I saw the first Human Centipede movie after seeing and episode of Tosh.0 where Daniel does one of his long ass reviews, that makes no sense. I thought to myself, "there is no way someone made the movie he described". A film where a "doctor" traps a few teens and sews them ass to mouth to form a "human centipede". - Well, I was wrong.
That one sentence is all you really need to know about this movie. It is what it is and it happens. It's vile, disgusting, sick, and any other words you can think of. BUT we know it's not real. Just like "Hostel" isn't real, but was gorily awesome. The Human Centipede does take the level of "sick" to a whole new level, but if ...I know it's a big if...IF you can look past the initial concept and see what is really brilliant casting, some acting, and film making; then you can see why there is such a cult following of this film.
Bascially a group of teens try to find a party in a foreign country. They break down and find a house in the middle of nowhere. Promising help, the creepy mad Dr. drugs the teens and subjects them to his sick experiments.
The teens in the film are pretty standard young actors that are just trying to earn a few bucks...nothing really special. However they do have to emote; being scared, sad, pain, etc...for two thirds of this movie. The casting of Dieter Laser, as the insanly clean and neat, Dr. Heiter created one of the most memorable horror movie characters. Laser's tone of voice and his total commitment to "crazy science" leaves one to believe that this guy is for real. Supposedly, although I think it's complete bullshit for marketing, the procedures are "100% medically accurate". A good portion of the film goes in depth about how the procedure is done. Keeping everything clean and sterile, the end result is 3 teens surgically altered and connected, to form a "human centipede" with basically one digestive system, which is another part of the film that I won't go into.
Gross out factor, which is off the chart, aside the acting by Laser and concept of "mad scientist" and the procedure is truely horrifying. At the end of the day isn't that really what horror film fans want? A film that isn't just scary, but horrific? This film certainly strikes that cord both visually and viscerally.
HUMAN CENTIPEDE 2 After seeing HC1 I thought, "I have to see this second one, what could they do that wasn't done in the first?" Is it morbid curiousity?...yeah.
HC2 is shot all in black and white..with ONE exception that I'll get to later. The B&W style did the film justice...it really added to the flavor of film. This is a "meta-sequal" to quote the director.
About a mentally challenged and physically stunted man, who works as a parking lot attendent. He is obsessed with the Movie "Human Centipede". He keeps a scrap book of cast pictures and personal notes about the movie and the procedure done in the movie. It's clear that he wishes to expand on the ideas...and does. The first half of the film is him capturing people for his 12 person...YES 12 person...Human Centipede. It also looks at his home life. He's mentally retarded, physically retarded, abused, doesn't talk, etc...his only joy in life is looking at his scrapbook and feeding his pet centipede.
Like Laser's character in the first film the casting of Laurence R. Harvey as "Martin" is brilliant. This is a short, fat man, with bug eyes who IS this man you see on screen. Sometimes it is a shame that a movie like this will never be recognized for actors like Laser and Harvey. Again, the commitment to character and role is unbelievable..
What sets this movie apart from the first is that it is a polar opposite. The first film was in color and shot clear and crisp. While this film is in black and white and along with it grainy images and imagery. The first film's lead Dr. was clean and strong and smart and meticules. Where Martin is weak, dirty, retarded, and is just trying to piece things together. The surgery in the first film is sterile and surgically performed. While in the second film Martin raids his tool box and kitchen drawers for his "tools". These two films are complete opposites and if...again big if...IF you can get past the content, you can see the effort and what I found to be great film making creating the contrast between the two.
THAT BEING SAID. If you do or did watch the first one, and thought it was the worst, most vile and disgusting film you've ever seen...YOU AIN'T SEEN NOTHING YET. This film towards the end devolves into the most sick tortureous, vile-er than vile imagery I've ever seen. There was a point where I had to look away...the only color in the film comes after Martin gives laxatives to his captives. - enough said. Just as I feel that this film loses all of it's watchability...it somehow goes so far over the edge that it becomes laughable, and you almost...almost...can forgive what you've just seen.
In the end...it's just a sick retarded mans dream - like Bob Newhart. Seeing it in that context puts a whole other spin on the film.
A film by Tom Six
The original and for 2 months and made $181K (US box office)
Opened on only 1 screen for $12K - up to 19 screens
The second film grossed $122K running just over a month on 6-24 screens.
A third film is in production schedule
WATCH AT THE RISK OF YOUR LUNCH