Disclaimer: This essay contains SPOILERS for all three Human Centipede films. Also, in order to accurately discuss the films mild descriptions of extremely graphic scenes exist within, so read at your own caution and have a wonderful day!
In 2009, the horror genre was in one of its many frequent transitions. The Saw franchise was wrapping up, Hostel Part 2 landed with a redundancy, and Paranormal Activity had taken the country by storm thus cementing the evolution from “torture porn,” to the bloodless Blumhouse fare that is still being released monthly to this day. The ‘gore hound’ faction of the horror audience was settling back into the comfortable “been there done that” zone. It seemed as though the only way we would be able to spend our Friday nights looking at blood splatter on a wall was with casual reboots of franchises long past their prime such as Friday the 13th and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
When I first heard about Tom Six‘s The Human Centipede (First Sequence), it was in a similar manner in which awareness of the film spread to the mainstream. Casually browsing the internet I came across the synopsis that described the concept of three people sewn together, anus to mouth, forced to live off each others excrement. I had the same astonished reaction that many others did, but while most were immediately turned off by the idea, my curiosity peaked.
1.
When The Human Centipede (First Sequence) (2009) was released I was eighteen years old and had just gone away to college. I had somehow ended up with a roommate who was not only a major film buff, but one that shared my love for brutal, relentless films. Neither of us could pinpoint why, but for some reason we enjoyed a flick that left us feeling like the director had punched us in the face. We even coined our own genre we called “devastation films.” Entries included Salo, 120 Days of Sodom, Irreversible, A Serbian Film, Cannibal Holocaust, etc. We were foaming at the mouth for Human Centipede upon it’s release.
We rented the movie off VOD, popped open a few beers and were ready to go. After my first viewing of the movie I was left with mixed feelings. On one hand, I was surprised at how well made it was. Despite the reputation, these films are constructed with artistic vision. Six not only has the ability to paint very interesting compositions, but also really knows how to ratchet up the tension within the scene. The centipede doesn’t even show up until late in the second act allowing us to spend time with the characters and really get to know them. As we know their eventual fate, this makes even the most insignificant scene reek of dread.
On the other hand, I found the narrative to be quite lacking. I was upset Six used this horrifying concept to make a fairly standard horror movie without much narrative intrigue (I was wrong, but we’ll get to that later). The protagonists, Lindsay (Ashley C. Williams) and Jenny (Ashlynn Yennie), are your standard tourist victims who, through a series of events — including a broken down car and no cell phone service in sight — end up in the hands of the menacing Dr. Heiter (Deiter Leser), who positions them as the rear two pieces of his centipede.
While the narrative gives no surprise, it’s the tone Six utilizes that elevates First Sequence from being standard horror fare, to a qualifier in the devastation genre. For one, the world is depicted as an overall terrible place. This is a motif carried through the trilogy. The only good people are victims, and everyone else wants them not just to die, but to feel it. In a sickening scene, taking place as they wait in their immobile car, a man shows up whom the girls think can help them. Instead he just makes obscene gestures, masturbates, and drives off. Six takes every chance to go the extra mile, until he doesn’t.
Despite what you may have heard, graphically speaking, the centipede action in the film is fairly tame. Six understands the concept is destroying his audience as it is, so he elects to let the idea take over and save the visuals for later. A close-up on the horrified eyes of Lindsay as she has her first, uh, meal, is more effective than some of the most graphic visuals I had ever seen. A particular moment of subtlety that always stuck with me was Jenny screaming “I want my mom” as the doctor gives her a whiteboard presentation of her bleak future.
Six even has the decency to end the first film with a slight glimmer of hope. After a bloodbath that leaves Dr. Heiter, the classic useless cop, as well as the front and back end of the centipede dead, Lindsay finds herself alone and trapped. She screams and cries as we fade to black never knowing what happened to her, or if she made it out of the middle of the centipede. So what’s the glimmer? To me, it would seem other officers would respond to the missing cop, and Lindsay would be saved. Maybe not, but maybe so. That is all Six gives you. The speculation that maybe, someday, something good will happen to these people.
Then he made Human Centipede 2…
