The Human Centipede (First Sequence) (2009) ★★★½

The Human Centipede

Overview

Their flesh is his fantasy.

During a stopover in Germany in the middle of a carefree road trip through Europe, two American girls find themselves alone at night when their car breaks down in the woods. Searching for help at a nearby villa, they are wooed into the clutches of a deranged retired surgeon who explains his mad scientific vision to his captives’ utter horror. They are to be the subjects of his sick lifetime fantasy: to be the first to connect people, one to the next, and in doing so bring to life “the human centipede.”

Notes

Back on my agenda to view the most disturbing films of all time. So far, I’ve been calm and collected through each viewing, as if I was just a typical person watching the six o’clock news. Now the premise of The Human Centipede has to be the most extreme film yet. Attaching people mouth to anus to form a human centipede…well the idea alone gets this film on the map. But is it a truly disturbing film beyond its core idea?

To clue you in on how my mind operates, here are some mental notes I was taking during the viewing of The Human Centipede:

If I was ever in a situation of becoming part of a human “centipede,” I’d campaign really hard to be the lead (head). Not just for obvious reasons, but so that I could yell to the others, “here comes lunch!”

The new sexual trend to “eat ass” really came about after this movie was released. Coincidence or possible subconscious transference?

Design Flaws

This film states it’s medically correct, but there’s a few problems with the design. First, using human beings for this experiment would actually be a human millipede. Millipedes have 4 legs per segment. Each segment would be one human which would have 4 limbs (2 arms, 2 legs). All four limbs touching the ground would ultimately serve as the insect’s legs. Centipedes only have 2 legs per segment. If you notice, each human that makes up the so-called “centipede” has both knees and hands serving as legs. That’s too many legs for a centipede. So, actually, Dr. Heiter has just constructed a human millipede.

The second design problem is Dr. Heiter puts the Japanese male in front, as the lead. This is faulty because this would ultimately cause a dehydration of its two hind segments. The male, Katsuro, might have his anus sewn to one of the girls’ mouths, but I’m assuming his penis is free to urinate on the ground. This would likely deprive the other two bodies of proper hydration as the bulk of fluids would not be transferable. To solve this, put the girls up front and a single male in the back. Just widen the fusion of mouth to include the entire female nether regions. Now you would get full nourishment of solids and liquids and a monthly nutrient-rich snack of their menstrual discharge.

Review

Oh, as for what I thought about the film. I thought The Human Centipede was believably inventive and well-executed. Deiter Laser was excellent as the good doctor. The horror of what these three individuals went through was well conveyed to the viewer.

Overall, this film was horribly rated by others due to the fact that the bulk of reviewers are generally common narcissists who have an inflated value of human life in the universe. They find offense that humans can be degraded to the point of being made into a human ‘pede. Yet, from a more nihilist universal perspective, humans are essentially just a fungus growing on the earth’s surface. And to mold a fungus into a ‘pede is not really all that offensive in the grander scheme of things.

This is the exact mindset of Dr. Heiter. His ‘pedes are beautiful living art pieces. And isn’t beauty in the eye of the beholder?

Rating: 3 1/2-star: ★★★½ (out of 5)

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