The Human Centipede (First Sequence)
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 100% Shockingly Awful
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The Human Centipede (First Sequence) is a 2009 Dutch horror film, directed by Tom Six.
Plot
Two pretty but ditsy American girls are on a road trip through Europe. In Germany, they end up alone at night with a broken car in the woods. They search for help and find an isolated villa. The next day, they awaken to find themselves trapped in a terrifying makeshift basement hospital along with a Japanese man. An older German man identifies himself as a retired surgeon who specializes in separating Siamese twins. However, his three "patients" are not about to be separated but joined together in a horrific operation. He plans to be the first person to connect people via their gastric systems. By doing so, he plans to bring to life his sick lifetime fantasy, the human centipede.
Why It's Intentionally a Human CentiBad Film
- The film is entirely based on the shock value of its disgusting premise; beyond that, it has no real plot, lore, message, meaning, or purpose aside from Dr. Heiter wanting to create the centipede to be his pet.
- There's no real plot, or lore message to speak of. The film is nothing more than just plotless depictions of people being sewn mouth-to-ass. As such, it's pretty boring.
- For an R-rated horror film, there's very little gore and hardly anything that could be considered scary beyond the premise.
- Most of the characters are annoying and unlikable.
- None of the characters have any real common sense or basic intelligence to speak of, frequently doing stupid things.
- The victims of the film who were turned into a centipede have zero personality at all.
- A good portion of the movie's dialogue consists of screaming, moaning, crying, and whining.
- Bad acting from pretty much everyone.
- Inane and pretentious dialogue.
- Despite Tom Six billing the movie as "100% medically accurate", the things that happen in the movie are everything BUT medically accurate.
- Bad ending: Dr. Heiter and the policemen who went to rescue the victims die which leaves 3 of the centipede without rescue. Soon after, Jenny (who is at the end) dies due to an infection which leaves Lindsay (who is in the middle) completely abandoned without anyone being able to help her and still sewn to the corpses of the Japanese man and her friend.
- The whole idea is just disgusting, who the heck would wanna watch people being sewn ass-to-mouth? It's just gross.
Redeeming Qualities
- The cinematography is decent.
- The movie probably wasn't meant to be enjoyed to begin with.
- Dieter Laser's overacting as Dr. Heiter can be kind of fun to watch.
- Lindsey is a likable character, as she attempted to save her friend from Dr. Heiter, though she has zero personality.
- It's definitely NOT as brutal, disgusting, and disturbing as its successor.
Reception
Reviews were mixed to negative. Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a 50% approval rating with a 25% audience rating, and the general consensus: "Grotesque, visceral and hard to (ahem) swallow, this surgical horror doesn't quite earn its stripes because the gross-outs overwhelm and devalue everything else."
Trivia
- Tom Six didn't explain the exact nature of the film to investors. It wasn't until after it was made that they discovered its premise.
- It is parodied in the South Park episode "HUMANCENTiPAD".