2/10
Great Premise, Crap Film
5 May 2010
Wow, what a pointless and redundant film.

It would seem word of mouth has spread into the anus of the internet and shat out this crap film.

Despite the hype, the Human Centipede does nothing interesting with its premise or characters - its almost as if Six thinks the *concept* can do most of the leg work for him.

And apparently those taken by the original concept require little else from a film - like working through the implications of its own premise or delivering an experience that can stand on its own feet.

Take away the striking *image* of three people turned into a human centipede, and you are left with an indistinct film with few thrills.

The mad scientist trope barely transcends hackneyed cliché, and the film completely squanders a great opportunity for subtext: what (for example) is the meaning of a male Asian as the head of the centipede and/or what does two American women following him mean?

The plot is threadbare and takes the path of least resistance - the pointless film leads from point A to point B. Despite the 'logical' (linear) approach of the 'narrative', the characters motivations generally defy logic and rational explanation.

Unlike great horror movies, this film literally has nothing to say about modern culture, gender roles, human fears or scientific hubris.

Even worse, the cheap thrills are standard fare. The only thing that can be said in its favor is that some of the images (creep in the car, the centipede itself) are perversely funny.

The film fails to suspend disbelief or encourages identification with its own protagonists either. Instead of (say) feeling sorry for the two female characters in the film, you pity the two female *actresses* playing bare breasted women on all fours and eating crap in the form of Six's 'script'.

Dieter was typically creepy as the mad scientist, but he can do this stuff in his sleep. Anyone familiar with his work on Lexx knows how remarkable he can be - his Mantrid is amongst the great scifi villains. And the image of Mantrid's floating head on a jar remains much more incisive than anything on display here.
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