Tom Six Documentary Reveals MS Diagnosis, Unreleased Film
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- Tom Six released "The End of Tom Six," a zero-budget documentary shot entirely in his Amsterdam apartment and uploaded online on a pay-what-you-want basis
- The Human Centipede, released 15 years ago, shocked audiences with its mouth-to-anus surgical premise but did not make Six wealthy, echoing the Deep Throat-era mystery of where profits went
- Six was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, which has confined him to his apartment except for painful walks to obtain the decaffeinated coffee he can digest
- The Onania Club, Six's follow-up feature about American women addicted to others' pain, drew rave reviews from John Waters but distributors refused to release it amid Covid-era caution
- Six previously directed the original Dutch Big Brother TV show before launching his film career with The Human Centipede trilogy
- The reviewer places Six alongside exploitation figures Uwe Boll, Sam Fuller, and Roger Corman as deserving a chapter in indie-cinema history
Why it matters: Six's case illustrates a concrete indie-filmmaking trap: extreme notoriety on a debut film failed to translate into financial security or distribution leverage for follow-ups, while a serious health diagnosis cut off the typical comeback routes. The Onania Club sitting unreleased despite a John Waters endorsement quantifies how Covid-era distributor caution compounded pre-existing exploitation-film gatekeeping.
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