Sliver
Martin Lomax, an intellectually challenged pitiful soul, has a deep obsession for Dr. Heiter and an even deeper compulsion to trump the doctor’s creation with a 12-person centipede. Filmed and set in London, England, where it was initially banned, the Full Sequence is even more barbaric and foul than its predecessor. Tom Six defies the formulaic sequel expected in horror films in the Full Sequence; yet, his depravity remains as he does not deviate from nauseating us all.
God Save the Queen, and every viewer…
Plot Mutilator
Warning: Plot mutilators abound.
In the Full Sequence, the viewer quickly learns that the First Sequence is in fact a film, as the protagonist, Martin Lomax, obsessively replays it on his computer while working the graveyard shift as an underground parking garage attendant. As warped as this may read, I was initially disappointed that the fiction of the First Sequence had now been rendered fiction in its fictitious sequel; but, the premise is clever and effective. Beneath its excessive gore and unrelenting bodily mutilation, the Full Sequence imparts social commentary on copycat killers and the frightening concept of life imitating “art.”
Unlike the First, the Full delves into the villain’s pathology. Martin Lomax is a victim of monstrous abuse, mental and sexual, by his parents, his neighbor, his psychiatrist, and society as a whole.
Martin Lomax is so pathetic and tragic, he almost garners sympathy. His hero worship for Dr. Heiter is all consuming. He fanatically surveys his scrapbook devoted to the film, masturbates with sandpaper, wallows in his shit-stained underwear, and dotes on his pet centipede. But, Martin Lomax represents everything his clinical hero disdains—filth and decay.
Brutally medieval, the gore is indulgent and exploitative, but it’s faithful to Martin’s mentality and his obvious lack of education, skills, and funds to aptly perform surgery. Despite his feeblemindedness, Martin possesses the wherewithal to implement his plan: He successfully bludgeons and kidnaps his prey, then creates his centipede in a decrepit warehouse that he deceptively secured. Ashlynn Yennie, Jenny of the First Sequence, earnestly portrays “herself” as an actor lured to the warehouse under the pretense that she is auditioning for a Quentin Tarantino film. Laurence R. Harvey, a British stage actor who is also known for his roles in children’s television programs, fearlessly portrays Martin Lomax with no dialogue.
The conclusion is open to interpretation. One can only imagine what the third sequel will entail; then again, few could stomach such a thought…
Deadly Details
