Director: Tom Six
Genre tags: Horror, Thriller
The Basics
The film starts like a multitude of horror films. Two American girls touring Europe are driving through the woods, this time in Germany, and blow a flat tire right before a heavy rain storm. Instead of staying with their car, then run through the forest trying to find shelter or a phone and come to the home of Dr. Heiter, a frightening looking German surgeon. The doctor drugs the two girls and takes them down to his basement laboratory where he also brings a Japanese tourist. This is where he unveils his plan to unite the three individuals into one being by surgically attaching one person’s mouth to another person’s anus, and the third person to the anus of the person in the middle, creating a human centipede. The operation is a success and the doctor has a new pet to play with.
My Recommendation
Fans of indie horror and/or “medical” based psychological thrillers, if there is such a thing yet, might enjoy this one. The film is rated R for violence, disturbing images, nudity, and adult language. My Two Cents
*Spoiler Alert* This movie has a cult following primarily because of the “weirdness” of the idea, namely sewing people together ass-to-mouth and adjusting their knees so they cannot bend. Tom Six has also stated that he consulted with surgeons prior to filming who confirmed that the human centipede designed is possible, which I will admit is what brought me to the theater of Netflix to view the film. But does it live up to the hype, as they say?
For the most part, I did enjoy this movie. First, the idea of creating a three person centipede is a unique, if not strange, concept. This movie also seeks to unnerve the audience on the psychological level instead of relying on blood and gore, which it could have very easily done given the subject matter. Dieter Laser’s performance as the mad doctor is grade A; unnerving, and just downright creepy. That is not to knock the performances of the other actors, who were all admirable in their roles, but Laser was nothing short of astonishing.
As far as the physical aspects of the movie are concerned, I can say that what was presented was disturbing to a point. Even though most of the posterior was covered with gauze, they still showed the flaps of skin from the front person’s buttocks sewn to the face of the person behind, which I will admit sent a shiver down my spine. But, even considering the focus on psychological vs. gore scare factor, there was still a surprising lack of blood. I think it is common knowledge that surgery scars do seep on occasion, and you would think they would bleed especially when the centipede is walking around and the skin flaps are pulling away from the behind faces. I know there was a limited budget on this film, but fake blood is cheap to make.
As far as the medical aspect of this film is concerned, the other problem I had was the fact that the doctor’s plan called for the back two parts of the centipede to be fed on the feces of the person in front. The doctor in the movie is a highly credited surgeon who would have know that a person cannot survive on human waste alone. They will either starve to death, or die from one of the many sicknesses that can be cause by fecal consumption, and there was nothing said about nutrients or antibiotics being given through iv, or anything like that. And, it IS clear that the mad doctor wants his creation to survive as long as possible, so these things would have been nice to see. But, given the time span of the movie (at least the implied time span) the events of the movie aren’t beyond the scope of belief, I guess.
Once you get past the weird idea and the scary doctor, who we can assume is an ex-Nazi, there’s not a whole lot more to this movie. Once the human centipede is created, the only real human presence in the Japanese front person who expresses extreme anger to his situation, which I liked. But from that point, the two female leads are forced to the background (no pun intended.) They show no force of will or any sign of humanity other than whimpering and slight eye movement. I would have like to see more of a reaction from them on the situation, or an attempt to communicate outside of the scene where they try to escape.
This is a movie that I enjoyed, but understand the reasons why many people didn’t. It is a unique film, and I like the focus on psychological terror, but a little more blood for clinical detail and some more character involvement would have added that certain something. I still recommend this film, even to say that you saw that one movie people have been talking about (or did a few years ago.)
Rating
Story: Interesting. Good build on a fascinating idea.
Cast Performance: Excellent. Laser is outstanding as the mad doctor and cast of the “centipede” deserve special commendations, which is something that sadly cannot be said of many horror films these days.
Violence/Gore: Moderate. The images are disturbing, but not very bloody.
Nudity: Moderate. The two females are uncovered from the waist up, but all things considered, no real focus is given to their form.
Ambiance/music: good. The doctor’s home is made to be sterile and in order on that certain creepy level.
Overall rating: 3.75/5.0
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