Review of The Human Centipede (First Sequence) (2009) by Charles W — 05 Oct 2011

A film I was genuinely afraid of watching and took a day of mental preparation for.

What do I think? Surprisingly underwhelming⦠in a gross way.

I will get the worst part out of the way first:the premise. Two girls find themselves abducted (along with a very angry Japanese man) by a deranged German surgeon who has a sick fascination with âthe human centipedeâ?; a surgical experiment that links three or more people via their digestive tract⦠Yes, the film goes that far.

Now⦠my telling you this is really the worst thing about this movie, and will decide if you want to see it. The premise is unspeakably gross and inhuman, yet the film itself is⦠visually sparing of details. For example, I knew the worst aspect for me would be the âcutting of knee tendons, the removal of teeth andâ? errr⦠attachment. Yet this part is barely worse visually than any of the Saw movies. Iâ(TM)d probably say Saw is gorier to watch and personally Oldboy had a worst tooth-removal scene (and I love that film). The actual âcentipedeâ? is just weird to see, and the âconnectionsâ? are obscured by bandages, sparing the viewer of the truly hideous visuals.

Do I therefore recommend it despite peopleâ(TM)s fear of it? Absolutely not. I wouldnâ(TM)t suggest anyone watch it without a very clear understanding of whatâ(TM)s involved. The film is a mental barrage, it is quite poor in actual quality or storytelling; falling into typical slasher horror clichà (C)s. The two girls were pretty pathetic, while the surgeon had the only interesting presence.