The Human Centipede (First Sequence)
The Human Centipede (First Sequence) is a 2009 Dutch independent body horror film written, directed and co-produced by Tom Six. The film concerns a deranged German surgeon who kidnaps three tourists and conjoins them surgically, mouth to anus, forming the eponymous "human centipede". It stars Dieter Laser as Josef Heiter, the creator of the centipede; and Ashley C. Williams, Ashlynn Yennie, and Akihiro Kitamura as Heiter's victims.
According to Six, the concept arose from a joke he had made with friends about punishing a child molester by stitching his mouth to the anus of a "fat truck driver". Other
sources of inspiration were Nazi medical experiments performed during World War II, such as those performed by Josef Mengele at the Auschwitz concentration camp.
Plot
Lindsay and Jenny,
tourists from New York visiting Germany, get a flat tire on their way to a night club and seek help at the house of
misanthropic, psychopathic surgeon Dr. Josef Heiter. He drugs the women with Rohypnol in their water and locks them up in a makeshift medical ward. Heiter also abducts Japanese tourist Katsuro.
Heiter is a retired world-renowned expert at separating Siamese twins, but dreams of making new creatures by sewing humans together. He says he will surgically connect his three victims mouth-to-anus, so that they share a single digestive system. His prior experiment, the 3Dog, conjoined three Rottweilers into a "Siamese triplet"; all three dogs died following the operation. Heiter has moved on to using human subjects.
Production
The inspiration for the film's plot came from a joke that writer/director Tom Six once made to his friends about punishing a child molester they saw on TV by stitching his mouth to the anus of an overweight truck driver.[8] Six saw this as the concept for a great horror film, and he began to develop the idea.[18]
Six has stated that The Human Centipede is, to an extent, a reflection on fascism. Dieter Laser, who played the antagonist Dr Heiter, said during the promotion of the film that he felt the guilt of Nazi actions during the war had haunted ordinary Germans for generations, and that as a German whose father participated in the war, he often felt "like a child whose father is in jail for murder."[24]
The inclusion of a German villain came from this, with Six citing both the German invasion of the Netherlands during World War II and the Nazi medical experiments as inspiration.[25]
Laser stated in an interview with Clark Collis for Entertainment Weekly that he considered the film a "grotesque [parody] about the Nazi psyche".[8]
Heiter's name was an amalgamation of several Nazi war criminals, his surname (literally meaning "cheerful" in German)
a combination of the names of Nazi doctors Fetter and Richter, and his first name coming from Josef Mengele, who carried out experiments on prisoners at the Auschwitz concentration camp.[26] World War II also played an influence on the nationality of the other main characters who were American and Japanese.[27]
Laser remained in character as Heiter throughout the filming process, often shouting at the rest of the cast on set,[16] and wherever possible staying away from the other actors and crew between scenes to preserve a level of separation.[42] He only ate food he had brought onto the set himself,[43] eating mostly fruit.[16] He contributed dialogue for his character and selected many of his character's outfits from his personal wardrobe.[44]
Six claims that the jacket Heiter wore, which was bought by Laser, was a genuine jacket worn by real Nazi doctors.[45]
The Nazi influence behind Heiter led to the use of classical music when the doctor is "training" his centipede. The music was deliberately played at low quality to simulate the music coming from a loudspeaker, in much the same way as music was sometimes played in Nazi concentration camps.[48]
Release
The Human Centipede was released in the United States without an MPAA rating.[20] It was released theatrically in New York City on 30 April 2010 and had a limited release in the US shortly afterward, distributed by IFC Films.[70] Throughout 2009, the film was included in several film festivals around the world including the London FrightFest Film Festival, Leeds International Film Festival,[7] Sitges Film Festival,[71] and Screamfest Horror Film Festival.[7] Six claimed that the "buzz"[73] surrounding the film led to several studios approaching him to discuss its distribution.[73] IFC Films has a history of releasing unconventional horror films, having previously distributed the Norwegian Nazi-zombie feature
Dead Snow and the 2009 release
Antichrist.[74] The Human Centipede's US gross was $181,467, and worldwide takings amounted to $252,207.[75]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Human ... _Sequence)
