Product Details

• Actors: Ashley C. Williams, Dieter Laser
• Directors: Tom Six
• Format: Color, 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: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (366 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B003L20IEC
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #32,818 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "The Human Centipede" on 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.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

175 of 209 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 VINE™ VOICE

Format: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.

229 of 276 people found the following review helpful

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

By Jade

Format: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.

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Curiosity satisfied March 13, 2011

By kimberly2000

Format:Amazon Instant Video

All the hype had piqued my curiosity about The Human Centipede and the way audiences were so divided over it. I suspected I would fall into the negative camp so was glad to see it among the free offerings for Amazon Prime members.

In short -- this is fetish porn masquerading as a horror movie. If torture, coprophagy and Nazi imagery are your thing, look no further.