First grotesque anal grafted stills for Tom Six's HUMAN CENTIPEDE (Fright Fest 2009 thread)

Anybody seeing anything at this year's Fright Fest? Human Centipede sounds nutty as fuck.

There's also Dario Argento's latest 'Giallo' amongst other things. I'm going in blind, pretty much. Most of these are totally unknown to me.

http://www.frightfest.co.uk/

1.45 PM - SUNDAY 30TH - HUMAN CENTIPEDE (FIRST SEQUENCE) (18) Directed by Tom Six. Starring Dieter Laser, Ashley C. Williams, Ashlyn Yennie and Akihiro Kitamura. UK/Holland, 2009, 92 minutes.

WORLD PREMIERE - Outside the more outré work of Takashi Miike and David Cronenberg, you won’t have seen anything quite like Dutch avant-garde artist Tom Six’ totally bizarre off-the-wall oddity. Internationally respected Siamese twin surgeon Dr. Josef Heiter has a demented vision for mankind’s future existence. He wants to remove human beings’ kneecaps so they have to exist on all fours and then surgically graft them mouth-to-anus to form a centipede chain. When two stranded female Americans arrive at his luxury home-cum-hospital looking for help, his long-gestating plan swiftly moves into chilling action with a shocking force. Kidnapping a third Japanese male tourist he begins the tissue matches, teeth removal and buttock moulding to create his triplet creature… The First Sequence in Six’s intended double feature truly unforgettable imagery, clinically dazzling direction and a so-far-round-the-bend mad doctor performance from German superstar Dieter Laser you’ll scream. Behold the grotesque New Flesh. If you dare!

I saw quite a few of these at Fantasia (this year and last year).

See: Best Worst Movie, I Think We're Alone Now, Pontypool, House of the Devil.

Avoid: The Horseman, I Sell the Dead, Smash Cut, Dread.

Pontypool is great.

Yeah, easily Bruce MacDonald's best since Hard Core Logo.

http://www.dreadcentral.com/img/news/jul09/cent3.jpg

Now, that's one for the 'up the arse' thread.

Wondering if the film can possibly live up to the concept.

Usually things like that don't. See also: Bad Biology.

Ned, what is that still from?

I'm guessing that's a Human Centipede still right there.

That makes sense. Thank you.

Pontypol looks very interesting.

I really don't understand movies like this at all.

Oh you have a better vision for mankind's future existence, Dan? Well come on let's hear it!

Always easier to tear down a mad doctor's ideas than it is to come up with a better idea, isn't it?

In all seriousness I gotta wonder how this script got pitched to the actors involved. "Yeah so for the better part of the film your mouth is going to be 'surgically attached' to Leslie's anus (don't worry we'll put a pad there or something) and Jim's mouth will be attached to your anus. Great concept, right? Obv you won't have a lot of dialogue for that part of the movie."

It was probably pitched like this: "Here's the money, upfront and in 20s as requested."

The lead in this was pretty incredible imo.

by lead do you mean the head of the centipede

lol

this trailer literally gave my gf nightmares.

from fourfour's (negative) review, the only reason i'm thinking about seeing this:

Said house owner, Dr. Heiter, is as over-the-top as Freddy Krueger on his mugging-est, most one-liner filled day. Before the roofies with which he spikes the girls drinks kick in (he makes sure to point out that he's given them "the rape drug," just in case the sexual violence of this all needs reinforcing), he hisses at them, "I don't like human beings." When he gets to the part of the explanation of his experiment in which he unveils its name, he spits it out with the kind of grandeur that can only accompany an actor stating the title of the movie that he's appearing in. After the surgery, he bellows, "I did it. Ha! Ha! Ha!" Literally, he does it like that, with each "Ha!" distinct and pronounced.

though i'm not sure why most other things i've read about the film are solemn if the guy actually yells out THE HUUUMAN CENTIPEDE!!!

god just watched the trailer and this looks like it could be the latest from tommy wiseau or something

haha, OK, they talked about this on Charlie Brooker this week and, just...NO. Though Wiki suggests there's a whole trilogy planned, which is all kinds of incredible.

trilogy?! the gf will love that! i can see the next two movies now: *Human Millipede* followed by *Human OMG A Bunch of People Randomly Sewn Together*

goodness gracious, sakes alive!

haha, OK, they talked about this on Charlie Brooker this week and, just...NO. Though Wiki suggests there's a whole trilogy planned, which is all kinds of incredible.
― ailsa, Monday, May 3, 2010 12:06 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

presumably the three films in the trilogy will be released in a boxed set with one slipcase sewn to the other from end to end

OK I really really want to watch this on On Demand tonight but I'm scared to watch it alone! eek.

ever since i saw you fb post on this, I've been disturbed

I can't help it - I'm intrigued. I think I'm just going to go ahead and do it even though it might mean I don't sleep for a week.

i've actuallt spent a fair amount of time trying to figure out WHY i find this so disturbing.

i've never been disturbed by any horror movie or whatever

Yeah me neither but even just the idea of it. IDK. Maybe the reality won't be as bad. I'm gonna start this mother up in about five mins. Will report back.

it's because the whole premise is about shit eating and the consequences thereof. it's brutal.

i mean, that knowledge is really about as bad as it gets. it's not a graphic film, really, a few shots aside.

good luck enbb

^^

The star of this film is named Dieter Laser.

Dieter Laser was THERE when i went to see the movie! He was good, imo, but i know nothing about film or acting.

Well, shit.

Literally?

Well yes - there was some of that involved. Ian was right - the lead was very good. Other than that I think I need to think about this for a bit before coming up with any other opinions. I did, however, make it through without shielding my eyes even once although I did squint a lot.

those poor centipede segments imo ;_;

yeah ;_;

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_EaV221bYaso/Sr_-0ZMxygI/AAAAAAAACmQ/DnnVRsPGrVg/s400/Human-Centipede-poster.jpg

100% MEDICALLY ACCURATE

it's because the whole premise is about shit eating and the consequences thereof

― ian, Tuesday, May 4, 2010 10:50 PM

so its about malnutrition

Super Shit Me

has anyone photoshopped a butt in front of morgan spurlock's face yet?

The last series of UK Big Brother goes out with a bang...

***SPOILER***

malnutrition fits into the plot, yes.

****END SPOILER****

Super Shit Me

― da croupier, Wednesday, May 5, 2010 11:13 AM

lol

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l1yddngvvD1qzpiyuo1_500.jpg

i had to do it

I don't think you need to directly and fully experience every film, event, Fair and Balanced News Channel, etc. in order to form an opinion about it. It's fine to read about something before forming a general opinion about it. It's totally reasonable to have problems with HC2 and A Serbian Film without seeing them. If you write a review of or form an activist group against HC2, you might want to further inform your opinion with a screening.

Aye. I'm not advocating censorship. If you want to put a brutal rape in your movie, go ahead. I'm not even judging other people who want to see such a movie (although I would probably judge (or at least studiously avoid) a person who listed ASF as his favorite movie ever). I'm just saying there's no problem in saying "These brutal rape scenes make this movie irredeemable and therefore I shan't be watching it."

this is I Spit On Your Grave all over again

Eric Snider has a good review of this:
http://www.ericdsnider.com/movies/the-human-centipede-2/

Does the devoted "Human Centipede" fan depicted here -- a grunting, porcine loser who lives with his mother -- represent Six's view of the average "Human Centipede" fan? It would seem so. But if Six's goal is to make the people who enjoyed "Human Centipede" do some soul-searching, he has overlooked a crucial point, which is that nobody enjoyed "Human Centipede."

nah. haven't seen the FIRST SEQUENCE myself but I have plenty of friends into horror that dug it.

ok guys - don't see this. trust me. you won't like it.

bad, gross or both?

It's pretty campy.

it's both. kinda funny too, but the new villian is nowhere near as fun as the German doctor was. it just tries to be as gross and hard to watch as possible - you know how movies like Reservoir Dogs have the ear-cutting scene, or how Oldboy has the tooth-removal-with-the-back-end-of-a-hammer scene? well, this movie is just those kind of scenes over and over again. i dunno if this is gonna be a spoiler, but there is a pregnant woman involved, and I was legitimately surprised that they did not do the grossest thing possible (have her give birth into someone's mouth), as this is generally the route the movie seems to take. (of course the baby's eventual fate is pretty gross too)

not sure how a baby-to-mouth would really work?

that would have been the least of this movie's problems

(have her give birth into someone's mouth)

frogbs, I very much appreciate you taking a massive hit on our behalf and giving us all an impression of this film, and I'm genuinely not criticising you or your prose in any way, really I'm just highlighting the fact that when I wake up and sit down with a bowl of yoghurt and berries, the very first internet page I open should not be this one

having said that I want that quote to be my display name for like a month

How is babby eaten?

(sorry)

my bad. i don't want to seem disappointed. it's just that this movie had the chance to go one level of grossness above and beyond anything that has ever been seen in a film before. even moreso than A Serbian Film. you kind of expect the ending to be "what do you call it? The Aristocrats!"

hey guess whose mailbox human centipede 2 just showed up in?

will report back once i get around to it.

you should make yourself a big bowl of chocolate pudding to eat while you watch this

bowel

Take a large amount of LSD before watching this.

cuddlefish and asparagus imo

LSD + chitterlings/tripe

so im not going to lie, i wanted to be able to come back with a challopsy view of this film and its merits, but i cant do it because this thing is just wretched. and not for any sort of went too far vibe or anything like that - its a plotless mess with a terrible script, full of cringeworthy half-assed psychology and humor that falls flat because basically tom six is a pretty inept dude. there are points where you can see a little talent in the shots chosen, but on most levels its a high-budget version of straight to video monstrosities, and all in all comes in as a semi-mainstream released toe tag pictures august underground ripoff. which no one needed. the only thing thats even slightly redemptive is that six seems to have an uncanny skill as a casting director for villains (certainly not for anyone else) because bad person martin is almost as riveting to look at on screen as dr. heiter was in the first film (and to be fair this is where the almost competent shots occur, every moment he is on screen oozes unpleasantness even when its just a close shot on his face).

its also sloooooow in many spots, probably too slow to even really appeal to the hardcore gorehound dudes (although hey, if you measure it purely on capable mutilation shots, its probably working at a pretty high level, but thats not my bag so who gives a shit). still not willing to drop it into the "torture porn" category, because this is def its own weird subset of terrible, and calling it torture porn is just reinforcing all of the irritating prejorative misuse that goes along with that grouping. lets just call it a terrible terrible movie and leave it at that.

is there ever a context in which you would call a movie "torture porn"

nope.

my point here tho is that since the term exists, this would be one of the things that people will use to further dismiss other better films that they classify in the same category.

"27 Dresses" is a terrible romantic comedy; that doesn't somehow make it NOT a romantic comedy!

i will totally agree to call HC2 a horror movie, even an extreme horror or goregrind movie. but im not going to call it torture porn as long as that term is thrown around as an empty negative signifier to slight other better films.

bumped the horror why do we dont we like it thread to keep from derailing this thread further

watched it last night. like jjj, i didn't much care for it. where the first movie allowed encouraged the viewer to identify with dr. heiter's victims, this film has no interest in any of its characters other than martin, the deranged and seemingly brain damaged villain. martin's many victims are, for the most part, mere bodies. we know nothing about them and spend time with them only as mute and helpless torture subjects. we cringe at the abuse they suffer, but that's about it. the film's exclusive focus on martin, the subject of almost every shot that isn't from his POV, robs the human centipede 2 of any real suspense. we're no longer trapped down there in the basement with mad doctor's victims, hoping for the best but dreading the worst. instead, we're watching from over martin's shoulder, wondering how bad it's going to get. and it gets pretty horrible.

laurence r. harvey, who plays martin, is the film's biggest asset and its weakest link. he's a riveting grotesque, but the character he portrays is so pathetic and one-dimensional that he quickly becomes tiresome. he sweats, he frets, he rolls his veiny, boiled-egg popeyes around while emitting a mewling sound. that's about it. for an hour and a half. he's like the eraserhead baby as a grown up, murderous pervert, and his capacity to fascinate is as limited as you might imagine.

in terms of overall narrative arc and general tone, this film isn't too far removed from its predecessor. it starts out as a black-hearted, deeply grotesque horror comedy before diving at the halfway point into crushingly bleak & dismal, full-on torture porn. and yeah, that's a perfectly fair description of what's going on here, imo. it's a good deal more graphic than the human centipede, reveling in the shit and gore the first film only implied, but it's never anywhere near as credible as its predecessor, so the emotional impact of all the onscreen offal is minimal. it's simply sickening, but undeniably effective on that score.

i will say that it's a somewhat interesting and clever film, especially given its final shot, which makes sense of what might otherwise seem like a fragmentary and unbelievable storyline.

also, i thought it was well cast throughout. martin's amazing, but the mother, the upstairs neighbor and the psychiatrist were all pretty memorable characters.

brilliant reviews jjj and contenderizer, cheers

btw wikipedia now recounts the entire plot, including tim sox's vision for the third film:

So with Centipede 3, are you able to share any details of it with us now? Or are going to keep that under your hat for the time being?

SIX: Maybe a little bit. Again, it will start with the ending of part two. So in the end, you will have one continuous film of about four and a half hours long– like a centipede that can be connected.

all centipedes are four and a half hours long iirc

It's like poetry, it rhymes...

you people, watching these films, acting as though torture porn isn't a thing, society in the gutter, etc

I remember when you could kick someone's balls in the street...

looks like the third movie hit a snag:

Making a Human Centipede is a collaborative effort, one that requires everyone to join together in openness and work in tandem, so that the nugget of the film can be properly worked over and processed before it’s released. Unfortunately, when one element jams, the whole thing can back up and explode, creating a disgusting, splattering mess—exactly what’s happening with The Human Centipede 3, where one of its principals apparently found something in it that he couldn’t swallow, resulting in a torrent of shit spraying all across the Internet.

It all began on Tom Six’s Twitter feed, where the director—with typical restraint—deployed an all-caps missive announcing the “BREAKING” news and/or meta-narrative-building publicity stunt that his production company would be suing Dieter Laser, the film’s ostensible star (and early-’80s synth-pop trio) best known for playing the guy in the first Human Centipede who didn’t have his mouth sewn to an anus, or vice versa. According to Six, Laser had signed on to rejoin the franchise with The Human Centipede 3 (Final Sequence), and while his new role was unspecified, whatever it was, Laser apparently didn’t feel it measured up to the standard set by the original film—this despite the fact that Human Centipede 3 reportedly features 500 people sewn ass-to-mouth, and is therefore mathematically 166.667 times better than the first Human Centipede. Nevertheless, a dissatisfied Laser apparently requested numerous script changes that clashed with Six’s vision, leading to him breaking his contract—or, to put it in the words of Six’s producer sister, Ilona:

Because of the success of The Human Centipede, it seems that Mr Dieter Laser’s ego has grown to laughably big proportions. First signing the contract and rating the THC3 script as fantastic, and then demanding his own unacceptable script changes, and now refusing to play the part only seven weeks prior to shooting. Six Entertainment Company will start legal action against Dieter Laser. Tom Six says not to worry — principal photography will be postponed and will take place later this year.

Indeed, don’t worry. But Laser, however, responded with his own, differing take on the situation, saying it was not so much a question of ego, but rather a demand for artistic integrity in his defecation daisy chains:

It’s very simple: I loved the story when it was told, got the contract and the promise to have the script in 4 to 6 weeks. When it arrived — half a year later and only after the official announcement — I didn’t like the realization at all, couldn’t identify with the character the way it was written and developed immediately and enthusiastically in a day and night marathon a version full of concrete and practical suggestions which would enable me to play the lead full throttle — same procedure as with Dr. Heiter — but this time it also would have had some unavoidable effects to the dramatic structure. That was too much for Tom and since he couldn’t live with my suggestions and I as a method actor couldn’t identify with his version, I told him that I couldn’t see any other way than that he would have to ‘change horses’. That’s it.

And true, while changing horses mid-Centipede is never advised, it’s still better to find a willing partner to pass your ideas to, rather than forcing them to choke down what you’re producing. After all, if your actors can’t identify the why of watching 500 people chewing each other’s feces—if they can’t locate the “human” in Human Centipede, as it were—then what’s the point in putting it all together? [via The Playlist]

sounds like a publicity stunt, but who knows

who cares

while changing horses mid-Centipede

<3 dieter laser

http://www.paintfartsbytomsix.com/gallery-1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Human_Centipede_3_(Final_Sequence)

The movie will contain a centipede of over 500 people.

lol

I'm in

starting a porn star for a reason i probably don't need to know

starring

Either way.

oh no oh god

On 29 May 2013, a press release confirmed that Eric Roberts had been cast in the film, although the previous press release stated that the film would star an American celebrity.[3]

ouch

Nope nope nope

GF still has nightmares about the baby getting its skull crushed by the accelerator pedal in 2.

doubt i have anything to add that hasnt been said already, but finally saw the first HC film, and just found it kind of repellant (not sure when i last felt angry at a film like this).

funny reading the british reviews of the film, which are mostly all sniffy or typically trying to take the moral high ground and say that its either just not scary, shocking, or juvenile, which i think isnt actually true, because it is actually very powerful, just in a totally debased, awful, nihilistic way. makes me feel sullied like when i (stupidly) chose to watch a serbian film.

i kept trying to find logic to heiter's mad surgical idea, or thinking of better ways for him to achieve his great triplet idea, but after trying for an hour, i realised there was none (similarly, maybe i missed a bit but how did he call for the car company to come and rescue the girls without them giving him the number?). the worst aspect i think was maybe just that the ending made it a total tragedy.

on the plus side, its made quite well, surprisingly clinical in framing, the actor who played heiter was chillingly good, and even though some people told me its funny (which i can almost see, if you find the idea of shitting in peoples mouths amusing), its played too earnestly for me to really see the humour. urgh. weirdly though, after a night to think about it, i am wondering what the sequel could be like.