The Human Centipede

The Human Centipede
Directed by Tom Six
Netherlands 2009

Plot:

Two American friends on vacation in Germany have their car break down in the middle of a forest. They find shelter and refuge in the villa of Dr. Heiter, a retired surgeon, who, after welcoming them into his home, drugs and imprisons them.

When they wake up, they find themselves tied to a bed along with a Japanese man, with the doctor ready to explain his insane project.

Before producing The Human Centipede, Tom Six surely must have immersed himself in the body horror genre.
Here, we find Cronenberg’s Dead Ringers and films where the “Mad Doctor” character reigns supreme (from Frankenstein to Re-Animator, and even the recent Grotesque).

His Dr. Heiter is a cynical madman, yet fully aware of his goal: to create a human centipede.

The calculated madness that permeates him makes him the real extreme factor of the film: his delusions, visions, and past (as a surgeon who separated conjoined twins) contrast starkly with his present (joining bodies to create a new creature), making him a convincingly chilling villain.

The film doesn’t rely on particularly elaborate plot devices but instead plays on the viewer’s imagination, as they anticipate and try to grasp the pain of the unfortunate victims, sacrificed by the surgeon for his senseless cause.

The sight of the creature, a human centipede made of three people sharing one digestive system, surgically connected from anus to mouth.

By the end, when we finally see the clumsy creature, we feel almost more pity than horror or disgust (though some details certainly do not leave one indifferent).

The Human Centipede is the first of a cult trilogy.

Pandemonic Moment

When the human centipede takes its first steps under the gaze of Dr. Heiter, who begins training and coordinating it. A grotesque moment, but one that evokes discomfort and unease.

---