The Human Centipede (First Sequence)
by Warren Curry
4/26/10
I’m not sure if it’s possible to write favorably about a film like “The Human Centipede (First Sequence)” without fear that family members or close friends may have you institutionalized. It’s doubtful another movie released this year will have a more attention-grabbing premise, so let’s get right to the heart of the matter. Writer/director Tom Six’s charming little film concerns a retired German surgeon who captures three tourists and uses them as subjects in an ambitious medical experiment. The objective? To link the people, by way of their gastric systems, in order to create the monstrosity of the film’s title.
There are horror movies that attempt to deliver the creeps through atmosphere and suspense and others that try to get the job done via the gore method, and while “The Human Centipede” leans toward the latter, it really doesn’t fit in either category. For certain, the film is as exploitative as any of the ones tagged with the now seemingly passé “torture porn” label, but its sick sense of humor feels more organic than gimmick. If the movie works on any credible level, it’s as a deranged, surreal experience.
And in a world of Takashi Miikes and depraved French offerings such as “Inside” and “Martyrs,” there’s definitely room in the extreme horror subgenre for “The Human Centipede.” The perfunctory set up goes like this: two young American women (Ashlynn Yennie, Ashley C. Williams) traveling through Europe are stranded in a German forest when their car breaks down. They seek help on foot, which leads them to an isolated home belonging to one Dr. Heiter (Dieter Laser), a retired surgeon lauded for his work separating Siamese twins. When Heiter has them in his lair, he quickly drugs the girls; upon regaining consciousness, they find themselves strapped in beds in his basement laboratory. Later, Heiter brings home another captive, a Japanese man (Akihiro Kitamura), who’s subjected to the same treatment as his female counterparts.
I don’t think it’d be a spoiler to reveal if Heiter’s experiment is successful, but I’ll refrain from divulging those details just the same. The film doesn’t revel in graphic violence, but some of the images we see are arguably more rattling than, say, watching a person’s limb get lopped off — or at least they could be if the film didn’t spend so much time flirting with being a cartoon. What Heiter’s victims endure is beyond ugly, but just how seriously can one take a film based on this absurd premise? It’s pretty evident writer/director Six isn’t taking it too seriously either, especially given the way he conceives Heiter’s character as essentially a parody of evil incarnate.
The actors all deserve credit for, I suppose, bravery, and Dieter Laser’s comically ghoulish performance as the mad doctor should earn him his own fan club (assuming he doesn’t already have one, which he needs just for his name alone). Though the film looks fairly low budget, albeit not in a distracting way, the clean visual style seems to indicate a limit to the level Six is trying to disturb the audience. If he is intentionally restraining his darkest impulses here, it’s safe to say he will let them fully bloom in his proposed sequel to this film, which he claims in the press notes will make “part one look like ‘My Little Pony.’” Fantastic.
I won’t go to any great lengths to defend this film, but I will say it’s likely to be dismissed more hastily than it probably should be because of the extreme subject matter. To reinforce an earlier comment, I believe enduring the unique experience is the point of this film…and if you choose to take part in the experience, my advice is to do so with caution.
contact: wcurry718@yahoo.com
The Human Centipede (First Sequence) (US/2009)
Director: Tom Six
Cast: Dieter Laser, Ashlynn Yennie, Ashley C. Williams, Akihiro Kitamura
Not rated, 90 minutes
(IFC Films; opens in New York City and on demand April 30, 2010; opens in Los Angeles and additional cities May 7, 2010)