The Human Centipede: First Sequence (2010)

This is a hard film to write about because my thoughts on it are all over the place.  Unless you've kept your head buried in the sand, you've probably heard about this controversial horror film about a surgeon who sets out to sew three people together mouth to anus as the title suggests.   Yes, it's a grotesque image and for a horror film the idea is brilliant.  I declare it the most horrific idea for a horror film since Freddy Kruger's ability to terrorize dreams.  It's such a creative concept I can imagine every horror writer from Stephen King to Clive Barker are gnashing their teeth in jealousy.  But alas, Mr. Six, the writer and director, botches it.   Maybe worried someone else would attempt a similar themed film, he rushed his into production with a script crammed with cliches and victims who frustratingly act without much believable common sense.  Not that the film is all bad, there are moments of true gruesomeness, scenes that force the viewer to imagine the suffering in a way that would make anyone flinch.  I applaud Six also on having a good visual eye, he knows how to frame and direct a scene.   I just wish the script was better.  But as I write this another question pops up: when did suffering become entertainment.   I'm not saying I think Torture Porn (as this sub genre is coined) is evil and should be banned.   These ideas aren't new.  The Marque de Sade wrote stories filled with debasement like this over a hundred years ago.  I actually think it's healthy for society to have artists like Six to be allowed to explore the sickest and most evil of ideas.  The only problem I can foresee with these movies is that usually the story is about the torture instead of the torture being a result of the drama.  There's only one moment of true drama in this film, and it's at the end and it's so brief it's almost not worth mentioning.   For some with a sick sense of humor, you'll laugh a few times, mostly because what transpires is at times so over the top you can't help it.  You'll probably gag.  You'll not want to eat anything for awhile.   And if you're like me, you'll wonder if such a surgery could really succeed.  The producers of the film say it's 100% medically accurate but this is a big exaggeration.   For a horror film this is certainly going to become a cult classic, but as a film it's pretty much garbage.   Grade: B-. 

Spoiler: Such a film doesn't really deserve much analysis but I can't help it.  I'm really mad at Six for tainting his film with such mediocrity.  First, the two girls are not the best actresses in the world, sure they're fine at playing scarred but in the first parts of the film they're really bad. It doesn't help that the script is so trite. The car-breaks-down-and-the-victims-knock-on-a-stranger's-door-for-help start is a very lame beginning. (Might as well name one of your characters Janet and have the other sing "Damn it, Janet"). Also the villain in this film is great looking and he's probably a fine actor but his character has no other side to him than cruel bastard. Wouldn't it be more horrific if he did what he did out of love, if he considered what he was doing to these poor people a privilege? Instead he acts like some Nazi nut job and that's not very entertaining to watch. It's much easier to brainwash people with kindness than with cruelty. I also like it when I feel a screenwriter is smarter than the viewer, always one step ahead of what the viewer thinks is going to happen. This makes for more tension. I hate it in a movie when the characters make choices that only a complete moron would make. Examples: Lindsay escapes the house but decides to go back to help her friend (who is unconscious). The Japanese guy (section A) stabs the villain in the leg and then tries to escape without using that same weapon to finish the baddie off. The sicko just sewed a woman to you ass and you let him live? I know the Japanese guy is probably not thinking straight after all that he's been through but not to kill your enemy when you have the chance is down right impossible to believe. Then there's the cops who at first act as police investigators should until the end when all their training goes out the door and they don't call for backup. Oh well, I will add one compliment; the last series of images are great, and as the movie closes I kept asking myself will Lindsay survive, and will she want to survive? The paramedics will be able to detach her but her face is ruined and she'll need therapy for the rest of her life. Then maybe I'll need therapy too for watching this movie.
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