Despite their earlier claims that The Human Centipede II was legally obscene and unreleasable in any for, the British censors have now passed the film with cuts.

A press release from Eureka reads:

Eureka Entertainment is pleased to announce the forthcoming release of the controversial horror film The Human Centipede II (Full Sequence).

Ian Sadler, Sales Director for Eureka Entertainment, Bounty Films’ UK distributor said: “We are really pleased that after nearly 4 months of detailed discussion and debate, we have been able to reach an agreement with the BBFC and to produce a very viable cut of the film which will both excite and challenge its fans. Naturally we have a slight disappointment that we have had to make cuts, but we feel that the storyline
has not been compromised and the level of horror has been sustained.”

Further details of our plans for the UK theatrical and DVD release will be announced early next week.

Confirmation of this has yet to appear on the BBFC's website, and so no further details of cuts are available.We'll update you as soon as we know what the plans are for the film.

But of course, allowing a cut version to be released is a face-saver for the censors, who were only too aware that many people would simply download or import the film, making it the most high-profile example of how redundant they now are.

UPDATE: the 32 cuts made total 2 minutes 37 seconds. Not only are these to scenes that the BBFC (without evidence) claim breach obscenity law or feature sexual violence, but also to 'graphic gore' - something that the Board had previously no longer seem as something that needed to be cut.

The cuts include (in the BBFC's own words) "a man masturbating with sandpaper around his penis; graphic sight of a man's teeth being removed with a hammer; graphic sight of lips being stapled to naked buttocks; graphic sight of forced defecation into and around other people's mouths; a man with barbed wire wrapped around his penis raping a woman; a newborn baby being killed; graphic sight of injury as staples are torn away from individuals' mouth and buttocks."