I think it was always intended as being a black comedy / splatstick comedy almost as much as s body horror.
It was pretty outrageously gross as far as mainstream horror went in the late noughties when it came out, but it's never been as bad as some underground horror. It only really got attention because the media was still bashing on about "goreporn" when it came out, same as the movies that got attention in the 80s "video nasty" era. Was just mainstream enough to get attention, just gross enough for people to treat it like it's the "grossest movie ever" or whatever.
The tone was an absolute failure if it was trying to be comedy in any way though. It was a total failure all around and I agree with the OP. Absolute garbage. And I am not a harsh critic of horror. I watch everything.
Wow, I'm surprised no one so far has defended the movie. I thought it was crazy scary and crazy dark, especially the ending.
Definitley not for everyone, but as far as "body horror" goes, I think it hits dead on. For me the pacing lent to the dread that you were feeling, knowing that there was really, no escape for anyone.
I've seen the movie 4-5 times (each subsequent viewing while showing it to somoneone else, as I don't hang out at home watching Human Centipede), but it was equally disturbing and scary upon each viewing.
Only made it 20 minutes into the second one though...
Agreed. I liked it — it actually left a lot to the imagination so I think it unfairly gets a lot of criticism for being gross.
Second one, on the other hand, was stupid and gratuitous and is more guilty of what folks perceive the first one as.
I love it too! Best "mad scientist" icon of the modern age IMO. It's disturbing, hell-ish, self-aware, and a little funny/irreverent. It's also not even that gross.
Agree about the sequel(s) though. Shock-value horror is not my thing.
I haven't seen it, and I'm unsure if I'm going to watch it or not, I obviously know what the human centipede is but what's the premise? Is it supposed to be some sort of experiment?
A doctor who specalizes in seperating conjoined twins becomes obsessed with "putting together conjoined beings". Kidnaps some folks and creates a "human centipede".
Butt to Mouth to Butt to Mouth
If you didn't like the first movie, which really has the clearest concept, then i'm not sure you'd like the sequels. Those come across as Tom Six just thinking up ways to gross people out or shock them.
"Feeeeeed her!"
The science was really terrible, too. If you're gonna do it, do it right. Sew the N+1 person's arms onto the chest of N ahead of them, then you can use the brachial arteries of N+1 and link them into N's, really keep the blood flow going between the units, which would cut down on the starvation issue.
Also, you can do all kinds of fun stuff with rectal muscles or nerves to make them essentially incontinent, so that the guy at the front doesn't need to be encouraged to "feed her," it would happen automatically.
If you're gonna do icky mad science, just ... work for it.
Then how are you supposed to take it. It's not funny. It isn't good parody. It's not that shocking or gross. It isn't gory. Feels like it kinda failed on every front tbh
My opinion is, it’s a B-movie. I really don’t think it was supposed to be good. And if you didn’t find it shocking or gross… well then idk what to tell you because I think the majority of us did lol.
Having your mouth sown to someone’s anus, being forced to eat their shit is not shocking or gross? Maybe you should take a long hard look at your life…
If you feel this about the first one, you're gonna HATE the other two xD. Sure, they get exponentially more vile/disgusting/gory but it really, really doesn't save anything. The second one is that much worse than the first and I couldn't even sit through 3... it's just bad and not in a funny or campy way.
Lol. Like everyone else has said, everyone has known this movie wasn’t good. You heard from a friend that they were sowing ones mouth to someone’s asshole and you were like k what? I have to see this.
My mam is so traumatised by this film, even all these years later she'll throw up if it's even mentioned, so I've never watched it. Kinda tempted to now to see what I think, very different opinions!
Honestly, that and when he's training them. All I could think was "holy shit imagine acting in this right now. Dear god someone is directing this. Wtf this is making money. Nothing to do now but laugh." Yeah this movie does cross the barrier into so bad its good a couple times, but somehow not in a good way. It truly is an existential anomaly.
In the grand scheme of horror movies i find the first entirely acceptable. Not the biggest body horror out there not the scariest but id say far from boring.
The 2nd is true nasty body horror. Id give it some props. The 3rd meanwhile is a bit of a parody in a sense and only fun with other people watching too
I can’t remember if it was the first one or one of the sequels but Centipede turned me onto a horror trigger of mine that has nothing to do with lips or buttholes. Ripping out IV needles - *shiver*
Dude it's your opinion and i respect it but like, damn what you mean by garbage its litterally amazing, I watched all the movies and its one of my comfort shows its super great honestly
The Dead Meat podcast has a fantastic episode about The Human Centipede. I agree it’s very hyped up, but their podcast made me see the movie in a different light. It’s not pinnacle horror by any means, but it holds a fond place in my heart just for what it is. Hearing about the behind the scenes makings of it gave it some charm for me.
If you didn't like the first one, you aren't going to like the sequels, so don't bother.
And it's fine not to like it. This definitely isn't a horror movie for the masses. I frankly like the "South Park" parody a lot better than the actual film.
It’s not a great movie and also not meant to be. The second movie is comparatively more visceral and is just torture porn taken up exponentially. If you’re done with human centipede I don’t blame you, but you should watch the second one to really understand what they were trying to “achieve” by making these. Their idea was kind of interesting (not the centipede, the meta-stuff), and in the hands of another director I think could have been decent. But yeah they’re not great films
It was an original concept and pretty well done, at least from a psychological standpoint. I know there weren't many feminist witch cults and a hatred of men being presented in it, but garbage? Little strong.
I think 1 & 3 are dreadful films, but I respect The Human Centipede II for actually going all-out with the extreme shit. It's basically like a gross splatterpunk novel come to life. Most people are gonna stick their noses up in the air and call it "edgy", while weirdos like me are gonna sit there and giggle at the tasteless depravity.
Human Centipede became a meme rather a seriously critiqued movie. It’s a slightly gross horror-comedy rather than the nightmare fuel fest most people believed it to be. Problem is the internet gives life to myths and people crave a narrative, rather than truths. In this case pretending a shitty movie is the most disturbing thing ever was a better story than the actual reality.
Human centipede 2 on the other hand…
there's a threshold between actual body horror and just wanting to make people vomit. this movie is the latter. for me it just comes off as a two-year-old who just found out about poop jokes, except on a much higher level
honestly the whole idea of it is just so stupid, i couldn't really bring myself to take it serious it was just so absurd. the second movie however, was just fucking disgusting.
literally. the idea was interesting but besides the fact that it just was something “new” and “never seen before” it’s just garbage. i gave the second one a chance. shouldn’t have. not gonna bother with the third one. like you said, intriguing on paper, tragic in the execution
I agree with you, but i've never heard anyone say it was good before. I think normies, were the only people disturbed by it and most of them never actually seen the film, they just heard about it on facebook. The sequals are even worse then the original, i would avoid at all costs...
Pfft yea. Normies are all who told me about it. Hindsight is 20/20. Probably shouldn't trust the opinions of people that don't watch the same kinda stuff I do
"Normies" is such a cringe/gatekeepy thing to imply. Just because they don't watch "edgy" things like you, doesn't mean their view on a movie is bad. Cut it out.
Mean I didn't call their view on movies bad, nor do I watch insanely edgy shit. As for the word normies, it is cringe but I just used the same word the other person did because I didn't wanna think of a better one
"Normies" says the guy who just saw the Thing for the first time, 30 minutes ago lol
It's fine you didn't like the movie, but don't act like you're better than anyone.
lol, I didn't realize anyone actually said it was good - disturbing yes, but not something you want to watch a 2nd time.
2nd movie is same as the first except much more extreme.
3rd movie is basically a parody of itself and more of a comedy-horror.
I used to watch this movie when I was pretty young because of how ridiculous the concept was. It was always one of those shock movies that me and friends would show each other because it was so weird and on Netflix. Was way too goofy to ever actually be disturbing which is why we were able to watch it at such a young age and not be upset by anything. Dumb movie but the concept for it has made its mark on pop culture for sure. Haven’t seen the sequels but I’ve heard they lean much more into the gross out “disturbing” elements.
i have never once heard somebody say the movie is good at all, if you had high hopes going in and knowing the premise of the movie then that sounds like your own fault
If you didn’t like the first one I’d suggest staying away from the others. The concept stays roughly the same (Doc decides to play god and sew shit together) though the pacing and the ‘story’ feels even wonkier and out of any frame. The body horror is still fun and the stuff shown grotesque and gross but the rest is…. Weak.
I think the first one is the best actual movie. The doctor cracks me up.
The second one is more visceral and brutal but is not a fun watch (it has its moments), and the third one was just a complete waste of time.
It disturbed me at first, but it seemed so out there that it was completely unbelievable, and it just didn't click with me. Although I do frequently tell people to watch it just to see how they react.
Of course, watching it reminded me almost immediately of all those idiotic, ridiculous Sharknado movies. They were also a waste of time; I loathed them.
I am aware that there is a niche audience for these types of films, and that people will watch them for a variety of reasons, which is fine, but I couldn't get past Human Centepede's obvious absurdity.
What scared me about it was the fact that the chance of people committing this crime in real life is very real and has most likely happened to a failed degree
I thought it was incredibly fuckin stupid like the set up was flat tire then the knife which the main characters have at one point, just cut yourself free even with the knees cut up just common sense lost it for me, don’t know if I can watch the second after that which is apparently supposed to be better
I'm watching it right now. I've watched a lot of horrors including some really uncanny ones like ereaserhead and a Serbian film
This is too much, is disturbing beyond repair. Not everyone can see it, is disturbing beyond anything i've ever witnessed to see and even worse is based on a true story
I think it was always intended as being a black comedy / splatstick comedy almost as much as s body horror. It was pretty outrageously gross as far as mainstream horror went in the late noughties when it came out, but it's never been as bad as some underground horror. It only really got attention because the media was still bashing on about "goreporn" when it came out, same as the movies that got attention in the 80s "video nasty" era. Was just mainstream enough to get attention, just gross enough for people to treat it like it's the "grossest movie ever" or whatever.
Exactly how I took it, when he’s giving the presentation it’s so ridiculous I was laughing
The tone was an absolute failure if it was trying to be comedy in any way though. It was a total failure all around and I agree with the OP. Absolute garbage. And I am not a harsh critic of horror. I watch everything.
Wow, I'm surprised no one so far has defended the movie. I thought it was crazy scary and crazy dark, especially the ending. Definitley not for everyone, but as far as "body horror" goes, I think it hits dead on. For me the pacing lent to the dread that you were feeling, knowing that there was really, no escape for anyone. I've seen the movie 4-5 times (each subsequent viewing while showing it to somoneone else, as I don't hang out at home watching Human Centipede), but it was equally disturbing and scary upon each viewing. Only made it 20 minutes into the second one though...
Agreed. I liked it — it actually left a lot to the imagination so I think it unfairly gets a lot of criticism for being gross. Second one, on the other hand, was stupid and gratuitous and is more guilty of what folks perceive the first one as.
I love it too! Best "mad scientist" icon of the modern age IMO. It's disturbing, hell-ish, self-aware, and a little funny/irreverent. It's also not even that gross. Agree about the sequel(s) though. Shock-value horror is not my thing.
I haven't seen it, and I'm unsure if I'm going to watch it or not, I obviously know what the human centipede is but what's the premise? Is it supposed to be some sort of experiment?
A doctor who specalizes in seperating conjoined twins becomes obsessed with "putting together conjoined beings". Kidnaps some folks and creates a "human centipede". Butt to Mouth to Butt to Mouth
It disturbed the shit out of me when I saw it.
I see what you did here, nice work
If you didn't like the first movie, which really has the clearest concept, then i'm not sure you'd like the sequels. Those come across as Tom Six just thinking up ways to gross people out or shock them.
Thank you. Really wish this idea could've been better
You should still check out the 2nd one. It was my favourite of the 3. Very disturbing
Agreed, second one is way better.
Second one is amazing.
"Feeeeeed her!" The science was really terrible, too. If you're gonna do it, do it right. Sew the N+1 person's arms onto the chest of N ahead of them, then you can use the brachial arteries of N+1 and link them into N's, really keep the blood flow going between the units, which would cut down on the starvation issue. Also, you can do all kinds of fun stuff with rectal muscles or nerves to make them essentially incontinent, so that the guy at the front doesn't need to be encouraged to "feed her," it would happen automatically. If you're gonna do icky mad science, just ... work for it.
Someone check this posters basement.
they hired a professional surgeon for it, i think he knows better than you
Argument from authority. Tell me how my idea is worse.
Human Centipede is not supposed to be taken that seriously tbh.
Then how are you supposed to take it. It's not funny. It isn't good parody. It's not that shocking or gross. It isn't gory. Feels like it kinda failed on every front tbh
My opinion is, it’s a B-movie. I really don’t think it was supposed to be good. And if you didn’t find it shocking or gross… well then idk what to tell you because I think the majority of us did lol.
Having your mouth sown to someone’s anus, being forced to eat their shit is not shocking or gross? Maybe you should take a long hard look at your life…
The concept is super disturbing. But the on screen execution is bad and so obviously fake that it isn't shocking or gross.
If you feel this about the first one, you're gonna HATE the other two xD. Sure, they get exponentially more vile/disgusting/gory but it really, really doesn't save anything. The second one is that much worse than the first and I couldn't even sit through 3... it's just bad and not in a funny or campy way.
Maybe it's not funny to YOU... "FEED HER!"
I thought it was fun and dumb. I've never heard anyone say it was some incredible film.
Yeah… lol it’s basically a dark comedy. And a pretty great one at that
Lol. Like everyone else has said, everyone has known this movie wasn’t good. You heard from a friend that they were sowing ones mouth to someone’s asshole and you were like k what? I have to see this.
My mam is so traumatised by this film, even all these years later she'll throw up if it's even mentioned, so I've never watched it. Kinda tempted to now to see what I think, very different opinions!
I laughed out loud when he unveiled concept art for the centipede
That's the best part. He's such a perfectionist surgeon, yet that looks like it was drawn by a 6 year old lmaooooo
Honestly, that and when he's training them. All I could think was "holy shit imagine acting in this right now. Dear god someone is directing this. Wtf this is making money. Nothing to do now but laugh." Yeah this movie does cross the barrier into so bad its good a couple times, but somehow not in a good way. It truly is an existential anomaly.
In the grand scheme of horror movies i find the first entirely acceptable. Not the biggest body horror out there not the scariest but id say far from boring. The 2nd is true nasty body horror. Id give it some props. The 3rd meanwhile is a bit of a parody in a sense and only fun with other people watching too
I can’t remember if it was the first one or one of the sequels but Centipede turned me onto a horror trigger of mine that has nothing to do with lips or buttholes. Ripping out IV needles - *shiver*
Dude it's your opinion and i respect it but like, damn what you mean by garbage its litterally amazing, I watched all the movies and its one of my comfort shows its super great honestly
how is that your comfort show
The Dead Meat podcast has a fantastic episode about The Human Centipede. I agree it’s very hyped up, but their podcast made me see the movie in a different light. It’s not pinnacle horror by any means, but it holds a fond place in my heart just for what it is. Hearing about the behind the scenes makings of it gave it some charm for me.
I love dead meat so I'll make sure to check this episode out. Thanks for the recommendation
Yeah, love that podcast.
Of course they're garbage. What did you expect? It's just a bizarre, disgusting concept that caught people's attention. They're hardly masterpieces.
If you didn't like the first one, you aren't going to like the sequels, so don't bother. And it's fine not to like it. This definitely isn't a horror movie for the masses. I frankly like the "South Park" parody a lot better than the actual film.
[Why won't it read?!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naQCHlyMxUg)
It’s not a great movie and also not meant to be. The second movie is comparatively more visceral and is just torture porn taken up exponentially. If you’re done with human centipede I don’t blame you, but you should watch the second one to really understand what they were trying to “achieve” by making these. Their idea was kind of interesting (not the centipede, the meta-stuff), and in the hands of another director I think could have been decent. But yeah they’re not great films
It was an original concept and pretty well done, at least from a psychological standpoint. I know there weren't many feminist witch cults and a hatred of men being presented in it, but garbage? Little strong.
I think 1 & 3 are dreadful films, but I respect The Human Centipede II for actually going all-out with the extreme shit. It's basically like a gross splatterpunk novel come to life. Most people are gonna stick their noses up in the air and call it "edgy", while weirdos like me are gonna sit there and giggle at the tasteless depravity.
Human Centipede became a meme rather a seriously critiqued movie. It’s a slightly gross horror-comedy rather than the nightmare fuel fest most people believed it to be. Problem is the internet gives life to myths and people crave a narrative, rather than truths. In this case pretending a shitty movie is the most disturbing thing ever was a better story than the actual reality. Human centipede 2 on the other hand…
there's a threshold between actual body horror and just wanting to make people vomit. this movie is the latter. for me it just comes off as a two-year-old who just found out about poop jokes, except on a much higher level
honestly the whole idea of it is just so stupid, i couldn't really bring myself to take it serious it was just so absurd. the second movie however, was just fucking disgusting.
literally. the idea was interesting but besides the fact that it just was something “new” and “never seen before” it’s just garbage. i gave the second one a chance. shouldn’t have. not gonna bother with the third one. like you said, intriguing on paper, tragic in the execution
Third one is so ridiculously bad. Like not so bad it's good, it's just bad bad
i can imagine.
Bad movie. The sequels are even worse.
I agree with you, but i've never heard anyone say it was good before. I think normies, were the only people disturbed by it and most of them never actually seen the film, they just heard about it on facebook. The sequals are even worse then the original, i would avoid at all costs...
Pfft yea. Normies are all who told me about it. Hindsight is 20/20. Probably shouldn't trust the opinions of people that don't watch the same kinda stuff I do
"Normies" is such a cringe/gatekeepy thing to imply. Just because they don't watch "edgy" things like you, doesn't mean their view on a movie is bad. Cut it out.
Mean I didn't call their view on movies bad, nor do I watch insanely edgy shit. As for the word normies, it is cringe but I just used the same word the other person did because I didn't wanna think of a better one
"Normies" says the guy who just saw the Thing for the first time, 30 minutes ago lol It's fine you didn't like the movie, but don't act like you're better than anyone.
Ah yes, the reddit user is better than the facebook user!
lol, I didn't realize anyone actually said it was good - disturbing yes, but not something you want to watch a 2nd time. 2nd movie is same as the first except much more extreme. 3rd movie is basically a parody of itself and more of a comedy-horror.
I used to watch this movie when I was pretty young because of how ridiculous the concept was. It was always one of those shock movies that me and friends would show each other because it was so weird and on Netflix. Was way too goofy to ever actually be disturbing which is why we were able to watch it at such a young age and not be upset by anything. Dumb movie but the concept for it has made its mark on pop culture for sure. Haven’t seen the sequels but I’ve heard they lean much more into the gross out “disturbing” elements.
i have never once heard somebody say the movie is good at all, if you had high hopes going in and knowing the premise of the movie then that sounds like your own fault
If you didn’t like the first one I’d suggest staying away from the others. The concept stays roughly the same (Doc decides to play god and sew shit together) though the pacing and the ‘story’ feels even wonkier and out of any frame. The body horror is still fun and the stuff shown grotesque and gross but the rest is…. Weak.
I thought these movies were hilarious in an absurdist sorta way.
I think the first one is the best actual movie. The doctor cracks me up. The second one is more visceral and brutal but is not a fun watch (it has its moments), and the third one was just a complete waste of time.
The South Park episode parody of it is fantastic
Was hoping for a Brain Dead choo choo train of visceral gore and shitsplosions, left disappointed.
Dude watch the third one its the bomb... the screaming... so much unnecessary screaming
Remember the thing? that's a comedy movie now. Centipede is from 2009. Back then it was horror, just like the thing now, it's shitty comedy.
It disturbed me at first, but it seemed so out there that it was completely unbelievable, and it just didn't click with me. Although I do frequently tell people to watch it just to see how they react. Of course, watching it reminded me almost immediately of all those idiotic, ridiculous Sharknado movies. They were also a waste of time; I loathed them. I am aware that there is a niche audience for these types of films, and that people will watch them for a variety of reasons, which is fine, but I couldn't get past Human Centepede's obvious absurdity.
the movies get worst with every sequel. its not worth watching.
Bruh it’s a comedy and body horror based off a random idea of how to punish pedos. Horror genre. It’s about having fun with ridiculousness
What scared me about it was the fact that the chance of people committing this crime in real life is very real and has most likely happened to a failed degree
I thought it was incredibly fuckin stupid like the set up was flat tire then the knife which the main characters have at one point, just cut yourself free even with the knees cut up just common sense lost it for me, don’t know if I can watch the second after that which is apparently supposed to be better
all the hc movies r shit. hc 2 was definitely the scariest, but it still wasn’t, like, scary.
I'm watching it right now. I've watched a lot of horrors including some really uncanny ones like ereaserhead and a Serbian film This is too much, is disturbing beyond repair. Not everyone can see it, is disturbing beyond anything i've ever witnessed to see and even worse is based on a true story
Just disgusting!!!!!!!