| Author | Message | ||
     Weber (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.55 |
Has anyone got any information about this film. I've been advised not to google it from work, which leaves me a bit stuck for research purposes | ||
| Frank (Frank) Username: Frank Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 85.222.86.72 |
Yes. Mad surgeon makes a human centipede of three unlucky tourists travelling through Germany. Literally. Mouth to anus. That's it. | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.4.253.239 |
Mad, or... imaginative?... | ||
| Tom_alaerts (Tom_alaerts) Username: Tom_alaerts Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.247.191.25 |
My friend saw it on a local festival. He found it boring and dumb. It's perhaps original, but so is running naked in the street with a green wig: not necessarily a good idea. | ||
| Frank (Frank) Username: Frank Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 85.222.86.72 |
Tom - saw the trailer and thought...no thank you. Comedy genius it might be, but I suspect not. One for the SFX drones at Fangoria. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.240.106 |
yeah, I've been told that once ypu get over the "Oh-my-God" factor of the concept, the film is pretty dull. | ||
| Richard_gavin (Richard_gavin) Username: Richard_gavin Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 65.110.174.71 |
I'm with y'all. I like all kinds of Horror films, but I'll be passing on this one. Somehow I think I'll manage to lead a full life without donating 90 minutes of it to this Id-fest. I would dismiss the film as "bottom-feeding" but I suppose that could be considered a spoiler just as easily as a criticism. Ahem... | ||
| Mark West (Mark_west) Username: Mark_west Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.39.177.173 |
Saw the trailer at the weekend - it all looked very glossy - but it just seems pointless. As Gary said, once you get over the idea, what else do you do (and I read the precis on Wikipedia too and if you have an ounce of sense, you'll guess the shock-twist ending))? More worrying, there's another in the pipeline (so to speak). | ||
| Jonathan (Jonathan) Username: Jonathan Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.143.178.131 |
It just looks fairly vile. Pointless, souless torture porn. This kind of shit continues to stink up the genre. | ||
| Mark West (Mark_west) Username: Mark_west Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.39.177.173 |
Absolutely, Jonathan and the fact that it looks glossy and well put together makes it worse somehow - you get the idea that people put a lot of effort into this and, really, to what end? | ||
| Jonathan (Jonathan) Username: Jonathan Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.143.178.131 |
Tell you what was a surprise though. I reluctantly watched Martyrs, thinking that it may be utterly vile and while it's a thoroughly brutal and unpleasant film it's also a very powerful movie. Not easy watching but so worth it. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.37.199.45 |
Yes, Martyrs is far more serious and imaginative than you'd think from the first half-hour. Just as I thought it was coming to an end, it changed gear and then just got more and more weird. But also compassionate in a strange way. Like a collaboration between Clive Barker and Amnesty International. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 129.11.77.197 |
Rare for Joel to offer Barker a charitable assessment. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.166.117.210 |
Martyrs is brilliant. One of the most suprisng films I've seen in a long time. Pretty tugh to watch in parts, but well worth the effort. | ||
| Karim Ghahwagi (Karim) Username: Karim Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 193.89.189.24 |
Martyrs was a devastating film. It was one of the most powerful films I saw last year, if not the decade, easily. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.37.199.45 |
Gary, I've never condemned Clive Barker. I just feel he's absurdly overrated, and credited with inventing a lot of stuff that he merely commercialised. It's like kids in the 1980s raving about Ultravox or Visage because they'd never heard Bowie. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
Clive Barker took nauseating physical horror, unashamedly explicit sex, high concept supernatural fantasy and outrageous dark humour and formed a style of genre fiction I, for one, had never encountered before (in the 1980s) and found instantly revitalising. If that was Ultravox who the hell was Bowie?!?!... because I dearly want to know. | ||
| Jonathan (Jonathan) Username: Jonathan Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.143.178.131 |
I'm totally with Joel on Barker. I like some of his stuff, but he does seem to be praised out of all proportion. Some of the later efforts are just dire and most of the films are terrible. Midnight Meat Train was very poor in my opinion. Also, I sometimes feel like Barker is going for the cheap shock in order to be 'edgy.' I only got 10 pages into Cabal before I gave up. The sex scenes were so embarrassing. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
Have to disagree... I think he's a genuine visionary and very funny with it. | ||
| Jonathan (Jonathan) Username: Jonathan Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.143.178.131 |
Not my cup of tea I'm afraid, but he's a nice guy and I enjoyed the interview I saw with him at Fantasycon. | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.4.255.8 |
I'm siding with Stevie on this one - at least early Barker, which I read, but as soon as I sensed him slipping into decadence, I never read another word. But his early stuff was indeed, for horror, "revitalizing" and visionary. Hell, he burst on the scene here in the States with his three "Books of Blood," collections of short stories, highly praised and heavily marketed, right out of the gate - no one had ever even heard of him before - when's the last time THAT happened?!? | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.166.117.210 |
I'll always have a huge love of Barker's early work, but I do agree that he's slightly overrated. He didn't invent this stuff, but he did possess the magic element that made it roar out of its niche and into the public consciousness. The Books of Blood were great, just great. | ||
| Tom_alaerts (Tom_alaerts) Username: Tom_alaerts Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.240.93.147 |
(at least) one of CB's stories is truly unique, and a personal favourite: "In the hills, the cities". | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.37.199.45 |
That's a good story, and it doesn't really matter that its core idea is taken from a Clark Ashton Smith story. Reading the Books of Blood is like watching a Madonna video from the same era: you recognise every element, and you either find the collage technique daringly postmodern or you don't. Where from? Tom Reamy, Theodore Sturgeon, Harlan Ellison, Fritz Leiber, Richard Matheson, Ray Bradbury, Ramsey Campbell, the Pan Book of Horror Stories, Hammer films, zombie movies... | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.31.239.78 |
Joel, shame on you. You missed my pun. Charitable . . . Amnesty . . . | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 82.17.252.126 |
Tom Reamy... another new name to check out!  | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.4.229.227 |
Well, "The Hellbound Heart" is a blatant rip-off of the Polish film POSSESSION... as I've stated... hmmm... I hope Joel isn't on to something.... | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.110.198.158 |
I don't mean to suggest Barker is guilty of plagiarism as such, just that his approach is essentially a patchwork of influences in which lots of familiar narrative elements are given a stylish makeover. Doesn't make him a bad writer, just rather less than a great one. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.110.198.158 |
Stevie, I'd recommend Tom Reamy's collection San Diego Lightfoot Sue. | ||
| Karim Ghahwagi (Karim) Username: Karim Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 193.89.189.24 |
I think Barker is one of the great imaginers of our time, and there is a talent there too I feel, to be able to draw on all sorts of previous masters and reimagine them for a new age. But I also think that Joel has a point as regards to the sometimes thin line between producing a homage as it were, to simply stylishly rehashing previous work etc. (But this is not something new, and I don't know if this is particular to the horror genre for example) Barker's contribution to painting in the last decade, and his children's fantasy Abarat might be his greatest achievement though, atleast thus far. He finally delivered 'Black is the Devil's Rainbow' his 200K+ new collection of short and novella length fiction from the past decade (this May), and I can't bloody wait! | ||
| Karim Ghahwagi (Karim) Username: Karim Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 193.89.189.24 |
And to get back to the film in the this thread WTF!? is this? | ||
| Gcw (Gcw) Username: Gcw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.153.237.52 |
Hi all, I've often mentioned before...I love & support writers & musicians who deliver ther goods but to me Barker went from superb to crap during the 90's. He cost me a fortune in weighty hardbacks after the excellent Imajica before I finally gave up after the tedious Coldheart Canyon. Same with Neil Young...used to love him but nowadays he just bores the pants off me, and Crazy Horse are just crap basic not genius basic like say, The Stooges. Watch me writers...I can turn I tell you! gcw | ||
| Karim Ghahwagi (Karim) Username: Karim Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 193.89.189.24 |
Oh no! Not Neil Young as well! | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.31.239.78 |
>>>I don't mean to suggest Barker is guilty of plagiarism as such, just that his approach is essentially a patchwork of influences in which lots of familiar narrative elements are given a stylish makeover. Doesn't make him a bad writer, just rather less than a great one. Appropriation is certainly a postmodern phenomenon. What Joel's saying of Barker could be said of Stephen King (and has been - by Don Herron). Maybe it's true of more writers than we like to think. I suppose the question is to what degree the author can transcend this 'patchwork of influences' and offer something more than the sum of their parts. I'd certainly say King does: richness of character, depiction of community, etc. Never been quite so sure about Barker. | ||
| Gcw (Gcw) Username: Gcw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.153.237.52 |
Have you read Under the Dome yet Gary? Typical King like pulling a favourite jumper on..Not a bad thing I reckon. It's funny, but all the right-ups suggested That Under The Dome was a 'Stand' like epic, but it's actually quite a small story based on a very simple premise. gcw | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.166.117.210 |
I'm taking Under the Dome on holiday with me, GCW. It seems a perfect holiday read, when I can spend some quality time with the book. I loved Barker's early stuff but a lot of his recent stuff leaves me cold - I couldn't get past the first few pages of Mr. B. Gone. | ||
| Gcw (Gcw) Username: Gcw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.153.237.52 |
Hows the house move going Zed? - gcw | ||
| Mark West (Mark_west) Username: Mark_west Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.39.177.173 |
Haven't read "Under The Dome" as yet, waiting for the paperback so that I don't strain anything lifting it! Loved early Barker - "Books Of Blood", "Damnation Game" and "Weaveworld", then drifted away but tried again with "Coldheart Canyon". That was very dreary and I had to force myself to finish it, unfortunately. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.166.117.210 |
6 weeks to go, mate. In the meantime, I've manged to get rid of most of our furniture and the missus has packed 90% of my books (she had to take a week off work to do it). | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
Every horror writer who has ever lived started off trying to emulate their influences and to single Clive Barker out just because of the amount of success he had is grossly unfair imho. Who was it said that when starting out as a writer don't be afraid to imitate your influences and your own style will reveal itself as you progress. Clive Barker did more than imitate, he blew them out of the water with his freshness of approach, and takes stick because, as he developed, his works veered more toward epic adult fantasy than the visceral horror so many of us fell in love with him over in the 80s. I see his career as a model of how to succeed on every level as a writer of weird fiction - creating great art with a unique vision and making a pile of dough at the same time. I consider him a better writer than even Stephen King in that regard. 'Mister B. Gone' was hilarious and I too can't wait for that story collection!! | ||
| Gcw (Gcw) Username: Gcw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.153.237.52 |
I had no problem with Clive Barker diversifying into Fantasy Stevie, indeed I loved Weaveworld & Imajica...But something started to go wrong after these books...They just seemed to lack bite and certainly many of them were too long in my ol'humble opinion.. gcw | ||
| Mark_samuels (Mark_samuels) Username: Mark_samuels Registered: 04-2010 Posted From: 86.142.169.99 |
The SF author Richard Lupoff once said about me that I could well be the next Clive Barker. What a terrifying thought!  Watch out for the stretch limo and bodyguards at my next (whenever that might be, if indeed ever,) Fantasycon appearance. Mark S. | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.122.209.76 |
I'll be interested to see how your trouser fashion sense develops, Mark | ||
| Mark_samuels (Mark_samuels) Username: Mark_samuels Registered: 04-2010 Posted From: 86.142.169.99 |
Anything but jeans! I'd rather wear pyjama bottoms in public. Mark S. | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.122.209.76 |
Good man! My thoughts exactly! | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.166.117.210 |
Going back to Barker, his Books of Blood took themes and ideas and imagery others had invented and stuck it right into a British working class milieu. He made it relevant to modern life - much in the same way Ramsey had done with Lovecraftian themes years before. | ||
| Simon Bestwick (Simon_b) Username: Simon_b Registered: 10-2008 Posted From: 86.24.209.217 |
Yes- and with an open and liberated attitude to sexuality that set him apart from his contemporaries. That always seemed to be one of the most striking things about Barker- there's a strong theme of 'loving the alien', that change or difference from the norm isn't necessarily evil. 'The Madonna' is, to me, a very underrated story on precisely that theme. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.166.117.210 |
I agree, mate. I know Huw (where is he, btw?) hates me when I say this, but making horror tropes relevant to the world we live in is essential to me. That's what first drew me to Ramsey's work, too: I felt that it was set in my own backyard. | ||
| Simon Bestwick (Simon_b) Username: Simon_b Registered: 10-2008 Posted From: 86.24.209.217 |
Likewise- it was horror fiction where the fears and insecurities were ones I recognised, as were the people, rather than a bunch of square-jawed Clean-Living British Chaps, or their spiritual descendants... it was nice to know there were other people out there as fucked-up and neurotic as I was. | ||
| Karim Ghahwagi (Karim) Username: Karim Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 193.89.189.24 |
And I would also credit Barker with his ability to create a sense of awe, that arises from the mundane I suppose. And as regards to 'loving the alien' his short novel 'Cabal' certainly has this as a central theme. | ||
| Mark_samuels (Mark_samuels) Username: Mark_samuels Registered: 04-2010 Posted From: 86.142.169.99 |
I think it's pretty cool he's got a deep spiritual side. Mark S. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.31.239.78 |
So we agree: Joel needs a good kicking. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.166.117.210 |
I dunno. Joel's got some pretty tasty kung-fu moves. At least he told me it was kung-fu. Although I'm still not sure why we both had to be naked. | ||
| Karim Ghahwagi (Karim) Username: Karim Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 193.89.189.24 |
The only ass that needs a kickin' is yours Dr. Fry ;) Didn't they just catch a serial killer in your part of the world BTW? The so- called 'Lizard Man'. | ||
| Karim Ghahwagi (Karim) Username: Karim Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 193.89.189.24 |
Ah sorry, he's now calling himself 'The Crossbow Cannibal'. | ||
| Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey) Username: Ramsey Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.93.21.74 |
The Human Centipede has been rated 18 for the uncut British DVD. | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.253.174.81 |
Excellent - we'll be watching it! | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.155.203.69 |
Ebert said oddly good things about it, but gave it no stars, saying it was what it was or such. He said the ending gave way from horror to tragedy. I actually quite fancy it. | ||
| Kate (Kathleen) Username: Kathleen Registered: 09-2009 Posted From: 213.122.209.76 |
Any news on the release date? Neither Amazon nor LoveFilm have a date for it. | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.122.209.76 |
The review makes me want to watch it even more, even if Ebert doesn't know his Hammer from his Amicus/AIP coproductions | ||
| Simon Bestwick (Simon_b) Username: Simon_b Registered: 10-2008 Posted From: 86.24.209.217 |
I don't know what it is, but oddly I'm actually interested is seeing this. Normally it's the kind of thing I'd avoid like the plague, but not in this case. I'll probably regret it... maybe best to await the Lord P review. | ||
| Tom_alaerts (Tom_alaerts) Username: Tom_alaerts Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.78.35.185 |
I really don't see the appeal. It was discussed in the 2 French fantastical film magazines "Mad Movies" and "écran fantastique", with pictures, and it really seems dumb in a bad way. On the other hand, in the same magazines "Splice" was discussed. Now THAT seems like an interesting horrific movie ! | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.166.117.210 |
Tom, there's a weird kind of cynical deadpan irony at play in films like this...you either buy into it or you don't. I've actually heard from several quarters that this one is quite dull. I'll probably see it on DVD, though. Such is my curse: the desire to watch madness like this whenever it becomes available. | ||
| Kate (Kathleen) Username: Kathleen Registered: 09-2009 Posted From: 213.122.209.76 |
We are cursed too, Zed.  | ||
| Tom_alaerts (Tom_alaerts) Username: Tom_alaerts Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.78.35.185 |
Hey, I do love CREATIVE mad movies, but I hate lazy half-assed attempts to push the limits of good taste just for the sake of it, without any redeeming quality. Hence I have zero interest in movies like this one, or for example "A Serbian Film" and numerous others. Life's too short for that. As a comparison, Jodorowsky's Santa Sangre is an example of truly inspired madness. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.166.117.210 |
half-assed attempts to push the limits of good taste just for the sake of it, without any redeeming quality You see, that interests me for reasons I cannot even begin to understand. I have a nagging compulsion to see anything like this. Like I said: it's a curse (one shared by a few fellow weirdos on this board). | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.166.117.210 |
I also think that making an arse-to-mouth human centipede is pretty creative - I mean, it takes some kind of crazy application imagination to come up with that.  | ||
| Frank (Frank) Username: Frank Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 85.222.86.72 |
Tom - Splice is getting some decent reviews throughout Europe. And most critics are giving it serious analysis rather than quickly dismissing it because it's a genre movie. Which makes a change. I have no intention of watching The Human Centipede. I think it would be a waste of time, and while I have watched and thoroughly enjoyed movies of its type before, such as Society, I find nothing in this effort worth getting excited about. When I say movies of this type before, I don't mean thematically or in content. I mean with regards to the use of outrageous special effects. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
I have an unashamed love of low budget extreme cinema with attitude, imagination and humour - this sounds like it fits the bill. It would sit very nicely beside 'Penetration Angst' or 'The Nostril Picker' in the old DVD collection. |