The Human Centipede (First Sequence) (2010)
TOMATOMETER
Critics 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.
Critics 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.
Trailer
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Movie Info
Two American girls find themselves trapped in a terrifying makeshift hospital by a retired surgeon,Dr. Heiter. The doctor explains that he is retired surgeon who had specialized in separating Siamese twins. However the girls are not about to be separated, but joined together in a horrific operation. He plans to be the first to connect people, one to the next, via their gastric system, and in doing so bring to life his sick lifetime fantasy: the human centipede.
- Rating:
- R (for disturbing sadistic horror violence, nudity and language)
- Genre:
- Horror
- Directed By:
- Tom Six
- Written By:
- Tom Six
- In Theaters:
- Apr 28, 2010 Wide
- On DVD:
- Oct 5, 2010
- Runtime:
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Cast
-
Dieter Laser
as Dr. Heiter -
Ashley C. Williams
as Lindsay -
Ashlynn Yennie
as Jenny -
Akihiro Kitamura
as Katsuro -
Andreas Leupold
as Detective Kranz
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LoginCritic Reviews for The Human Centipede (First Sequence)
All Critics (92) | Top Critics (15) | Fresh (45) | Rotten (46) | DVD (8)
The problem is that this slick piece of schlock is dull, risible and, ultimately, boring.
This horror show from Dutch director Tom Six will be heaven for devotees of four-star torture porn and zero-star hell for everyone else.
A film that, in bare description, sounds like the greatest outrage ever put to screen, but ends up being fairly tedious when watched.
There are terrible movies and there are loathsome movies. And then there's that rare breed so idiotic, exploitative and sickening one wishes they could be scrubbed from memory.
It would be nice to report that Six ... has an eye for horrific imagery and a head full of fresh ideas - or, barring all that, that he's simply a hard-working hack. But this is lazy moviemaking based on the thinnest of concepts.
The star rating system is unsuited to this film. Is the movie good? Is it bad? Does it matter? It is what it is and occupies a world where the stars don't shine.
Six seems, at some point, to have said to himself, It might be theoretically possible to sew a mouth to an anus and sustain life. Someone should dramatize that, and then he did.
I's at times heart-racingly tense, less gory than you'd expect, hilarious, horrible, and not like anything else you've ever seen.
Deep down it's just more torture porn with an artistic gloss...
The evocative title, the lack of motive and the absence of genre tropes are completely intentional -- Six is giving us what we want, reminding us all the while that getting exactly what we want is usually the last thing we should ever really have.
The Human Centipede won't be everyone's cup of tea, but if you're willing to sit through the film's gory moments, and delve deeper into the narrative, there's something genuinely enthralling about this shocker.
The film deserves some points for being sickening and over the top.
Yet despite the disturbing subject matter, Six directs the film with surprising restraint. You won?t find any handheld shakycam, excessive gore, or fast-cutting here.
These folks -- both in front of and behind the camera -- really threw themselves into their work, and, provided you have an open mind, it shows.
There is a tradition among mad scientists who exhibit creativity with their victims that comes down to three little words: some assembly required.
A well-staged but exceedingly conventional payoff highlights the fact that the film, despite being based on a perversely scatological and quite horrific premise, is actually rather palatable in its execution.
The Human Centipede (First Sequence) is one of those movies that's much more entertaining to talk about than it is to actually experience.
It's an undeniably revolting concept, but most of the actual gore would be matched by your average pre-watershed medical shock doc.
[The sequel] is already in the can. Which is where many of us will be, seeking relief for emetically affected stomachs.
David Cronenberg this ain't.
I expected the film to be [R rated] B grade horror litter, but its conceit rises above the expectations, as does its technically polished execution and the dramatic seriousness of purpose
It scales the heights of yuckiness. It places a flag on a hitherto undreamt-of Everest-peak of offensiveness.
It's no shock classic, yet it lingers in the mind, prompting weird thoughts like, "Would I go in the front, middle or back?"
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to take three human beings and sew them all together via their digestive tracts? Wonder no longer!
With dark humour from time to time, underneath an extremely repulsive concept, this is a relatively conventional horror movie.
Audience Reviews for The Human Centipede (First Sequence)
The mere idea is grotesque but the execution is not as repulsive as the hype leads us to think, and though Dieter Laser is efficiently menacing as the mad doctor, the other actors are mostly terrible and the movie offers a lot more involuntary humor than actual horror.
MoreSuper Reviewer
Tom SIx derives an unexpected and grotesque feel to the horror/gore cinematic genre. Human Centipede is overshadowed by its devious creation of an 'actual' human centipede as well as its diabolical creator. Not for all audience, the film's execution doesn't hit well but does leave a sour mark on the not-so-strong-stomach-filled audience. 3/5
MoreSuper Reviewer
I admit, it's pretty disturbing, but nothing is really shown in graphic detail. The acting is bad but the film does manage to squeeze in some sort of story, I guess. I did not like "The Human Centipede", but it succeeds in grossing you out.
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