The Human Centipede sequel banned in Oz

A review by Australia's censors means the horror film won't get a release in Australia without substantial cuts.

Director Tom Six's self-referential sequel to The Human Centipede, The Human Centipede II (full sequence) has been banned by Australian censors, after a three-member panel of the Classification Review Board refused classification for the film.

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The Review Board deemed that The Human Centipede II (full sequence) could not be accommodated within the R 18+ classification “as the level of depictions of violence in the film has an impact which is very high”.

“In addition, the film must be refused classification because it contains gratuitous, exploitative or offensive depictions of violence with a very high degree of impact and cruelty which has a high impact.”

This means that the film's distributor Monster Pictures cannot sell, hire, or advertise the film in Australia.

The Review Board convened on Monday 28 November 2011 in response to an application from the Minister for Justice, the Hon Brendan O'Connor, to review the film's R18+ (Restricted, ,'high impact themes, violence and sexual violence') status, which had been determined by the Classification Board in May 2011.

The Human Centipede II (full sequence) was previously refused classification in the UK; until a two-minute segment was cut from the film. An edited version was also released in the US last month.

Monster Pictures had intended to release the film on Blu-ray and DVD in February 2012, and recently completed a national tour, with lead actor Lawrence R. Harvey, where viewers were invited to see the film in its “uncut” form (and where SBS Film viewed the film for review). Melbourne's Cinema Nova manager Kristian Connelly devised the idea of handing out 'vomit bags' to patrons, "to save on cleaning costs".

In light of the Review Board's decision, Connelly said that the Nova would obviously cancel the film's run. Of the decision, he said: "Response to the news on Twitter was enormous. There were a few comments applauding the ban but resoundingly our followers were outraged that censorship is still alive and well in 2011 and they'd been deprived of being able to make the decision about whether to see the film for themselves.”