| Author | Message | ||
     John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.142.147.219 |
This is getting a limited release in Bristol solely as a midnight movie, which is actually something of a novel concept down here - in fact I can't remember it ever having been done with any other picture. Anyway, we were first in the queue last night to watch this, having seen the advertisements at FrightFest, the refusal of Roger Ebert to give it any stars at all, and the general hoopla the film has conjured up. Besides, how could I not watch a film with such a premise that claims to be "100% medically accurate"? Admittedly that claim made me want to watch it more because it's a delight to see a movie once again employing the sensationalist chutzpah of the drive-in Z grade movies of the 1930s-1950s than because I was expecting scenes of accurate surgery but there we are. And the verdict? I absolutely loved it. And so did Lady P. I do suspect, however, that some people on here won't like it at all. So here's a chance to make up your own mind. I suspect everyone knows the plot by now: Dieter Laser plays a surgeon who is famous for separating Siamese twins. Having gone a bit bonkers and with his 'Beloved 3-Dog' experiment buried prominently in his front garden he now intends to repeat the procedure using humans he's kidnapped - two girls and a boy, cutting the ligaments in their knees and stitching them together to form 'one long glorious gastrointestinal tract'. He explains this in some detail, we then get to see the procedure and its outcome. The last half an hour sees the police coming round and everything ending in satisfyingly splattery Grand Guignol manner. In many ways this film is what I would call 'proper horror'. The whole concept is horrible, the mad scientist does what he does for no other reason than because it's going to cause suffering, which it does, in spades. It's a lot like a penny dreadful or a lurid 1930s horror comic brought to life. Think of some of the nastiest of the Pan Horror stories and that will give you a good idea as well. This is a nasty, lurid, sensational, exploitative film in all the RIGHT ways. There isn't a single moment of the exasperating 'hip trendy coolness' of Hollywood product. It exists almost purely to shock and horrify its audience. It's also very well made and with a couple of very suspenseful and cruel chase sequences that I thought were excellent. It's not dull, it;s not boring, it looks fantastic (the photograpy is as appropriately crisp and clinical as it should be) and as for the "100% medically accurate" bit? Ask me at FantasyCon. If you dare. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.253.77 |
That review's sold me on it, Lord P. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.253.77 |
For some reason whenever I think of this film, I'm put in mind of a scatalogical version of Jess Franco's Faceless (a film I loved, but few other people seemed to). | ||
| Protodroid (Protodroid) Username: Protodroid Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 109.79.83.30 |
"Anyway, we were first in the queue last night to watch this" Ha! Good idea, I'd say... | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.253.77 |
Sigh...I'm so easily led. I've just pre-ordered The Human Centipide and bought Faceless on DVD (to replace the shabby old pirated VHS copy I lost a couple of years ago). | ||
| Protodroid (Protodroid) Username: Protodroid Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 109.79.83.30 |
D'oh, I should have just quoted this bit: "Anyway, we were first in the queue last night" | ||
| Protodroid (Protodroid) Username: Protodroid Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 109.79.83.30 |
The Human Centipede could be a metaphor for what happens to good scripts as they pass through the Hollywood's system. But the director seems a bit dim in interviews, actually, so it probably isn't. | ||
| Protodroid (Protodroid) Username: Protodroid Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 109.79.83.30 |
Ack, but he can probably type at least. Remove the "the" before "Hollywood" as you read the previous message. You'll have to do it in your head as there's no edit facility. Make the letters calligraphy on vellum while you're at it. | ||
| Protodroid (Protodroid) Username: Protodroid Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 109.79.83.30 |
And thanks P and Kate for sharing your thoughts in detail on the other thread about why you watch extreme cinema. | ||
| Protodroid (Protodroid) Username: Protodroid Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 109.79.83.30 |
That should be Lord P. The P is a full page letter in gold-leaf with dragons and knotwork. | ||
| Protodroid (Protodroid) Username: Protodroid Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 109.79.83.30 |
This is my thread now. | ||
| Protodroid (Protodroid) Username: Protodroid Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 109.79.83.30 |
This must be a record for most number of contiguous posts by the same person. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.110.244.72 |
I'd like the sound of this more if it were supernatural rather than surgical, animated rather than live-action, and about an actual insect-like organism made through the union of three human bodies. One head (with face), one thorax (with wings), one abdomen (with genitals). And if it actually lived and flew and fed and mated in that form. To be honest, my concept is probably more warped than the director's. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.253.77 |
Your concept is certainly more intersting...I'd pay to see that film! | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.142.147.219 |
To be honest, my concept is probably more warped than the director's. Joel have I ever told you how much I love you? (But obviously don't tell Zed  ) | ||
| Matthew Fryer (Matthew_fryer) Username: Matthew_fryer Registered: 08-2009 Posted From: 90.202.180.87 |
Thanks for the review John. I love the concept of this, and I'm glad it seems to actually be a good film too. I'll be checking it out. | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 88.104.135.73 |
Why does this all sound so crazy but interesting...? | ||
| Protodroid (Protodroid) Username: Protodroid Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.152.201.0 |
It's best to think of this film as an episode of Come Dine with Me. http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/537029 | ||
| Rhysaurus (Rhysaurus) Username: Rhysaurus Registered: 01-2010 Posted From: 86.16.202.93 |
This film sounds like it's probably a necessary satire against centipedes, some of which can give a nasty bite. If that's the case then such a film is long overdue! I'm not advocating slander or libel against centipedes; but satire, yes I am! | ||
| Kate (Kathleen) Username: Kathleen Registered: 09-2009 Posted From: 86.142.147.219 |
An interesting psychological touch for me was the language barrier. The Japanese man, while he is the only one who can talk, speaks only Japanese, which neither the American girls nor the German doctor understand. The girls are effective mute for the last half of the film, having been allocated the two least desirable positions. I also liked the perverse intimacy that develops between the "segments" of the centipede. The girls clasp hands and all three victims offer mute reassurance to each other throughout the ordeal. I imagine it was quite a bonding experience (sorry) for the actors! I loved the film and still can't get it out of my head. It's truly unforgettable. | ||
| Kate (Kathleen) Username: Kathleen Registered: 09-2009 Posted From: 86.142.147.219 |
effectively, even. | ||
| Simon Bestwick (Simon_b) Username: Simon_b Registered: 10-2008 Posted From: 86.24.209.217 |
When I first heard about the film (and then saw the trailer), my initial reaction was that this was something I didn't want to see. And yet something about the concept kept pulling my mind back to the subject. Maybe it's the fear of the loss of identity- of this individual that I am being subsumed into something else, not to mention being reduced to 'material' for somebody else's obsessions. All I know is something about this has hit some kind of raw nerve in me, in a good way. Probably will end up seeing this. (Even though I'm still not sure about 'A Serbian Film') | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.180.45.171 |
I have a still-unwatched slightly-dodgily-sourced DVD of this film - may have to dig it out now! | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.253.77 |
Lord P - I don't know if we saw different films, but I've just watched The Human Centipede and thought it was rather dull. Great central image, but they clearly couldn't come up with a story of any kind to fit around it. I created a much darker, funnier and more shocking film in my head while I waited for this tedium to end (mine involved peodophiles, human-centipede-sex, a tuppaware box filled with cockroaches, a human-centipede-fight-club, and a psychotic siamese-twin-chimpanzee called Eric). | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 220.138.162.222 |
"a psychotic siamese-twin-chimpanzee called Eric" Genius!  | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.152.74.159 |
Lord P - I don't know if we saw different films, but I've just watched The Human Centipede and thought it was rather dull (JLP pauses for a moment, quite shocked) Maybe it needs to be seen with an audience. Maybe I was in a good mood. Or maybe, on the basis of the above, and the fact that you didn't find William Girdler's The Manitou to be the daftly enjoyable romp that I did we may have to agree to differ on some movies!!!!!!!!! | ||
| Mbfg (Mbfg) Username: Mbfg Registered: 09-2010 Posted From: 212.219.63.204 |
My Lord I respectfully submit that the theatrical entertaiment you recently viewed at your local electric picture house sounds similar to a superb and original story of yours which appeared in the very excellent "Poe's Progeny" anthology. The title, unfortunately eludes me. Am I correct and if not please forgive my presumptiousness. Your humble servant Terry Grimwood ESQ | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.152.74.159 |
My Dear Mr Grimwood I very much suspect you're thinking of The Volkendorf Exhibition, the climax of which does indeed have a multi-human composite as its 'punchline'. Thank you very much indeed for remembering it! Yours etc etc (and let's have another one - etc) JLP | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.31.170.240 |
Even the tear ducts worked . . . Loved Best Man's Speech in WD, John. | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.152.74.159 |
Thank you my dear chap! | ||
| Johnny_mains (Johnny_mains) Username: Johnny_mains Registered: 04-2010 Posted From: 82.22.75.99 |
Watched it, didn't enjoy it and don't know if it's either torture porn or body horror or both? I have A Serbian Film to watch, but I don't think I'll ever be able to bring myself round to watch it, not after reading about it on Wiki. | ||
| Johnny_mains (Johnny_mains) Username: Johnny_mains Registered: 04-2010 Posted From: 82.22.75.99 |
I'm interviewing the tail end of the centipede, Ashlynn Yennie - are there any questions about her part, or the film in general? | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.152.74.159 |
Any idea what influenced Tom Six to make a film like that? I love it, & I'm still very surprised that Mr McMahon and yourself (especially yourself Johnny - it's a bloody Pan horror story made celluloid) didn't like it! Also - we were both surprised at how much we didn't like the two female characters at the beginning, but how sympathetic towards them we'd become by the end. And this wasn't just because of what they'd been through, but how they behaved towards each other. Was that in the script or did that evolve during filming? | ||
| Johnny_mains (Johnny_mains) Username: Johnny_mains Registered: 04-2010 Posted From: 82.22.75.99 |
John, I know it's a pan horror story made celluoid - that's what makes my dislike of it all the more puzzling, though i'm watching it again tonight, might work on a second viewing...could be the film version of a biffy clyro album, you hate it on the first listen - but really love it by the fifth run through... how did jackboots on whitehall go? heard some lukewarm stuff about it. | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.152.74.159 |
Hi Johnny Jackboots On Whitehall is sadly not very good. The puppet animation is of the 'Action Men & Barbie Dolls Being Pushed Around' variety, and the comedy is sub-Carry On, with an extended poke at the Scots at the end via an extended Braveheart gag (although having Wallace talk with an Australian accent is funny). Probably not worth the effort despite an all-star voice cast and a funny sex scene with a French bloke and a milkmaid} | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 88.104.137.65 |
It has been on the telly this week. Anyone watched it again or for the first time? I thought about it...turned it on and saw the scene where the doctor shows them the diagrams...thought no....turned it back on just in time for the scene when they were crawling around and the 'lead' was trying to break a window. Changed channels again. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.253.77 |
Ally, it's boring. A really dull, one-joke film. Badly made, too. | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 88.104.137.65 |
That is what I thought. I'm happy I didn't spend real time on it, then. It struck me as a one-joke film. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 82.26.213.180 |
>>>Ally, it's boring. A really dull, one-joke film. Badly made, too. Agreed. | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.253.174.81 |
Well the recent bumping of this thread reminded me that I really needed to watch it again and so we bought the DVD this weekend and... It's great. I still love it, and I'm actually quite mystified that anyone would consider it dull. I think the photography is splendid - all static, bright, crisp and clean, with sweeping camera moves and none of the annoying hand-held wobbliness or grim graininess of a lot of modern horror movies. The movie itself veers from hilarious to suspenseful and back again, finishing on a suitably downbeat note. Dieter Laser is the modern-day Udo Kier and I'm absolutely deighted that he and Tom Six are going to be making more movies together. Mr Six himself comes across as very personable in interviews and his horror heart seems to be very much in the right place. I'm very much aware that I'm in the minority here but I'm actually excited about seeing another Tom Six film. And Zed - if you ever visit Probert Towers you're going to be tied down and given my full lecture on why I like it so much (with slides), just before you get taken away for the anaesthetic... | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
One of the weirdest compliments(?!) I had in recent days was when a female acquaintance happened to mention seeing 'Human Centipede' on DVD and said it reminded her of me!  | ||
| Mbfg (Mbfg) Username: Mbfg Registered: 09-2010 Posted From: 82.6.90.22 |
I finally saw this on DVD last night and for some reason I didn't like it. I don't know why. It is astonishingly original (other than Lord P's aforementioned 'The Volkendorf Exhibition', I would sue, John) fearless and unflinching. It is bleak, uncomfortable, the sheer desolation and desperation of the victims was vividly portrayed and yet I grew tired of it very quickly. I'm sorry. perhaps I'm missing something, or, horror-of-horrors, going soft. "Let Me In" remains my firm favourite horror film so far this year (I haven't seen the original yet, is it better?). Regards Terry | ||
| Matthew Fryer (Matthew_fryer) Username: Matthew_fryer Registered: 08-2009 Posted From: 90.195.182.189 |
I caught up with this the other week. The whole thing managed to be completely vile without being sensationalist, which is quite an achievement. I agree that the photography was appropriately stark, and I found the victims quite sympathetic. The main girl (the "middle section") was an excellent actress, and her attempts to escape were real edge-of-the-seat. Couple of buts though. They reckon it's medically accurate, and while the human centipede of the outcome might've been, the scenes of surgical procedure made me writhe with annoyance. Airway management anybody? And I found Dieter Laser's foaming at the mouth a bit much, and his moments of quiet cruelty much more scary. But overall, a pretty good film. | ||
| Frank (Frank) Username: Frank Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 85.222.86.21 |
'Couple of buts' - Matthew, beware, lest you invite the Pun Masters out of retirement (: | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.253.77 |
I thought the film was as dull as dishwater. I watched it hoping to be shocked, but started losing interest about 20 mins in. It wasn't even funny - which might have saved it. | ||
| Frank (Frank) Username: Frank Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 85.222.86.21 |
That's what I expected. You want funny in horror, try Rare Exports. Yes, I know it's been mentioned on here before  | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 2.24.1.180 |
Is it possible to breathe with your mouth sewn to someone else's back passage? Well, Nick Clegg has been looking a bit peaky of late. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.31.24.131 |
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| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.185.224.251 |
That's what I expected. You want funny in horror, try Rare Exports. TROLL HUNTER's funny too... |