Blu-Ray DVD Review: "The Human Centipede"

Seen on: October 12, 2010

The players: Director: Tom Six, Writer: Tom Six, Cast: Dieter Laser, Ashley C. Williams, Ashlynn Yennie, Akihiro Kitamura

Facts of interest: None.

The plot: A crazy German surgeon attempts to surgically attach three human beings he kidnapped.

Our thoughts: Tom Six’s “The Human Centipede” is one sick viewing experience. It’s a brutal horror film that easily gets under your skin without showing too much blood or torturous murders, and even though it doesn’t feature that much action or suspenseful thrills, it definitely has what it takes to haunt you for quite a while after you watch it.

In what is certainly a brilliant performance, Dieter Laser stars as a perverse German surgeon who devises a crazy operation during which he will surgically attach three humans to each other. One of his victims is a Japanese businessman (Akihiro Kitamura), and the remaining two are pretty American girls (Ashlyn Yennie & Ashley C. Williams) on a European road trip.

In a nutshell, “The Human Centipede” is not exactly a good film. It’s a shocking horror flick for sure, but they story suffers from obvious flaws that eliminate the movie’s chances to go down as a great flick of this genre. The plot is quite eventless, suspense is scarce, and the payoff at the end failed to live up to my expectations. Sounds pretty bad, right?

Not exactly, because “The Human Centipede” doesn’t really need a solid storyline to have an impact on its audience. Six’s initial concept and the design of the surgeon’s diabolical operation alone create enough of an unsettling atmosphere to at least steal your attention through the first two acts of the movie, and that’s worth something for sure. Once you start watching, you simply can’t stop…

Needless to say, some people despise the film while others love it, but the one thing that counts here is that “Centipede” certainly provokes more reactions than most horror films we see in theaters these days. The idea of this centipede is terrifying to say the least, and watching these three people forced to maneuver around as one being is both disgusting and captivating. That’s where the movie is successful.

Laser definitely makes this a better movie, and his presence is quite threatening. The scene during which he simply describes the operation to his victims, for instance, is one of the film’s sickest and most intense moments. Plus, part of the remainder of the movie is interesting only because we want to know what happens to the centipede.

Sadly, the shock effect starts to wear off soon, and while watching the centipede is still horrifying, the story falls apart with nowhere to go. The film’s ending disappoints, proving that “The Human Centipede” could’ve been cut down to about 70 minutes. That said, it’s shot and edited well, which helps with the buildup of the flick’s overall creep atmosphere.

The Blu-ray edition of the film offers a gorgeous 1.78:1 widescreen transfer with excellent picture quality. Special features include a behind-the-scenes look, an interview with Six, casting calls, a weird foley session and a deleted scene.

Freaky quote: "I hate human beings." - Dieter Laser

The final word: “The Human Centipede” is for horror fans who don’t need tons of blood splatter and the usual cheap scare tactics. This may be quite a bad movie, but it’s sick enough to get under you skin and cause you to feel quite uneasy. Not too many recent horror films have managed to do that. 

Article by Franck Tabouring