The Human Centipede (First Sequence)

Motto: "Behind every great man, there are two great women." 'The Human Centipede' gives the viewer a voyeuristic glimpse of the life of hobbyist Dr. Joseph Heiter whose ambitions are both exotic and daring. In the opening scene we find Joe sobbing about his failed past projects. We watch and feel Joe's strength as he makes the decision to put the past behind him and to face the future with renewed optimism. But, as Joe soon finds out, a hobbyist's life is not easy. The next day, Joe learns that a true hobbyist has to make great sacrifices, if he is to complete his project in the best possible way. The enfolding scenes serve as a reminder to all of us that a passionate man does not settle for less than perfection. Joe rests at nothing, does not sleep, and does not eat until his project is finished.

After what is truly a great start of his project, we follow Joe as he is dealt a setback and faces it heads-on. Fearing for the worst, in an exciting turn of events, Joe's inventiveness ultimately gets him back on track. From there on, he is heading straight for success. When the last part of his project is finally completed, we experience Joe's intense fulfillment through a rare display of affection (while he is a passionate and intense human being, Joe is not a people's person). In an emotional scene, we find Joe celebrating his success and taking pictures of his accomplishment. In a particularly gripping moment, Joe holds up a mirror to his project, as if for it to see its own beauty. The scene concludes with Joe lifting up the mirror like a trophy—an obvious tribute to the many successes of the German football team.

But his success is short-lived. It all starts with a phone ringing. Before Joe realizes what is going on, agents of an intrusive government are at his doorstep, threatening to jeopardize all that Joe has accomplished. Will the forces of bureaucracy prevail, or will Joe conjure up a clever plan to save his project, his spiritual livelihood? You will have to see for yourself.

The international cast delivers an enticing performance. No one plays a German like Dieter Laser (Joseph Heiter). Watching Ashlynn Yennie's convincing characterization of an American tourist (Jenny), it is hard to believe this is her debut role in a motion picture. It is a privilege to see Ashley Williams perform as the character Lindsay. Even a novice viewer should be able to recognize her extensive background in theater and musical theater and her world-class training at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Last but not least, although he did not speak any lines in a language that I could understand, I think Akihiro Kitamura played the part of some Japanese guy wonderfully.

All in all the film makes for a promising start of what should proves to be an exciting franchise not unlike such hits as Look Who's Talking Now and Harry Potter.

Viewer discretion: some scenes graphically depict the consumption of alcohol. Furthermore, the word 'ficken', a German verb, is uttered early on in the film. Finally, throughout the film brief flashes of nudity (nipple slips) can be seen.

Is it just me or was I the only person who thought this was a dark humor? To people who thought this was a shock movie I would have to disagree with you. The movie was straight to the point it didn't end with what you expected from the title of the movie. I thought the movie tried to portray a dark humor feel from it from how bizarre the acts were and how some the actors portrayed the characters. At times I laughed and at times felt bad for the people when the nasty scenes occurred. I also didn't find myself bored because of dragged out scenes or unnecessary talking. But in my opinion, I don't believe the movie was too gross and if you have a quite dark humor you will find this movie quite humorous.

Some movies are so much talked about, you have to see it. This movie was made popular through the animation series Southpark. In the episode called "HumancentiPad", season 15 episode 1, Stan was connected to an Ipad the same way. After this episode aired, everyone was wondering where Southpark got their inspiration, well, the movie called "The Human Centipede". And the movie went viral and became a cult hit overnight. Yes, the acting is bad, but on the other hand, the effects are nice. Yes the story is thin, but on the other hand it's easy to follow. Yes, it's more gross then scary, but on the other hand, it do got it's scary moments. If you really want to see the most gross, intense, well made movie ever, you have to see Martyrs (2008). See, the Dutch movies always are recognizable because they have something different, and that makes them always enjoyable.

Okay, American tourists with a car that breaks down - of course they go wandering through the dark German woods (you could play a drinking game and have to take a shot every time they say "Lindsay" and "Jenny" to each other - you'd be wasted) - and they come about a remote house and wouldn't you know it - just their luck - the house belongs to a complete nutjob surgeon who used to separate conjoined twins and now is obsessed with stitching people together. I'm no doctor, but there seem to be major flaws in his medical design - oh well. The film is kooky but well made, the lead guy (who looks a bit like Lance Henrickson) gives 100% and is fine as the mad doctor but the whole concept reeks of teenage boys getting stoned for the first time and playing a game - let's come up with the grossest thing that could be done to you in surgery. That's what it plays like - a teenage boy horror/fantasy/gross out. But with films like Saw and Hostel, it was only a matter of time before there was something like this and before long, they'll be other weird concepts that will try and top this one. Look out for ManBaby - see we sew a baby on the back of a guy who hates kids! It's creepy and it's funny! Hoo boy. Of course there's an itch to see something like this - the same itch that made people pay money to go see a freak show back in the day.

I finally got around to seeing this film and frankly I was not shocked; probably because I had read about its grossness far in advance. What I wasn't prepared for was the fact that a large part of the grossness was not actually shown, but rather spoken of and indirectly seen through bandage attachments. At some points it was very Hithcockian in the fear was instilled indirectly. Graphs showed how the surgery would be accomplished; only bits of the surgery were actually shown; the graphic defecation scene was verbalized and intimated. Very Hitchcock were the master of suspense a tad more mad. However, the scariest part of the film was Dieter Laser's performance. I can't recall ever seeing a mad scientist on film that projected madness and insanity as deeply as Mr. Laser……..Every time he was on screen you could feel your skin crawl with fear. Brilliant performance, mainly because it went to the edge of "over the top" but never actually got over the top. I've also read reviews which damned the actresses for not being "good actresses". A bunch of hooey for sure from those observers. I'd like to see them top the girls "tongue in cheek" performances. I never for a moment didn't see fear in their eyes, which btw is also another means of showing more fear than the actually surgery which was done while the cast was under anesthetics. In the beginning of the film you could feel the chemistry of the girls as they giggled about in their hotel room. A definite chemistry; one which would be needed as they got closer to each other at the Dr.'s house. Hats off to this film for sever reasons; suspense, fear and scare without an overload of blood and gore as in other films. Think of the Akitamura's job of convincing us that he was frightened, angry and scared in his native Japanese tongue, while again having tongue in cheek fears to contend with of his own character. Bottom line: An original, at the edge, horror film. Where does on go after that…..kudos to the cast for braving out a fully developed and overly imaginative film………..and to Mr. Six for following through. Can you imagine the sales pitch he had to prepare? Besides, our news media shows more graphic crap than this on their 24/7 newscasts (eg. There was more gore with Kadhafi killing, etc.)