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Presumably you've heard about the Human Centipede, right? You know the somewhat controversial sounding horror about a mad doctor who wants to surgically attach three victims together? The one where he sticks them altogether bum to mouth so that they one digestive system? Oh you haven't?! Really?! Where have you been?
The Human Centipede finds two stranded American girls Lindsay (Ashlynn Yennie) and Jenny knocking on the door of the sinister Doctor Heiter looking for a phone to call a breakdown service for their car. Little do they know that the surgeon has become bored of separating Siamese twins and has turned his attention to joining people together. I mean it's an obvious progression, right? Needless to say the two poor American girls fall victim to the evil German doctor as well as an unfortunate Japanese man.Â
Sure the idea of having your mouth stitched to somebody else's bum is nasty but to be honest the idea is not developed much further. Conforming to a variety of clichés such as 'Europeans are evil! American tourists beware!' The characters are pretty wooden, and for the most part annoying, so there is not a whole lot of empathy to be felt for them. They're completely underdeveloped especially Dr Heiter who has plenty of potential for a bit of a back story. It seems that the focal point of this film which it builds towards - the centipede - is in itself is a complete anti-climax.Â
Obviously if you're watching this film you're not looking for an enticing narrative with strong dialogue. The whole shock value is enough reason to be intrigued. However, if you're looking for torture you might be a bit disappointed as the idea is more terrifying than the actuality. It offers nothing new considering the idea of the centipede and the nastiness in general associated with it are relatively original, if not only for the gross out factor, and it's not developed nearly enough. Half the film appears to be drawn out drivel. In essence you'd expect that at least the shock factor would be substantial enough to hold your interest but bar a few sequences it isn't that squeamish a film. The ending although suitably horrible does not show a lot of hope for the oncoming sequel which is most likely going to be awful as well.Â
Overall, the idea of the Human Centipede is better than the film actually is. When I heard about it initially I wondered how the filmmakers could use this concept to fill a whole film. I thought about whether they could string together a cohesive narrative. Well did they? Nope. Not a hope in hell. There are numerous plot holes as well that also suck out any possibility of enjoyment. Even if the pure gore factor is your thing steer clear of this one as Hostel puts this film to shame. Seriously don't bother or you'll wish you could get the last 90 minutes of life back.
About this Author
Caroline Egan
http://www.prog464.com
Welcome to PROG464, Ireland's new webzine of news, views and reviews on all things Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Horror and Cult. We bring you the best in books, comics, graphic novels, movies, TV, radio, games, toys, technology and the web - and From classic novels to the latest games we have it all.
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