Moofies - The Human Centipede (First Sequence) - (2009)

EXPECTATIONS: This looks horrific, but in that 'I know how to make creepy trashy films look classy' kind of way, so I have high hopes for this.

REALITY: This is pretty fantastic. Everything from the lighting, the choice of film stock/video used, and the crispness and sharpness of the editing make The Human Centipede (First Sequence) feel alien and detached, which is really unnerving.

I don't like to spoil films by outlining their plot in my reviews of them, but I feel like I need to let you know a little of what the premise of this film is in order to talk about what I thought of it.

Dr. Heiter (played by the German lovechild of Christopher Walken and Lance Henrikson) is famously known for successfully separating Siamese twins. He lives alone in a huge house in the middle of the forest. Two young tourists get a flat tire and find their way to his house, looking for help. Heiter tells them that he 'hates human beings', drugs them, and uses them as part of his 'human centipede' experiment. Heiter attaches the mouth of a person 1 to the anus of person 2, then the mouth of person 2 to the anus of person 3; the idea being that person 3 will eat, and the waste of person 3 will feed the body of person 2, and the waste of person 2 will feed the body of person 1, who will then defecate.

The premise would just seem ludicrous or excessively shocking if it wasn't presented in such a creepy and restrained way. Heiter is the star of the film. He's like no other character I've ever seen on screen before. He's an odd mix of hateful killer mixed with crazy detached scientist mixed with almost humorous odd moments of normalcy.

The soundtrack is minimal, meaning that for most of the duration of the film we hear the muffled cries of the two girls who have their mouths sewn to anuses. This is pretty far from pleasant viewing, but for what is seemingly a simple, if odd, premise there are plenty of moments of suspense and action amongst the awfulness.

The only thing that I think is missing is any kind of underlying theme or relation to something other than what is on screen, but the fact that this is missing only adds to the creepy factor. This is pretty far from being a film for everyone, but if you enjoy horror films then this is a must.

The Human Centipede II (Full Sequence) is due for release in 2011 and I can't wait.

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