually ended up be replayed on the comedy show the Mystery Science Theater 3000 (Comedy Network & SciFi Channel).
However, Lynch seemed to be making a come back in the horror genre, making a brief appearance in Rob Zombie’s remake of the Carpenter classic Halloween and was featured in the Zombie’s upcoming The Lords of Salem do out later this year.
Zombie writes via his Facebook page: "I woke up this morning to the news that our friend Richard Lynch has passed away. Richard was great to work with and really gave it his all. I will never forget the way he scared the crap out of the kid actors in Halloween. As soon as I said action! He dove in his role of Principle Chambers at top volume. He will be missed."
Lynch’s work includes: The Premonition (1976), Good Against Evil (1977), “Battlestar Galactica,” Vampire (1979), “Werewolf,” Bad Dreams (1988), Alligator II (1991), Trancers II (1991), Puppet Master III (1991), Merlin (1993), Necronomicon: Book of Dead (1993), Cyborg 3 (1994), Terminal Virus (1995), Werewolf (1996), and “Charmed.” Recently Lynch includes Corpses Are Forever (2003), The Mummy’s Kiss (2003), Wedding Slashers (2006), Mil Mascaras vs. The Aztec Mummy (2007), Rob Zombie’s Halloween (2007), Laid To Rest (2009), Dark Fields (2009), and his last film ever Rob Zombie’s Lords of Salem.
After watching this film I have to wonder two things. First, what the hell goes through Tom Six’s brain, or should I say his subconscious, that allows him to dream of these concepts of grotesquery, and two, who the hell is giving him the money to bring these films to fruition. It’s not like the films he (Tom Six) has created, or his directorial style can be compared to those, say, the suckfest that is Uwe Bol. Far from it. At least the two films that I have seen by Six have kept my interest and his film technique is impeccable.
The film I’m referring too here is “Human Centipede 2 (The Full Sequence)”, Six’s follow up to the much hyped and overly bizarre “Human Centipede (The First Sequence)”.
“Human Centipede 2” follows a man named, Martin (played by Laurence R. Harvey), a middle aged, mentally disturbed loner, with not much to say (Martin never actually speaks in the film. His complete communication solely along the lines of pig like squeals) who lives with his mother in a bleak housing project, as he works the night shift as a security guard at a local parking garage. Martin passes the time away in his little booth watching and fantasizing about the first film and fetishizes over the meticulous surgical skills of the gifted Dr. Heiter, whose knowledge of the human gastrointestinal is unparalleled. Martin is so obsessed with the film he keeps a scrapbook about it, and at one point he masturbates with a piece of rolled up sandpaper around his penis while viewing the film for the umpteenth time.
Martin’s life in this Lynchesque world takes a further dark turn as he begins collecting his own specimens, stealing them from the very place of his employ. Hitting them, usually, in the head with his trusty crowbar, then dragging their lifeless bodies off to his weird little minivan that reminds me of a cross between -as said- minivan and an American El Camino that has a cover on the back.
Martin of course needs a place to conduct his rabid little plan, so he decides to rent a warehouse space. Upon viewing the space, Martin ends up killing the rental agent as he tries to subdue him for his experiment. He will just be the first in what will become a long line of killings by the end of the film. As Martin’s collection grows (among his victims are a neighbor, a businessman, and a man and his very pregnant wife) he becomes more and more fascinated with the fact that he could somehow get the three originals actors in the first “Human Centipede” to be the show pieces of the next sequence. So he begins telephoning the three actors from the first film, pretending to be Quentin Tarantino's casting agent, and tries to lure them to London. Only, however, one, Ashlynn Yennie (portraying herself, in yet another nod to the meta-narrative), does so. And why she decided to reprise her role from the first is beyond me. Most of the first hour of the film shows how Martin attacks, beats, and kidnaps his victims, and once Martin has his victims, he severs the tendons in each person's legs (shown graphically and on screen) to prevent them from fleeing. He then uses a hammer to knock out their teeth one by one, (again shown) putting his fingers in their blood-filled mouths to fish out their teeth so they will not swallow and choke on them in a suicide attempt. He slices open the buttocks of 11 of the victims (also graphically depicted on screen), and then lacking any surgical equipment, or knowledge for that matter, uses a staple gun and duct tape to attach each person's face to the next person's anus. Like somehow that was all it takes to recreate Dr. Heiter’s plan.
The last act has Martin, who is clad only in his underwear at this point (a sight which can only be seen) as he becomes more and more sexually aroused by the desperation and travails of HIS "human centipede." And while wanting the full effect from the first film (and obviously one of his favorite scenes from it), Martin administers an excessive amount of laxative to his creation, forcing each individual in the chain to explosively evacuate their bowels into the mouth of the person behind them. When one of his victims chokes to death on their own vomit, Martin again breaks down in tears.
It’s not like the original “Human Centipede” is a master piece of film work (far from it) but the unfortunate fact of this film is that Six decided to forgo any real plot and instead just went for over-the-top grotesque. At one point in the film the pregnant women escapes and while she is in the process of doing so is also in labor. As she runs down the hall towards the door blood shoots from between her legs and when she finally does make it to a parked car (that of the rental agent that has been left there the entire time) she gives birth, the baby falling to the floor as Martin bangs on the window trying to enter. The women is finally able to get the vehicle started and crushes her newborn’s head as she steps on the gas.
However, the film is beautifully shot in black and white (a fact I think because of all the gore so Six could get around the sensor board), with deep lush darks and shadows. And the camera work is equally well down. And for the reason alone is why I’ll give the “Human Centipede 2 (The Full Sequence)” one and a half severed heads instead of just the half the story rightly deserves.
