Product Details

• Actors: Ashley C. Williams, Dieter Laser
• Directors: Tom Six
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: IFC Films
• DVD Release Date: October 5, 2010
• Run Time: 92 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (263 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B003L20IEC
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,091 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
  • #67 in Movies & TV > DVD > Horror
• For more information about "The Human Centipede" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Equal parts Cronenbergian body horror, perverse fetish film, and E.C. Comics-style gross-out, The Human Centipede is Dutch director Tom Six's uniquely macabre endurance test for fans of modern fright fare. What's surprising about the picture isn't the premise--its story, about a madder-than-mad doctor (German actor Dieter Laser) who unites two American tourists (Ashley C. Williams and Ashlynn Yennie) and a Japanese counterpart (Akihiro Kitamura) in a hideous surgical procedure that creates the title monstrosity, was broadcast in detail across the Internet prior to its international theatrical screenings--but rather, the degree of reserve Six applies to depicting every excruciating detail. That's not to say that Human Centipede is a bloodless affair, but Six relies more on the physical endurance and talent of his actors to present the mortal terror of their predicament, which in turn offers a more terrifying experience for the viewer than anything dreamed up by a special effects team. The approach also makes up for some of the more crassly exploitive moments in the film, like the doctor's relentless abuse of his creation, which is largely clad only in filthy underwear, and Laser's occasional overacting, which at its most heated, suggests an unholy, highly medicated hybrid of Klaus Kinski, Lance Henriksen, and the late Howard Vernon's awful Dr. Orlof. Obviously, this is not for the casual horror fan, and most definitely not for the squeamish; more hard-core types should find their nerves thoroughly rattled by the time the film reaches its darker-than-dark conclusion. A final, disturbing note: the complete title is The Human Centipede (First Sequence); a planned sequel reportedly promises a 12-segment (gulp) creation. --Paul Gaita

Product Description

100% Medically accurate.
The compelling simplicity of Saw. The stylish dread of Eraserhead. The black humor of A Nightmare On Elm Street. Those are the benchmarks of horror that the outrageous Dutch film The Human Centipede matches. The plot is diabolically simple: two stranded American tourists are given shelter by a famed German doctor (a maniacally intense Dieter Laser) who made his fortune surgically separating conjoined twins. Now his mad genius is pushing the doctor to do the reverse. He tells the women that they will be surgically attached to a Japanese businessman mouth to buttocks, one after the other and thus will be born a new creature: the human centipede! Compellingly perverse, hilarious, and shockingly straightforward, Dutch director Tom Six s new film is hands-down the most memorable horror film of the year.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

149 of 174 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars I'd Like To Do This To My In-Laws, May 12, 2010

By 

Stanley Runk "Runkdapunk" (Camp North Pines) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Human Centipede (DVD)

Most of us loony horror fans have sat around and had that conversation where we come up with some of the most deranged and gruesome ideas we can just for the fun of doing it. Well, Todd Six has had this conversation, and then he went ahead and made a movie out of it.
So, here we have Human Centipede, a movie generating a cult film buzz based solely on it's gimmicky and oddball premise.......and what a premise it is! I do have to give it full points for originality. However, the gimmick is where all originality ceases. The gimmick is really all it has going for it. Otherwise this movie plays out pretty much like any other recent torture porn flick. Remove the Cronenbergism from the film and you could easily have this wacko doctor running a basement torture chamber where he hacks off victims' limbs to create artwork or forces people to listen to Nickelback, or whatever the hell they like to do in torture porn films anymore. Basically it's on par with the standard straight-to-video type horror, but with a bit of an edge. That's really all I can say about it.
I really do have to give kudos to the three principal actors who make up the "centipede". They're really not required to do much heavy acting per se, but they have to spend the bulk of the film dirt smeared,(mostly)naked, crying, and in an all around degrading position. They're definitely troopers.
All in all, I wouldn't let the hype get your hopes up. It's got a bit of entertainment value, but it's not nearly as disturbing, frightening , violent or gory as you're lead to believe. To the average Iron Man 2 goer, maybe. But aside from the "centipede", there's nothing here that horror fans haven't seen done before.....and better.

153 of 182 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not Horror, just Torture, January 2, 2011

By 

Jade (Oregon) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Human Centipede (DVD)

This is not a horror movie. It is a movie about human torture. Plain and simple.

The hype about this movie is the confusion that this is art, or even falls within the realm of the horror (or psychological drama) genre. It doesn't. At first I thought this was going to be a very dark-humor "it's so bad, it's good" type movie. No.

It's not scary, it's not humorous, it's not entertaining, and it is very poorly made on a number of levels.

It's not the gross-out factor that bothers me so much. It's that the movie is really about nothing other than a close-up look of human torture with no point or meaning. Mean-spirited is an understatement. Seriously.

If you like horror movies, skip this.

If you like watching people suffer, being mutilated, and being tortured, then you will enjoy this movie.

89 of 114 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Underground horror sneaks into the mainstream (3.5 stars), June 7, 2010

By 

C. Christopher Blackshere "Mackshere" (hampered by what's acceptable) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Human Centipede (DVD)

Here's a film to bring people together--literally. Director Tom Six came up with the concept of this sick story from a joke made with friends. This joke was aimed at child molesters, suggesting as punishment they should have their mouths surgically sewn "to the (rear end) of fat truck drivers". When Mr. Six pitched this idea to potential investors, he omitted this central aspect of the plot. The rest is underground horror history.

The Human Centipede starts off irritatingly derivative. A couple of beautiful ladies from New York are touring through Europe. Sheesh, didn't you two gals watch HOSTEL or TAKEN? This is obviously a bad idea. They get invited to a party, have a tire blowout in the middle of bfe, and of course have no cell phone reception. I know, that setup has been beaten to death. But new levels of inconceivable evil are about to be woven in.

For me, the most unnerving part of this film was the main scoundrel himself, the wicked Dr. Heiter (Dieter Laser). He just looks superbly creepy as all hell. Plus his detatched, cold persona will send shivers down your spine.

This acclaimed doctor had received recognition from his brilliant skill in seperating conjoined twins. Now his next effed up surgical plan is quite the opposite. He dreams of making new creatures that share a single digestive system. Sick! The portions of one meal go through three different people. I can't think of a more humiliating, degrading, just flat out awful predicament.

This film does surprisingly show some restraint in unleashing this atrocity upon the viewer. It contains relatively little blood or nudity. We're left to witness the extreme awkwardness of the victims as they cope with the hopelessness of their situation. Plus we are subjected to the whims of a deranged madman, as he does the unthinkable.

Overall, this is a film I would mildly recommend to fans of hardcore horror only. It is well made and acted for the most part. It's definitely not something you see everyday, thank goodness. Proceed with caution.

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