The Human Centipede (First Sequence)

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The Human Centipede (First Sequence)
Directed by	Tom Six
Produced by	Tom Six Ilona Six
Written by	Tom Six
Starring	Dieter Laser Ashley C. Williams Ashlynn Yennie Akihiro Kitamura
Production company	Six Entertainment Company
Release date	30 August 2009 (London FrightFest Film Festival) 30 April 2010
Running time	92 minutes
Language	English German Japanese
Succeeded by	Full Sequence

The Human Centipede (First Sequence) is a 2009 Dutch horror film written, directed and co-produced by Tom Six and the first installment in the Human Centipede film trilogy. The film tells the story of a deranged German surgeon who kidnaps three tourists and joins them surgically, mouth to anus, forming a "human centipede". It stars Dieter Laser as the creator of the centipede, Josef Heiter, with Ashley C. Williams, Ashlynn Yennie and Akihiro Kitamura as his victims. According to Six, the concept arose from a joke he made with friends about punishing a child molester by stitching his mouth to the anus of a "fat truck driver". Inspiration also came from Nazi medical experiments carried out during World War II, such as the crimes of Josef Mengele at the Auschwitz concentration camp.

When approaching investors prior to filming, Six did not mention the mouth-to-anus aspect of the plot, fearing it would put off potential backers. Financiers did not discover the full nature of the film until completion. The film received generally mixed reviews from film critics, but it won several accolades at international film festivals. The film received a limited theatrical release in the United States on 30 April 2010. Two sequels, titled Full Sequence and Final Sequence, also written and directed by Six, were released in 2011 and 2015, respectively. A graphic novel based on the film has been produced and is awaiting release.

Plot

Lindsay (Ashley C. Williams) and Jenny (Ashlynn Yennie), two American tourists in Germany, are drugged and kidnapped by crazed surgeon Dr. Josef Heiter (Dieter Laser) when they seek help after their car breaks down. The women awake in a makeshift medical ward. They witness Heiter kill a kidnapped truck driver (Rene de Wit) after Heiter informs him his tissue samples do not match with the two tourist's. When the women wake up a second time, Heiter has secured a new male captive, Japanese tourist Katsuro (Akihiro Kitamura). The doctor explains that he is a world-renowned expert at separating conjoined twins, but dreams of making new creatures by sewing people together. He describes in detail how he will surgically connect his three victims mouth-to-anus, so that they share a single digestive system. After Lindsay fails in an attempt to escape, Heiter explains to Lindsay that he had previously experimented with creating a 3Dog, also joined mouth-to-anus. The 3Dog, however, eventually died after the surgery. Heiter tells Lindsay that the middle dog of his creation experienced the most pain, and as a punishment for her escape attempt she will become the middle part of his centipede. Heiter performs the surgery on his victims, placing Katsuro at the front, Lindsay in the middle and Jenny at the rear.

Once the operation is complete, the doctor tries to train his centipede as a pet. During one such session, Heiter watches with great delight as Lindsay is forced to swallow Katsuro's excrement. However, he eventually becomes irritated after being kept awake by the constant screaming of his victims and the realisation that Jenny is dying from blood poisoning. When two detectives, Kranz (Andreas Leupold) and Voller (Peter Blankenstein), visit the house to investigate the disappearance of tourists, Heiter decides to add them to his centipede as replacements for Jenny. Heiter fails in an attempt to drug the detectives, and they leave the house to obtain a search warrant. The victims attempt to escape from the ward, crawling up the stairs, and Katsuro attacks Heiter. Their attempt to escape ultimately fails. Katsuro confesses to the doctor, in Japanese, that he deserves his fate because he had treated his family poorly. Katsuro then commits suicide by slitting his own throat with a piece of glass. The detectives return to the house and conduct separate searches, as Heiter hides near his swimming pool. Kranz finds the makeshift ward and then hears a gunshot. He discovers Heiter's victims before finding Voller dead in the swimming pool. Heiter shoots Kranz in the stomach, and Kranz responds by shooting Heiter in the head. Kranz then falls in the pool, dead. Back in the house, Jenny and Lindsay hold hands as Jenny dies from her infection. Lindsay is left alone in the house, trapped between her deceased fellow captives.

Cast

• Dieter Laser as Josef Heiter
• Ashley C. Williams as Lindsay
• Ashlynn Yennie as Jenny
• Akihiro Kitamura as Katsuro
• Andreas Leupold as Detective Kranz
• Peter Blankenstein as Detective Voller

Production

Concept

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.  Six then took a picture of his girlfriend on her hands and knees and photoshopped three people connected mouth-to-anus.  Six thought that the three-person creation resembled a centipede, and came up with the term “human centipede”. As Six began developing the idea for a body horror film, Six drew inspiration from Japanese horror films, as well as the works of David Cronenberg and, most pertinently, the controversial film Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom. Six wanted to make a film that induced a reaction from the audience, rather than a forgettable one.

It was important to Six that the idea of the human centipede be medically accurate.  Six went to a Dutch surgeon who was initially repulsed by the concept, but eventually agreed to consult Six under the condition of anonymity.  The surgeon created a detailed operation report and came to the conclusion that the concept of a human centipede would be medically accurate, so long as the participants received routine injections of key nutrients.

When seeking funding for the film, Six simply stated that they were making an international horror film and left out the general centipede concept.  It wasn’t until the film was complete that they found out what they had funded, although Six claimed that they were very happy with the finished film.

Writing

Six intended for the first half of the film to include many horror clichés, including a broken-down car, lack of phone signal, and very naïve victims.  Six did this in an attempt to lull audiences into thinking they were watching a conventional horror film, therefore making Dr. Heiter’s treatment of his victims more shocking.

Six has stated that The Human Centipede is, to an extent, a reflection on fascism.  This played a role in the nationality of the main characters, with the two girls being American, the head of the centipede being Japanese (and therefore creating a language barrier), and the doctor being German.  Nazi medical experiments served as an experiment for Josef Heiter, with his name being a combination of Josef Mengele, and Nazi doctors Heim and Richter.  Six also personally has a fear of hospitals and doctors, so he stretched out the scene where Heiter explains how he will create the centipede.

Casting

Searching for a German doctor, Six became impressed by Dieter Laser and his detailed history as a performer.  Six and Laser met at a Berlin hotel and Six explained every scene in detail.  Laser was so impressed with Six's passion and dedication that he agreed to do the part.  A week after their discussion though, Laser began having second thoughts, but had his excitement for the role restored when he read the script. According to Laser, "discovered the deeper layers of Tom’s script: to expose anal-retentive Nazi doctors to ridicule. I had found my narrative key for the character."

Six flew to New York to cast the two American characters, Lindsay and Jenny.  During the casting call, because he knew the mouth-to-anus aspect of the film would repel many actresses, the call stated that the roles were for a controversial European horror film.  By this time, while no script had been completed, a storyboard and a sketch of how the human centipede would be formed.  When Six showed his drawing for the human centipede concept, nearly 70 actresses stormed out, declaring it pornographic.  Several more actresses left after being asked to go on their hands and knees.  Only a few actresses remained.

Ashley C. Williams was cast first and was given the choice of roles between Lindsay and Jenny.  Williams chose Lindsay as she thought it was the more prominent part.  A woman named Christina Calph was offered the role of Jenny, but had doubts about the production’s legitimacy.  Calph ultimately declined the offer and Ashlynn Yennie was subsequently cast. For casting Katsuro, according to Akihiro Kitamura, an older actor was originally cast but got injured. In need to replace this actor quickly, Kitamura did a Skype audition with Six. He flew to Amsterdam a week later.

Filming

The Human Centipede was filmed in the Netherlands, due to the geographical similarities to Germany.  Six wanted the first half of the film to be shot chronologically so the actresses would have an easier time tapping into their characters psychological journey.

Laser remained in character as Heiter throughout the filming process, often shouting at the rest of the cast on set, and wherever possible staying away from the other actors and crew between scenes to preserve a level of separation. According to Six, "Dieter really is a Method actor, so he just is that character all the time, and the other actors were a little bit afraid of him sometimes. I’d say, 'It’s all play and it’s all fake,' but he has such a strong personality and his face is really mean, so I can imagine the actors felt like the situation was real sometimes."

Heiter's villa in the story is in the middle of the woods, but the house they shot at was in a suburban neighborhood with houses nearby. During the centipede scenes, neighbors looked out their windows horrified at what was going on. According to Six, the moment he knew The Human Centipede would be a success was during the "Feed her!" scene. According to Williams, Yennie, and Kitamura, the most difficult scene to film was when the centipede was climbing the stairs.

Six claims that the jacket Heiter wore, which was bought by Laser, was a genuine jacket worn by real Nazi doctors. Laser was also happy for the other actors in The Human Centipedeto add their own ideas to the film. For example, when Heiter is explaining his procedure to his victims, Katsuro's dialogue was improvised, which pleased Laser. During filming Laser accidentally kicked Kitamura, leading to a fight on set between the actors. The incident contributed to the tension and anger throughout the scene they were filming, in which Heiter sits at his dining table eating while the centipede eats dog food from the floor alongside him. Laser also unintentionally hurt Williams during the scene where Heiter roughly grabs and injects Lindsay, which caused a pause in shooting.

Release

The Human Centipede during the fall of 2009 at several film festivals. From there, the film began generating a significant amount of anticipation and notoriety.

According to Yennie regarding the trailer's release, "that’s when this onslaught of crazy people were emailing and Facebooking and Twitter messaging Ashley, Aki, and I. Crazy stuff. Not threatening stuff, just, “How could you be in this film? What were you thinking?” I was like, “Well, obviously, IFC made a great trailer if it’s affecting people this much.”

The Human Centipede was released theatrically on 30 April 2010, and was soon released onto VOD.

Reception

Critical

The Human Centipede (First Sequence) received mixed reviews from film critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes surveyed that 49% of the 91 reviews listed were positive. The critics consensus reads "Grotesque, visceral and hard to (ahem) swallow, this surgical horror doesn't quite earn its stripes because the gross-outs overwhelm and devalue everything else." The film received a Metacritic rating of 33, indicating generally unfavourable reviews from 15 critics.

R.L. Shaffer of IGN gave the film a 7/10 rating, remarking "For obvious reasons, The Human Centipede won't be everyone's cup of tea, but if you're willing to sit through the film's gory moments, and delve deeper into the narrative, there's something genuinely enthralling about this shocker. But don't say I didn't warn you -- things get pretty sick." Roger Ebert refused to give the film a star rating, because "The star rating system is unsuited to this film. Is the movie good? Is it bad? Does it matter? It is what it is and occupies a world where the stars don't shine." Ebert also called the film "Depraved and disgusting enough to satisfy the most demanding midnight movie fan."

Michael Ordoña of The Los Angeles Times protested that "There are terrible movies and there are loathsome movies. And then there's that rare breed so idiotic, exploitative and sickening one wishes they could be scrubbed from memory." Kim Newman of Empire Magazine observed "With dark humour from time to time, underneath an extremely repulsive concept, this is a relatively conventional horror movie." Peter Travers of The Rolling Stone criticised First Sequence, believing "This horror show from Dutch director Tom Six will be heaven for devotees of four-star torture porn and zero-star hell for everyone else."

Filmmaker Eli Roth, known for films such as Cabin Fever and Hostel, stated that while watching First Sequence, he "Honestly got sick, and that's the highest compliment I can give a horror film."

Sequel

Main article: The Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence)