The Human Centipede (First Sequence) (2009) User Reviews (558)

What the F?!?

[twilliams76 · 5/10 · 9 July 2011]

This is a disturbingly twisted, absurd yet original movie ... and it is the first of three! Made on a miniscule budget, The Human Centipede gives its audience some truly horrid moments. Two young (and annoying) American girls are in Europe and headed to a club when their rental car blows a tire in the middle of nowhere after dark (in these types of horror films -- surprise, surprise!). Needing assistance, they seek out the nearest shelter ... which just happens to be inhabited by Dr. Crazy-Psycho-Sick-Brained-Bastard. Offering the girls water while he "calls" for help, he has secretly drugged them to get them where he wants them (them along with another unfortunate third).

From the VERY literal and non-misleading title of the movie ... one can pretty much assume what he wants them to become. This is one of the sickest movies I have probably ever come across, and yet ... it is watchable -- highly watchable (as one continually asks themselves WHAT is coming next?!).

German actor Dieter Laser plays the mad doctor (who was world-renowned for separating Siamese twins) very well as he is most-convincing as a warped genius (who has LOST it). He may play for some slight camp ... but in this movie its allowed to work. There are many, many, many plot holes (or craters) here and there throughout the movie, but they can be overlooked because something with a title-like-this is given some liberties.

While this film was titled specifically for the curious-minded, it is not for the feint of heart or queasy. Disturbingly twisted and absurd, The Human Centipede is not a film that one will quickly forget.

Don't believe the hype

[slake09 · 3/10 · 22 May 2010]

This movie got a lot of hype for how bizarre, shocking and original it is. Unfortunately, the hype is wrong. The movie is a one-trick pony: once you get over the idea of connecting a bunch of people into a centipede, there is nothing else going on.

The shock comes when the evil doctor sews everyone together. That gets old after a few minutes; before and after that you get the standard horror story you've seen a million times.

I watched this because everything I heard said it was original, shocking, and different from any other horror movie out there. There is a bit of originality, but basically the movie just isn't that good. Maybe in the sequel they can keep it going.

Rated R for disturbing sadistic horror violence, nudity and language...exactly

[Robert_duder · 30 December 2010]

I think there has been one or maybe two other films in nearly a thousand that I just can't simply put a score to. The Human Centipede is one of those films. I can't just slap a 10/10...7/10...1/10 on it because I simply don't know. It isn't a film...not in the sense of entertainment. I would almost describe it as a snuff film because its that graphic and horrifying in its idea and feels almost real. Its sick and twisted and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone as a form of simple entertainment. It would be horrible to spend money to see this. And yet a film connoisseur, a horror buff, I suppose it needs to be seen and it tells a story that is unlike anything ever shown on screen I am certain. There is a twisted, awful and yet awfully amazing performance by the Doctor and you think it has the typical college girls on a lonely road, breaks down, crazy family and/or person finds them but the obvious twist to this story is the sick idea of the human centipede, that is where it all comes together so to speak. I've had friends and seen other reviewers call the film boring and that is perhaps it isn't exactly your typical horror film but I know I stayed horrified beginning to end and it leaves you feeling dirty that you even watched it.

Prior to being sewn into place, actresses Ashley C. Williams, and Ashlynn Yennie play best friends driving across Germany. Their acting before meeting the doctor is nothing short of atrocious. Their lines are delivered like a middle schooler that can't read. Once you get into the meat and potatoes and they are turned to scream queens then their performance is slightly better. They manage to pull of scared and tortured better than tourists. Once their mouths are full of butt well then the hard part of acting is over really. Akihiro Kitamura is probably the best actor of the film. He does a great job beginning to end as the man who is tortured and eventually gives up. His screams and pleas for help and safety will get right through your skin. The highlight of the film for me is the absolutely awful and yet deliciously so Dr. Heiter played by Dieter Laser. He is right up there in my books as the silliest but perhaps brilliant serial killer. His twisted, demented, and absurd performance is memorable to say the least.

The Human Centipede gains its following from its reputation of being twisted and I can promise you exactly that. You can't enjoy the film because it isn't entertaining and yet its the true definition of a water cooler film because everyone who has seen it will talk about it. It is incredibly grotesque, and disturbing and a lot of the implied gore is thinking about how being in that position would feel. Throughout all of its incredibly morbid moments you will feel ashamed at laughing at some of the more ridiculous moments like Dr. Heiter trying to train his human centipede like a dog. One reviewer described that as stupid but it is ridiculously funny amidst the terrifying moments in the film. Writer and director Tom Six made this film with one goal in mind and that is to shock and that is what it accomplishes. I would never recommend anyone seeing this but if you have a morbid curiosity and a love for horror films than you will see it. However, for me I can't say whether I liked it, hated it, or what my feelings are. I'm torn between feeling really awful about watching it and how unique the concept was. I simply can't put a grade to this. I will however make myself see the sequel...I just don't know what to think. ?/10

After watching it I wanted to kill myself

[anhedosa · 1/10 · 29 May 2010]

This movie is trash. It's a sick fetish-fueler for some weird cult to get off to. The plot is non-existent. If you want to know what this movie is about in a nutshell, here are some key plot points - mouth sewn to anuses, swallowing feces, and humans turned into slaves without dignity. People will say it's an original idea, but OF COURSE IT IS. It's never been done before because NO ONE HAS THOUGHT OF SOMETHING AS SICK AS THIS YET. After watching, I felt like I needed counseling, or something to make me forget the entire concept. On top of that, there is pathetic dialogue, acting, and directing. The movie literally ends without anything resolved and you just think "What was the point of this?" There's no greater idea, or hidden metaphors. The movie is about swallowing feces. DO NOT WATCH IT.

Who's eating more poo, the audience or the actors?

[fruktflugan · 1/10 · 27 May 2010]

So, they're trying to squeeze a few cents more out of the hype around the "Saw"-type movies? Sadly the ones making this movie has no idea on how to keep the audience's interest up, no idea on how to create believable characters or make a decent movie that holds up for more than 15 minutes.

It begins rather believable with the two young girls going to a party (if you see them as mentally defective and do not scrutinize their personalities too much) and getting car trouble. That's about what works in this movie...

Then there's a series of highly improbable events with completely unbelievable actors and it devolves into a simple type, really bad, SCAT-movie (search the porn shelf for those and you'll see the similarities).

* Ooohh, No cell phone reception in Germany!!! Do Americans know that Germany is an industrialized country and their cell phone system is much more advanced and has more coverage than anything in the states?

* OOOoooohhh, We cannot fix a flat tire because we have too many cromosomes going rampant. We don't even bother to check if there's something in the trunk of this rental car that can be used in some way!

* OOoooohhh, We won't even try to drive the car with the tire flat because then the entire universe will explode. Sure, it'd thrash the rim and everything, but it should hold up for at least a couple of miles when going slow.

* Ooooohhhhh, We need to walk for help. Let's NOT follow the road or anything, let's go into the dark scary woods in our high heels and no sense of direction. And let's not check if the cell phone gets some reception back either!

The movie keeps going in this fashion and if you do not shut off before the real action begins you are greeted with a couple of unbelievable characters going around on all fours with their mouths connected to each others rectums, eating feces.

Thank GOD that I didn't pay to watch this movie. Maybe I should sue the movie company for wasting my time like this.

Believe me, it doesn't get any better as the movie continues either.

100% medically accurate too... Well, then it must be good... People vomiting in theatres... Well, that's just because the movie is such UTTER CRAP that you cannot help yourself! :D

If you see it, make sure you have the option of fast forwarding through 90% of the movie and just getting to the perverted fecal-eating scenes that the movie's creators probably got a good, decent sized erection by creating!

100% medically inaccurate

[hupke89 · 1/10 · 22 May 2010]

Starting from a good idea, the director/writer totally screws it up, in my humble opinion. I started watching this because of the '100% medically accurate'-marketing, as I'm a student in medicine. It was far from accurate or realistic.. Not medically, not in any way. I'm only a student and still see some big mistakes. Obviously they hadn't even a nurse on the set.

-The odds that two random persons are compatible to each other are quite low (that's one of the problems with organ-transplant). How lucky is he that the two girls match! And since the third guy isn't, he just go grab a random Japanese guy out of his backyard, who apparently hasn't a clue what he's doing in Germany(let alone Europe). He doesn't speak neither English nor German nor any other language except for Japanese.

-Girl number 2 shows rejection signs at the end of the movie. Which shows that: a- the doctor hasn't worked sterile (he scratches his forehead during the operation, an error a regular surgeon would never do) or b-he didn't gave immuno-suppressing medication, a real doctor would never oversee such a thing or c- they didn't matched (but as you can see prior to the operation, he had them tested).

-About that test: as far as I know, it's not the kind of test you can run in your basement, and I really doubt that you can make a lab do that from anonymous people for someone without a practitioners license anyway. As he is 'retired' (most likely fired for his dog-experiment), it' s very highly likely that he hasn't got his license anymore (= no professional secrecy possible).

-By far the most hilarious error is when he has his stethoscope in his ears.. He has it in the wrong direction!!! A stethoscope should be worn so that the ear-canal and the branches of the stethoscope are in the prolongation of each other. Like he is wearing it, it makes a small angle. This is something anyone with paramedical knowledge would see right away. (please feel free to search the internet for proper stethoscope wearing instructions if I didn't made myself clear on this point)

-If I were a very sick-minded ex-surgeon, I would have connected their blood-circuit. Without it, survival is impossible from the start. First: you can't survive eating excrement from just one person, second: as the urinary tracts are not connected either, the second and third subject would die from dehydration even before they'd die from hunger and third: connecting the rectum with the mouth makes it possible for bacteria from the lower gastric tract (f.e. E.Coli) to infect the upper gastric tract of the second person resulting in diarrhea in the first place, probably followed by generalized infection and death later on. There's a reason why the intestinal tract is segregated.

-And my last point is the following: the second girl dies -apparently- from generalized infection. If that's the case, the first girl would be evenly infected. You should also be aware that dying from generalized infection is quite a slow death involving very high fever and tissue necrosis, which she doesn't shows symptoms of.

Except from the medical point of view there are other illogic things: the police's behavior towards the doctor, the neighbors hearing screams(but not another house in sight, and the police shows up very late compared to when the screams might have been heard). And how the hell did the doctor managed to plant the scalpel in the first policeman's neck while unable to do anything else but crawling?

Furthermore, there is nothing innovating compared to other horror movies. (See colleagues' reviews) I think I made my point clear, but if realism doesn't bother you, you might like it. Although I really doubt it.

Have to see it

[the_real_smile · 6/10 · 14 April 2019]

Some movies are so much talked about, you have to see it. This movie was made popular through the animation series Southpark. In the episode called "HumancentiPad", season 15 episode 1, Stan was connected to an Ipad the same way. After this episode aired, everyone was wondering where Southpark got their inspiration, well, the movie called "The Human Centipede". And the movie went viral and became a cult hit overnight. Yes, the acting is bad, but on the other hand, the effects are nice. Yes the story is thin, but on the other hand it's easy to follow. Yes, it's more gross then scary, but on the other hand, it do got it's scary moments. If you really want to see the most gross, intense, well made movie ever, you have to see Martyrs (2008). See, the Dutch movies always are recognizable because they have something different, and that makes them always enjoyable.

Why?

[baz111 · 1/10 · 10 July 2010]

The entire point of this film was to shock, but the way it shocks is more by giving you the image with no point and no reasoning. Of course the film never sounded like it was ever going to be remembered for its script but this is beyond bad.

We're first introduced to the two American girls, who pretty as they may be seem to lack any form of intelligence or general common sense. They are driving to a night club (as you do) when they take a wrong turn and end up getting a puncture. Now this is where things get bad. So the girls are stranded failing to know how to operate a jack and attach a spare wheel the girls decide to look for help. Cue a three minute pointless piece of film making where a randy German man gives his thoughts about the girls in German. Laughable honestly. So the man drives off and the girls decide the best thing to do is to go and look for help.. By walking through the woods and coming across a house in the middle of nowhere with a man that answers the door with the most evil face in the world who's first question is are you alone? Welcoming.

See the film goes on with its rather pointless set ups like these which just make you think who would do that? I mean there is one moment in the film that really grabbed my attention, the girls are tied to the patient beds and the doctor goes out to bury the truck driver in the garden. He then goes out and gets the Japanese man from somewhere. The doctor then tells them all his dastardly plan then goes off. Later he comes back to start the procedure by injecting them to put them to sleep. Now only at this moment does the one girl decide she can undo the one wrist with her teeth and get out. I understand you have to make the film but bloody hell thats just ridiculous, I mean he'd buried a man and found a new man before the girls even tried to escape? They could have boarded a flight back to the US or even tried to find that night club if they'd have just stopped crying for however long they had been.

So we come to the birth of the centipede and things go from bad to worse I'm afraid. See the purpose of this film is just to make you feel sick. There are no scares, no moments of suspense and really there is just no point. Worst film ever!

...If Only They Knew How To Change A Flat Tire!

[ecatalan98 · 7/10 · 1 September 2013]

"The Human Centipede" will definitely repulse most of its viewers. It's not so much as gore-filled as say, "Hostel" or "Zombie", but it's the idea behind the movie that will leave a lingering, nauseating feeling days after you've seen it.

The story is simple: 2 American girls on vacation in Germany are invited to a party. They rent a car and on their way they get a flat tire. Unable to fix the problem by themselves they walk in the middle of the rainy night and arrive at what looks like a decent, upper class residence. A creepy old man let's them in so the girls can use his phone. Right from the start we know this guy is evil through and through. It seems the German guy is a respected surgeon, known for his "siamese twins" separation procedures. But the guy (who is ironically called "Josef", a nod to the angel of death himself: Josef Mengele)wants to try a new surgical procedure on the girls and with the help of another victim (a Japanese guys), he will create what he dubs, "The Human Centipede".

No explanation is given as to why this Josef guy wants to do a procedure that serves no purpose at all (unless he wants to sell freaks to traveling circuses), nor any background is ever mentioned or hinted at (it seems the director wanted to avoid any audience sympathy for this deranged doctor). Still, "The Human Centipede" remains a harrowing experience to watch.

When the movie was over, all I could think of was that the girls would've save themselves from A LOT of trouble had they known how to change a flat tire. Sure, they were going to a fancy party, were all dressed up and stuff but they never ever checked for a tire replacement in the trunk. They thought it would be "much easier" to walk in the middle of the night with the pouring rain on them in a country where they barely knew anyone or the language.

If it was me directing, I'd call this flick, "The Flat Tire"!

Great Premise, Crap Film

[monkeygland69 · 2/10 · 5 May 2010]

Wow, what a pointless and redundant film.

It would seem word of mouth has spread into the anus of the internet and shat out this crap film.

Despite the hype, the Human Centipede does nothing interesting with its premise or characters - its almost as if Six thinks the *concept* can do most of the leg work for him.

And apparently those taken by the original concept require little else from a film - like working through the implications of its own premise or delivering an experience that can stand on its own feet.

Take away the striking *image* of three people turned into a human centipede, and you are left with an indistinct film with few thrills.

The mad scientist trope barely transcends hackneyed cliché, and the film completely squanders a great opportunity for subtext: what (for example) is the meaning of a male Asian as the head of the centipede and/or what does two American women following him mean?

The plot is threadbare and takes the path of least resistance - the pointless film leads from point A to point B. Despite the 'logical' (linear) approach of the 'narrative', the characters motivations generally defy logic and rational explanation.

Unlike great horror movies, this film literally has nothing to say about modern culture, gender roles, human fears or scientific hubris.

Even worse, the cheap thrills are standard fare. The only thing that can be said in its favor is that some of the images (creep in the car, the centipede itself) are perversely funny.

The film fails to suspend disbelief or encourages identification with its own protagonists either. Instead of (say) feeling sorry for the two female characters in the film, you pity the two female *actresses* playing bare breasted women on all fours and eating crap in the form of Six's 'script'.

Dieter was typically creepy as the mad scientist, but he can do this stuff in his sleep. Anyone familiar with his work on Lexx knows how remarkable he can be - his Mantrid is amongst the great scifi villains. And the image of Mantrid's floating head on a jar remains much more incisive than anything on display here.

Craziest Horror Film You'll Ever See

[jackraistrick-43799 · 8/10 · 6 September 2019]

I think people only rate this in a wrong way because of its disgusting and horrific elements. But I must say I couldn't look away. The acting isn't very good and the shots composition is quite boring. But you can clearly tell there was some form of "passion" behind the film and it was super entertaining and how a horror film should make me feel.

Dark humor anyone?

[Healing_Process · 6/10 · 21 July 2010]

Is it just me or was I the only person who thought this was a dark humor? To people who thought this was a shock movie I would have to disagree with you. The movie was straight to the point it didn't end with what you expected from the title of the movie. I thought the movie tried to portray a dark humor feel from it from how bizarre the acts were and how some the actors portrayed the characters. At times I laughed and at times felt bad for the people when the nasty scenes occurred. I also didn't find myself bored because of dragged out scenes or unnecessary talking. But in my opinion, I don't believe the movie was too gross and if you have a quite dark humor you will find this movie quite humorous.

By far the worst movie I have ever seen in my life

[PokerStar81 · 1/10 · 9 December 2010]

EPIC FAIL.

I wasn't expecting much when my friend talked me into watching this one but this movie isn't just bad, it is without a doubt the most horrendous film I have ever seen. The only reason I even kept watching to the end was to see just how much it would suck so I could come online and rant about it. I love horror movies, and can put up with more cheesy, idiotic ones than most people, but The Human Centipede takes the cake as the most painful to watch, pathetic example of a movie that has ever been made. I've seen porno movies with better acting, and nothing about this movie is suspenseful or terrifying, just shock value grotesque scenes in a ridiculous plot that never develops into anything interesting for even one minute. I feel sorry for the no name actors that chose to be in this film because their careers all ended here. Do not waste your time watching this crap, you will be very disappointed. I would have given it zero stars if I could have.

Award to Dieter Laser & Mr. Fix for "Scariest Mad Doctor"

[josephlord-1 · 6 November 2011]

I finally got around to seeing this film and frankly I was not shocked; probably because I had read about its grossness far in advance. What I wasn't prepared for was the fact that a large part of the grossness was not actually shown, but rather spoken of and indirectly seen through bandage attachments. At some points it was very Hithcockian in the fear was instilled indirectly. Graphs showed how the surgery would be accomplished; only bits of the surgery were actually shown; the graphic defecation scene was verbalized and intimated. Very Hitchcock were the master of suspense a tad more mad. However, the scariest part of the film was Dieter Laser's performance. I can't recall ever seeing a mad scientist on film that projected madness and insanity as deeply as Mr. Laser……..Every time he was on screen you could feel your skin crawl with fear. Brilliant performance, mainly because it went to the edge of "over the top" but never actually got over the top. I've also read reviews which damned the actresses for not being "good actresses". A bunch of hooey for sure from those observers. I'd like to see them top the girls "tongue in cheek" performances. I never for a moment didn't see fear in their eyes, which btw is also another means of showing more fear than the actually surgery which was done while the cast was under anesthetics. In the beginning of the film you could feel the chemistry of the girls as they giggled about in their hotel room. A definite chemistry; one which would be needed as they got closer to each other at the Dr.'s house. Hats off to this film for sever reasons; suspense, fear and scare without an overload of blood and gore as in other films. Think of the Akitamura's job of convincing us that he was frightened, angry and scared in his native Japanese tongue, while again having tongue in cheek fears to contend with of his own character. Bottom line: An original, at the edge, horror film. Where does on go after that…..kudos to the cast for braving out a fully developed and overly imaginative film………..and to Mr. Six for following through. Can you imagine the sales pitch he had to prepare? Besides, our news media shows more graphic crap than this on their 24/7 newscasts (eg. There was more gore with Kadhafi killing, etc.)

Foul

[Leofwine_draca · 1/10 · 4 January 2016]

THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE (FIRST SEQUENCE) is probably the most awful film I can think of that's famed for its notoriety. The whole concept of the film is some huge gross-out thing about a mad scientist creating a human centipede out of some unwilling test subjects, and that's all there is to it.

It's not enough material to sustain a genuine running time, so we get lots of dull scenes elsewhere. There are random murders, some scenes of over-acting, repetitive escapes and captures, and some bad acting on the part of the participants. The whole 'human centipede' stuff is played for maximum revulsion with some truly gross moments that are designed to test the strength of one's stomach.

It's not that this film is extremely gory, because it isn't; it's just that the concept is so off-putting that it's hard to think about it without being repulsed. I guess that's the hook. In any case, as a film it's a complete failure, the worst type of 'torture porn' that I can think of, and I hated every moment of it.

Terrible, on a number of levels

[Atheist_Fox · 1/10 · 13 October 2010]

Where to begin...

The plot of this movie is terribly overwrought, having been done any number of times. Two attractive young women are alone and get captured by some crazy guy. He does bad things to them. This movie takes it a step beyond that.

Many horror movies have the victims fight back against the bad guy, typically to no avail. In this movie, the bad guy is human, and thus is vulnerable to any of the hundreds of ways to kill him that the victims had at any given time.

The main character "Lindsay" escapes from her four point hospital restraints just before the evil doctor can sedate her. She does this in about ten seconds. Why she didn't think to do that during any of the previous eight hours or so is beyond me. It's not like she was in the hospital for a procedure. She knew that she was in a really bad situation, but doesn't bother trying to escape until the last minute? When she does free herself, she runs through the house bleeding a sobbing, despite having an IV stand right next to her. It would have been a far more interesting film if she had bludgeoned the doctor right then and there.

Later, after the three victims are connected, they finally fight back, with the Japanese man stabbing the doctor in the knee with a scalpel. He then takes a bite out of the doctor's neck. Because obviously, cutting his throat would have been way too smart.

I'm not saying that the 'heroes' should always win, but they should demonstrate at least the reasoning capacity of a chimp. For some reason though, this movie's victims apparently lack basic intelligence (even well before the really bad things start to happen), and also appear to lack any kind of 'fight' instinct.

For a complete list of things wrong with this film, see every other review.

Nothing good about this movie...

[blando3 · 1/10 · 15 October 2010]

HERE BE SPOILERS.

I'll be honest - the only reason I got this movie was because I was intrigued by the gruesome concept. So I watched it the other day, and was left feeling dirty, ashamed of myself, bored, and disappointed. There was very little in the way of scary moments in this film other than a few escape attempts by the victims. I found myself squeamishly anticipating the capture/torture/operation of the victims, but even that was a letdown, and once the centipede is created, it just gets boring.

This was essentially a low-rent version of Silence of the Lambs; a guy kidnaps people and puts them in his basement where he turns them into a perverse personal art project. This movie, however, has horrible acting and implausible situations.

The American chicks were so dumb and annoying that by the time their mouths were sewn to each other's asses, I was glad just to not have to listen to them talk any more. The cops were bumbling and stupid - what police officers would accept a drink from a possible murder suspect? And the weird scenes of the doctor training the centipede like it was a pet dog...was that supposed to be funny? It was just off-color and weird.

Bad, bad movie. Tom Six - you suck.

Will the forces of bureaucracy prevail, or will Joe conjure up a clever plan to save his project, his spiritual livelihood? You will have to see for yourself.

[cybe2001 · 6/10 · 13 April 2011]

Motto: "Behind every great man, there are two great women." 'The Human Centipede' gives the viewer a voyeuristic glimpse of the life of hobbyist Dr. Joseph Heiter whose ambitions are both exotic and daring. In the opening scene we find Joe sobbing about his failed past projects. We watch and feel Joe's strength as he makes the decision to put the past behind him and to face the future with renewed optimism. But, as Joe soon finds out, a hobbyist's life is not easy. The next day, Joe learns that a true hobbyist has to make great sacrifices, if he is to complete his project in the best possible way. The enfolding scenes serve as a reminder to all of us that a passionate man does not settle for less than perfection. Joe rests at nothing, does not sleep, and does not eat until his project is finished.

After what is truly a great start of his project, we follow Joe as he is dealt a setback and faces it heads-on. Fearing for the worst, in an exciting turn of events, Joe's inventiveness ultimately gets him back on track. From there on, he is heading straight for success. When the last part of his project is finally completed, we experience Joe's intense fulfillment through a rare display of affection (while he is a passionate and intense human being, Joe is not a people's person). In an emotional scene, we find Joe celebrating his success and taking pictures of his accomplishment. In a particularly gripping moment, Joe holds up a mirror to his project, as if for it to see its own beauty. The scene concludes with Joe lifting up the mirror like a trophy—an obvious tribute to the many successes of the German football team.

But his success is short-lived. It all starts with a phone ringing. Before Joe realizes what is going on, agents of an intrusive government are at his doorstep, threatening to jeopardize all that Joe has accomplished. Will the forces of bureaucracy prevail, or will Joe conjure up a clever plan to save his project, his spiritual livelihood? You will have to see for yourself.

The international cast delivers an enticing performance. No one plays a German like Dieter Laser (Joseph Heiter). Watching Ashlynn Yennie's convincing characterization of an American tourist (Jenny), it is hard to believe this is her debut role in a motion picture. It is a privilege to see Ashley Williams perform as the character Lindsay. Even a novice viewer should be able to recognize her extensive background in theater and musical theater and her world-class training at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Last but not least, although he did not speak any lines in a language that I could understand, I think Akihiro Kitamura played the part of some Japanese guy wonderfully.

All in all the film makes for a promising start of what should proves to be an exciting franchise not unlike such hits as Look Who's Talking Now and Harry Potter.

Viewer discretion: some scenes graphically depict the consumption of alcohol. Furthermore, the word 'ficken', a German verb, is uttered early on in the film. Finally, throughout the film brief flashes of nudity (nipple slips) can be seen.

This Surgeon Could Lose His Board Certification!

[shark-43 · 3/10 · 2 May 2010]

Okay, American tourists with a car that breaks down - of course they go wandering through the dark German woods (you could play a drinking game and have to take a shot every time they say "Lindsay" and "Jenny" to each other - you'd be wasted) - and they come about a remote house and wouldn't you know it - just their luck - the house belongs to a complete nutjob surgeon who used to separate conjoined twins and now is obsessed with stitching people together. I'm no doctor, but there seem to be major flaws in his medical design - oh well. The film is kooky but well made, the lead guy (who looks a bit like Lance Henrickson) gives 100% and is fine as the mad doctor but the whole concept reeks of teenage boys getting stoned for the first time and playing a game - let's come up with the grossest thing that could be done to you in surgery. That's what it plays like - a teenage boy horror/fantasy/gross out. But with films like Saw and Hostel, it was only a matter of time before there was something like this and before long, they'll be other weird concepts that will try and top this one. Look out for ManBaby - see we sew a baby on the back of a guy who hates kids! It's creepy and it's funny! Hoo boy. Of course there's an itch to see something like this - the same itch that made people pay money to go see a freak show back in the day.

A Human Centipede? But, of course! Why didn't I think of that?

[Coventry · 7/10 · 18 April 2010]

I'm really glad and thankful there exist such as thing as Fantastic Film Festivals. Where else would you be offered the opportunity to watch sick-spirited and repulsive independent flicks like "The Human Centipede" on a big cinema screen? This is truly the type of movie that would never reach video stores or even e-bay and is directly intended for the international festival circuit. This film, commonly known already under its abbreviation THC, is everything you could possibly expect from a midnight crowd shocker/pleaser and then some! The plot and its main character are completely over-the-top absurd, the depiction of gore is gratuitous and nauseating and the tone of the movie is continuously surreal. It's the type of film where you are practically forced to think stuff like "what kind of sick and depraved human mind could possibly have come up with such a horror concept". The answer: Dutch born writer/director Tom Six.

"The Human Centipede" starts out like approximately ten thousand other horror movies already did before. Two American girls traveling across Europe get lost with their rental car in a remote German backwoods area. It's the middle of the night and naturally their mobile phones don't detect any signals. Obviously you expect them to end up in a type of torture hostel or in the dungeon of a deranged inbred hillbilly family, but no. They end up at the luxurious mansion of the highly respected medical surgeon Dr. Heiter. The good Dr. is retired but still very obsessively working on his life-long ambition: to create the very first unnatural human Siamese triplets! But simply attaching three people together isn't good enough, however, as he wants them to function as a centipede! Here's how this works in three simple steps: 1) you capture three persons and remove their kneecaps so that they can't stand up anymore. 2) You attach the mouth of the second person to the arse of the first person and the mouth of the third person to the arse of the second person. 3) You connect the obligatory intestines and organs to each other so that persons two and three nourish on the excreta of person one. Does all that sound slightly disgusting, inhuman and revolting? Well, it is actually.

Needless to say movies like "The Human Centipede" are only intended for a very select audience. How can you possibly legitimize your motivations for watching a movie that depicts three people agonizing and undergoing humiliation for no reason other than an irrational and implausible (but apparently anatomically attainable) medical experiment? I usually say that I'm constantly looking for new horror and cult movies that go far beyond expectancy patterns and commonly used themes. "The Human Centipede" definitely fits into that category, what with its sickening footage and utterly despicable insinuations. The true star of the film is undoubtedly Dieter Lasser, who gives a marvelously grotesque performance as the dedicated Dr. Heiter. I've seen quite a bit of mad scientist portrayals in my years as a horror fanatic, but Lasser could easily be described as the ultimate stereotype for this role. He's a sneering German (obviously) psychopath with dementia in his eyes and Nazi echoes in his voice.

This is a misguided comedy

[dschmeding · 3/10 · 10 May 2010]

When I read the plot of this movie I thought this movie must be incredibly sick and sure it is but the movie has nothing but the basic disgusting idea going that you can read in the plot.

Its pretty cheap shock value in that department because the movie is a basic horror set-up with 2 dumb girls having a break down and ending up in a mad scientists house (Rocky Horror Picture Show anyone??). From here on the movie takes an incredibly slow pacing in order to fill a feature movie with one basic sick idea. Its all set in the house of the evil doctor who drugs his victims with roofies (or a tranquilizer gun when hunting outside). The doctor who specialized in Siamese twin operations soon introduces his reverse Siamese twin operation to the unsuspecting victims with an incredibly ridiculous overhead presentation using some sketches that look like drawn by a child. At this point anyone must realize that either director Tom Six is an idiot or he has a strange kind of humor. Showing these sketches in a movie with a tag-line "100% medically accurate" is a joke by any means. The previous experiment with dogs that is presented with the doc sadly watching photos of his "3-dog" and having a gravestone engraved with "My sweet 3-dog" in his backyard are a joke.

And after the "operation" which is hardly shown you just see the 2 girls plus 1 guy in the front walking through the doctors house. The front guy is Japanese and talks Japanese throughout the movie (which is stupid for a tourist in Germany)... the girls are Americans, the other actors are German and so they keep talking in all these languages with subtitles while the doc makes them sit by the pool or teaches them to fetch the morning paper.

See... this is a joke, a really bad one that seems to try to be artsy with the long use of crane shots and mixing several languages, using no music etc. Bestpart is when the polices comes watching for the missing persons and the doctor decides to also drug them to add them to his experiment... WTF?

This movie is ridiculous... the characters have no depth or motivation, the acting is often mediocre and the horror is non-existent except for the basic mindf**k everybody hooks on to.

I won't even go in the basic absurdity of it all that would leave the front guy with everyone behind him poisoned. Although director Tom Six seems rather serious in his interviews I hope for his own sake that this movie is the misguided comedy I take it for. Everything else would be a slow and idiotic horror movie, a lousy drama or an incredibly childishexperimental movie with non-existent soundtrack and entertainment value.

Ridiculously Creepy But Surprisingly Effective

[sddavis63 · 8/10 · 27 December 2010]

It looks and sounds ridiculous - and to be honest it is. This entire movie revolves around the work of the classic mad scientist who sets himself to the task of kidnapping three people and turning them into a "human centipede" - by attaching the mouth of the one behind onto the anus of the one in front. Yeah. It looks and sounds ridiculous. And in all honesty, it is ridiculous. Through the entire 90 minutes I couldn't figure out just exactly what the point of the experiment was. Why was Dr. Heiter doing this? What was Dr. Heiter hoping to accomplish by doing this? I suppose the only accomplishment would be to prove to himself that he could, in fact, do it - but once he's done it, so what? He can't show off his work! Instead, he'll just be stuck with this hideous three person thing crawling around his house. Sure, he's a mad scientist. He's crazy. He's insane. But he seems well enough in touch with reality that you wouldn't think he'd take on such an apparently complicated experiment with no return possible once he's finished. It's ridiculous.

That all leads me to admit with a certain degree of embarrassment that I actually liked this. Ridiculous it may be - but it is definitely one of the creepiest (in a totally "gross" sort of way) movies I've ever come across. There are parts of it that I had to turn my head away from, and the actors who were portraying the three who were experimented on seemed to capture the fear and horror of their characters absolutely perfectly. In the same way, Dieter Laser (who played Dr. Heiter) was also perfectly creepy and cold-blooded, and made sure that Heiter came across as totally fixated on and obsessed with his work to the exclusion of any of the obvious objections that could have been made to it. The ending of the movie leaves you absolutely squeamish, wondering what in the world is going to happen to the poor girl in the middle of the "centipede" who ends up as the only one left alive in the house. Is there any hope for her to escape this insanity, or does she just stay there and wait to starve or to die of thirst, since there's no way she can drink any liquids or eat any food, even if she could get to a source of either.

It's ridiculous, and it's completely without any explanation as to why this experiment is even being conducted or what's going to be accomplished by it. And yet - surprisingly enough - it works quite well, if you're in the mood for an absolute creep-fest.

Mad scientists rejoice!

[darklydreamingrahu · 7/10 · 15 October 2011]

A lot of "free speech believers" claim this movie should be banned. That fact alone garnered an additional star from me.

Mr. Laser is a phenomenal mad scientist. He barely even has to act. His face alone is enough to creep you out.

The concept is twisted and the execution is depraved. If you've seen films like Hostel or Salo, and not freaked out or fainted, don't expect to see something worse. The gore in this one, for the most part, is implied. This low-budget gag-fest does a great job of giving you just enough indications to keep your mouth open and your eyes glued.

Aside from Dieter Laser, the acting in this film is atrocious. The two lead females are two of the most annoying characters (prior to both of them not being able to talk) I've seen in a long time. To be fair, they do a decent job of on-screen crying and looking really scared. The Japanese guy is decent, and has a really well-acted scene at the end.

Overall, this is a decent low-budget horror flick with solid scenery and great usage of lighting and atmosphere. The centipede is twisted enough to keep a horror fan's interest, but not so over-the-top that it looks cheesy. Anybody that says any film should be banned should re-evaluate their values. This is fiction and everyone has a voice....even if it's one you don't like. Really this movie is a 5/10 or 6/10 if I'm feeling generous, but because it has offended so many mainstream movie-goers so badly that they feel the need to sign up on IMDb and WARN the world and call for a ban....it gets a 7/10.

The Human Centipede (First Sequence) (2009)

[monerkie · 3/10 · 1 June 2010]

i will at least give this a 3 since they tried. i mean they made a movie, what did you do?

6:59pm - i received a text message from an old friend: "im watching the human centipede. im really creeped out by the concept of the movie. terrible terrible. u gotta watch it. don't look it up just see it."

after watching it, i drove home at midnight and almost had to pull over cause i thought i was gonna puke. but... i felt the same way after being tricked into seeing 2girls-1cup and other awful images.

i agree that the characters all lack any depth (o hai Japanese guy with playboy tattoo!), but some people seem to be curious about why the doctor does what he does. i didn't get a mad scientist vibe from this character at all, as others do. the first scene of him caressing the picture of his dog/s - obviously some kind of strange fixation. and when our girls ask him, "do you live here with your wife?", he says something like "no... i hate human beings." isn't that reason enough? he sees us as dogs. but again, due to bad writing, we are never sure if he's creating a creature out of passion or if this is just torture for the humans he apparently hates.

the blown up images of siamese twins around his home might offer some insight though. it seems as if his career and skill revolved for years around separating beings to save their lives, now he wishes to put beings together and destroy them instead.

11:47pm - i replied to above text message: "dude, i f*ckin hate you for recommending that movie to me."

Shocking and will linger in the mind, and surprisingly very well-made.

[Red_Identity · 26 April 2011]

I have heard LOTS of things about The Human Centipede. Lots of negative things and lots of positive things, and I have to start off with what is easiest.

For all of it's premise, honestly, the film was not AS gory or sick as I imagined. Honestly though, I am glad. With a film like this it's hard to review properly because it's almost as if a film like this will exist whether people hate it or not. I mean, it's meant to disturb. BUT one thing has to be said, the film was, surprisingly, very well-made. I expected a 'shocking' and nasty B-grade horror. The only B-grade aspect of the film was the performances from Ashley Williams and Ashlynn Yennie. When I first saw them on screen they come off very phony and unlikeable, especially when they were chit-chatting about usual chatter. BUT even their performances, as they became more and more scared, actually worked, and dare I say it, pretty fantastic for a film like this. I don't know if it was actually acting or what, but one could really feel for their physical and emotional distress.

Surprise after surprise, the film has one central fantastic performance, and that is from the twisted Dieter Laser. Like I said before, the film didn't only concentrate on shocking us, but it also showed us a lot of this man's twisted mind. Also, the lack of music helped build real tension.

Ultimately, I actually have to recommend this film. It's VERY well-made and has one terrific performance, and the film itself, for all its sick premise, at least isn't a sequel or a horror remake. It boasts originality, although it doesn't do anything completely original regarding how the premise works out, The ending is also brutal, and I am sure it will linger in the mind. Still, it's hard to really 'love' a film like this. Compared to Saw, it is actually a 'better' film.