Day 64 -- The Human Centipede

Released: April 28th, 2010
   
Starring: Dieter Laser, Ashley C. Williams, Ashlynn Yennie
 
Writer/Director: Tom Six

Description: A mad scientist kidnaps and mutilates a trio of tourists in order to reassemble them into a new "pet"-- a human centipede, created by stitching their mouths to each others' rectums.

[Review may contain spoilers. Please watch movie before reading, unless you don't care. Most of these films have already been released for a while, so they should be readily available.]

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There is a niche market for everything, of this I am sure. Every movie that is made has an audience, even "Material Girls" starring the Duff Sister has an audience. So every time you see an advertisement for a movie and you think, 'how was that movie funded?', someone else has already saved that date in their Google Calender.

"Human Centipede", and it's sequels (yes, they are making a third one), are a disturbing example of this phenomenon. This movie disgust me in multiple ways. Some are obvious, and other are more of a pet-peeve. The first 25 minutes of the movie with the ditzy American tourists was the worst acting/writing combination that I've seen in a long time. If I didn't have to watch this, I would have turned it off immediately.

For those of you that are uninformed -- God bless you if you are -- the film involves former surgeon, Dr. Heiter (Laser), who dreams of creating a human centipede, which involved connecting three or more people's digestive tracks together. Most of the movies disturbing moments come from just the idea of what that means because there isn't much in terms of graphic viewing of the actual connection. Everything is really implied because the parts that would be vulgar is covered by a bandage. It does one thing I like in movies, and that is, the scares are from the action on screen instead of something popping out of the dark.

There is really no way to comment on the acting because most of the actors are mute, and the head of the centipede is screaming in Japanese the entire movie. Laser was very convincing as an evil scientist, but it wasn't an amazing performance. The movie was definitely made based on the concept, and not whether or not the acting was any good.

To be honest, the movie is much more over-hyped than is necessary. It's a terrible concept, and the fact that someone would think of this bothers me more than the stuff in the movie. Maybe I've become desensitized (I've seen Two Girls, One Cup) and this doesn't affect me. But I've seen more gore in a slasher film, or a "Saw" movie than this film. Sure, the idea of what was going on is the repulsive part, but it's not like they show it occurring (not that I want them to), so the outrage from some is over the top.

With that said, I don't think "Human Centipede" should have been made. There's no real art in it at all. Its only reason to exist is for shock value, and nothing else. And just for this, it will sadly find an audience. While it won't ruin your life, like the previously mentioned viral video, the concept is disturbing enough that it may stick with some for a while. 

Rating: 3/10 -- Not as life-ruining as I thought going in, but I could have went without seeing it. I've seen better line reading in porn, and better acting in a high school play. Really a waste of the film it was made on.