Tom Six, the Dutch filmmaker behind the horror trilogy "The Human Centipede", has remained isolated in Amsterdam whilst discussing what is really making him ill.
The iconoclasts of punk, grunge and the counterculture of yesteryear have a curious way of becoming the respectable statesmen of contemporary infamy. But it is unlikely that Tom Six will ever fall into that category. His desire to remain apart is too great.
Six is the director of the "The Human Centipede" trilogy, a series of horror films so grotesque that the idea of watching them would be a disqualifying factor for 97 per cent of viewers. Six was aiming at the other three per cent: those who feed on shock and transgression, and who recognise that a horror film which makes veterans of the genre feel they should watch it through their fingers is a film that has gone too far or that defines what true horror is. The "The Human Centipede" films, especially "The Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence)", were both.
Released in 2009, 2011 and 2015, the "The Human Centipede" films became mocking memes referenced in "South Park", "The Simpsons", "Saturday Night Live" and other television programmes and films. Six was not seeking respectability; he was going as far as possible in the opposite direction. But he was seeking notoriety and fame, working in the tradition of carnival barkers and self-exploitation merchants.
"The End of Tom Six" deals with how Six made and sold his films in the same spirit. But it also deals with how his dark dream collapsed. The film, which premieres this weekend on YouTube, is a documentary about how Six's life became his own horror film, after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
He found out about his illness 14 years ago and for a long time was able to manage his symptoms comfortably in secret. But multiple sclerosis is incurable and progressive. For the last six years, Six has lived as a recluse in Amsterdam, bedridden and leaving twice a day for decaffeinated coffee. "The End of Tom Six" is a confessional memoir in which Six fuses his life, career and illness into a kind of parable.
Shot in black and white, "The End of Tom Six" opens with film noir images of an Amsterdam canal, accompanied by a romantic classical film score. The film unfolds within Six's home, where he lies in a cashmere silk dressing gown on an antique Chinese opium bed, sporting a waxed moustache, Panama hat and dark aviator glasses, smoking a Cuban cigar. Six is surrounded by a small team that includes his partner, Marci, and a director who is also played by Six.
Six intercuts between himself and this gallery of clowns, inserting exchanges from B movies like "All About Eve", which keeps the tone light. He also purges the film of self-pity and helps break down what is essentially a clever and sarcastic monologue of Six's self-justification. After 15 years, Six explains to his audience why he made these films and how they shaped his experience, whilst his diary of debilitating illness is told with clear understatement. Six describes his symptoms and his medication regime, including oxycodone for chronic pain, with harshness and without dramatism.