Body Horror and the Film the HUMAN CENTIPEDE (FIRST SEQUENCE)

We've all seen what happens when a talented scientist decides to take the laws of man and God in his own hands. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is a classic that embodies these themes but now there is a new film that decides that he can do one better. In the film THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE (FIRST SEQUENCE) a German Surgeon Dr. Heiter (played brilliantly by the talented Dieter Laser) has spent his entire life separating conjoined twins. Now he wants to take one giant step into the evolution of science by conjoining multiple human beings into the perfect human centipede.

Writer & director Tom Six has crafted a tense psychological thriller that tests human (and audience) endurance with body horror in the tradition of David Cronenberg and Shinya Tsukamoto (NAKED LUNCH and TETSUO: THE IRON MAN, respectfully). Two young American tourists visiting German get lost and stranded in the middle of nowhere and come across the home of Dr. Heiter, whom sees the women's misstep as a Godsend to his experiments. He quickly subdues them and them sets about conjoining them with a Japanese man into a three-person centipede. I could go into details about how all this is described but it's better if you just endure the film yourself. Trapped and forced into a gene pig experiment the Japanese man and Americans try to find a way to escape from the clutches of the demented scientist even if it kills them.

Six does an excellent job of balancing the psychological horror with the onscreen violence. There is very little onscreen violence until the climax of the film as Six tries to build psychological tension and horror between Dr. Heiter and his experiment. Fans of Cronenberg and Tsukamoto will especially appreciate the both the story and the art direction of the film as they add tremendously to the proceedings on hand. This film is a psychologically torturous film which also has a touch a humor especially from Laser who knows how to balance the humor with the terror of the story excellently so his character doesn't come off as a caricature of the typical horror film German scientist/psychopath.

The film only really suffers at the beginning when the two American tourists are introduced as there scenes leading up to them coming across Dr. Heiter's house seem forced and a cliché of horror film set up. Once you get passed these few scenes the film becomes a rollercoaster ride of psychological terror that never lets up. By the end of the film you're so on edge that even the closing moments pull on your emotional strings for the characters.

Six is currently in post production on the second film in the series THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE (FULL SEQUENCE) and if this film is any indication, the second film will be just as controversial and awe inspiring.