I finally broke down to watch the highly controversial film, The Human Centipede: The First Sequence.First, let me say that the film is not as disgusting as the premise. The story involves a crazy surgeon who is renowned for his skill in separating conjoined twins. He decides to create a conjoined being, using three people. Eventually he comes up with a male Japanese tourist, and two female American tourists. They are attached in a chain ass to mouth. Yes, that is disgusting, but trust me, it is no Salò.
Here there be spoilers, but don't be afraid.
There are some good points to the film. First, the American women, Jenny (Ashlynn Yennie) and Lindsay (Ashley C. Williams), are not the most likable duo in the world when you meet them. Once they fall prey to Dr, Heiter (Dieter Laser), Lindsay gets the chance to escape. Whether misguided or not, she decides to return for Jenny... Not for Katsuro (Akihiro Kitamura) however. It is sensible to leave Katsuro behind, as both he and Jenny are drugged. She could theoretically save one of them, but not both. Of course, her chances of leaving alone and finding help are greater than of dragging her friend behind and getting away, but I think most of us would do the same.
Another good point is that Dr. Heiter is just bat-shit crazy. He is not Hannibal Lechter or Lex Luthor. He is a nut bag. Any sensible person would realize that his plan will not work, and it doesn't. There is no magic here. His experiment is a failure. Sure, he was able to sew three people together effectively, but not make a viable being from them. Katsuro, in the lead, is the healthiest, and Jenny, the tail, becomes the most sick and dies.
Third. Pain and physical damage are real. People get hurt in this film, and people get shot, and nobody runs away from injuries that are typically shrugged off in film. Despite the implausibility of what goes on, there is a real world logic to a lot of it.
Ultimately, the preconceptions you might have for the film are not really brought to the screen. The surgery and a great deal of the early violence takes place off screen. Certain aspects are shown to help make the point of what is going on, but it is far less a torture-porn film than most in that particular genre.
5 comments:
I agree whole heartedly. As hyped up as this movie was for being gross, it was tasteful (in terms of the subject matter). I've certainly seen far more grotesque films which has so much gratuitous violence it completely ruins the film.
Conclusion A) Decent, although better viewed accompanied with Daniel Tosh's hilarious 22 minute commentary. Actually watching that convinced me to watch the film. And Conclusion B) NOT Salo.
-Daskaea
Tosh was fairly on point, though I think the production value was better than a flip cam, but comedy needs that sort of thing.
I want to see the sequel *just* because it is banned in the UK.
I actually just watched the sequel, and it pretty much WAS as gross as you might think. Not to mention that it made even less sense.
I do have fears of the sequel, as I gather it is about a weird fan-boy recreating the first movie. I'll likely watch it eventually. Perhaps on an empty stomach. :-)
That's a pretty accurate description.
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