The Human Centipede
Director: Tom Six
The Human Centipede proves that a unique (and disgusting) premise is not enough to make a bad film watch-able. With a questionable plot that has had horror fans salivating for months, Centipede is about a demented ex-surgeon who decides to build a human centipede by sewing people together, mouth to anus. Like last year’s Dead Snow, Centipede deteriorates into a series of largely intentional comic moments. But it never lives up to the intensity or possibility of an experience of true horror promised by the film’s premise.
The biggest problem with Centipede is the acting. Actresses who play the victims in horror films have a reputation for being cast for their looks instead of their abilities as thespians, but this film takes horror acting to a new low. These girls make B-grade pornstars look like they could handle themselves in a dramatic scene against Cate Blanchett. The villain of the piece, Dr Heiter (Laser) nails the terrifying doctor, but this can be attributed less to his acting ability and more to his utterly disturbing face.
Also disappointing was the fact that Dr Heiter’s handiwork remained covered by surgical bandages for the entire film.
Perhaps due to financial constraints, the film failed to take us into the horrific territory it promised, falling into another generic cliché of not revealing the monster. In a film which is as transgressive as Centipede, not showing the monster is the film’s crucial flaw. The terrible acting would have been forgiven if the film actually delivered. Tom Six’s direction is poor, the only things that work are the odd bus scare and an undercurrent of black comedy that runs through the film. All The Human Centipede is is a bad film, not the intense, degrad classic everyone was hoping for.