The Human Centipede (First Sequence) (2009)
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A deranged surgeon kidnaps three tourists and surgically joins them into a single, horrifying organism.
The story
When two tourists from New York City, Lindsay and Jenny, experience a flat tire in Germany, they seek assistance at the home of Dr. Josef Heiter. Heiter, a misanthropic and psychopathic surgeon, drugs the women and imprisons them in a medical ward. Heiter is obsessed with 'making new creatures' and plans to perform a gruesome surgical procedure to join his victims together. The situation escalates as Heiter also holds a truck driver and later a Japanese tourist, Katsuro, intending to create a multi-segment 'human centipede' with a shared digestive system.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
After kidnapping a truck driver and the two American women, Heiter performs surgery to join them into a 'human centipede' with Katsuro at the front, Lindsay in the middle, and Jenny at the rear. He treats the joined victims as a pet, caging them and forcing them to follow his commands. The narrative follows the victims' plight as they are subjected to his whims, including being forced to share a digestive system and being subjected to physical abuse. The plot thickens when two detectives, Kranz and Voller, arrive to investigate the missing persons. Heiter attempts to manipulate them but is eventually injured during a confrontation with Katsuro. In the final act, a violent confrontation occurs between Heiter and the detectives, resulting in the deaths of both the officer Voller and the officer Kranz, as well as Heiter himself. The film ends with Lindsay alone, trapped between the bodies of her fellow victims.
- First release year
- 2009
- Runtime (minutes)
- 92
- Production countries
- Netherlands
- Original languages
- English; Japanese
- Directors
- Tom Six
- Writers
- Tom Six · writer
- Cast and characters
- Dieter Laser · Josef Heiter; Ashley C. Williams · Lindsay; Ashlynn Yennie · Jenny; Akihiro Kitamura · Katsuro; Rene de Wit · Truck Driver; Andreas Leupold · Detective Kranz; Peter Blankenstein · Detective Voller
- Genres
- body horror; horror
- Themes
- body horror; misanthropy; fascism
- Tone and mood
- grotesque; disturbing; visceral
- Premise and plot tags
- medical horror; survival; mad scientist
- Reception
- The film received mixed critical reception, with some critics praising the performance of Dieter Laser and the construction of the 'nightmare' while others criticized the lack of social commentary and the reliance on shock value.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 47% · scale: percentage · review count: 95
- Awards and nominations
- Best Actor · horror · Win
- Production trivia
- The film's concept was inspired by a joke about punishing a child molester.; The director's name, Heiter, was an amalgamation of several Nazi war criminals.; The sound of a nose being broken was made by snapping bones within cuts of raw meat.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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