the human centipede movie review

Movie Reviews

Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors, an ugly, artless affront to human decency.

Now streaming on:

In the first "Human Centipede" movie, a young woman found herself sewn mouth-to-anus by a sadistic surgeon with two other victims. Every cloud has a silver lining. In "The Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence)" we meet the same actress ( Ashlynn Yennie ), and from what we can judge she survived that ordeal with little permanent facial damage.

Despite what must have been an unhappy professional experience, Miss Yennie is a trouper, and soon after the beginning of "Human Centipede 2" she optimistically looks forward to what she thinks will be a meeting with Quentin Tarantino . I can imagine her letter home: "Hi Mom and Dad! Thanks for not seeing my first movie! I've got great news! Tarantino wants to consider me!"

Alas, this is not to be. She is met by the singularly disquieting Martin ( Laurence R. Harvey ), a pudgy, near-sighted, pear-headed, clammy-skinned, mentally disabled momma's boy who works as a security guard in a mostly-deserted subterranean parking garage. Since Martin very rarely ever says anything in this movie, how, you may ask, have I made my diagnosis of his mental condition? I submit to you that if this man spends his waking moments looking at the first Human Centipede movie over and over and over again, and wants to make his own version by connecting as many as 12 people , he is four tires short of a car.

Laurence R. Harvey is described as "a British performance artist." I raced off to the always helpful Google and discovered that his artistic career to date hasn't generated a single link. It may be that his performance art consists entirely of walking down the street as himself. Gene Siskel liked to amuse himself by people-watching and thinking, "When that person looked in the mirror before leaving the house, he thought he looked great."

Martin kills a lot of people in this movie, in addition to sewing others together. Perhaps the message is that the first movie influenced its viewers to do sadistic and cruel acts. Since both films were made by the same man, Tom Six , it is inarguable that the first film inspired him to make the second.

The film is reprehensible, dismaying, ugly, artless and an affront to any notion, however remote, of human decency. It makes a point of Martin's lack of all surgical skills. He seems to have sewn his victims together with summer camp skills where you stitch the parts of a billfold together with leather thread. I am left with this question: After Ashlynn Yennie's first movie role was in the first "Human Centipede" movie, and now her second is in "Human Centipede Two," do you think she'll leave show business?

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

Now playing

Marya E. Gates

Glenn Kenny

Lousy Carter

Clint worthington.

The Long Game

Sweet Dreams

Matt zoller seitz.

The Synanon Fix

Brian tallerico, film credits.

The Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence) (2011)

Laurence R. Harvey as Martin

Bill Hutchens as Dr. Sebring

Vivien Bridson as Martin's mother

Ashlynn Yennie as Herself

Written and directed by

Latest blog posts.

The Movies That Underwent Major Changes After Their Festival Premiere

Netflix's Dead Boy Detectives Is A Spinoff Stuck In Limbo

Preview of Tributes at the 58th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival

Pioneering Actor-Producer Terry Carter Dies

Log in or sign up for Rotten Tomatoes

Trouble logging in?

By continuing, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes.

Email not verified

Let's keep in touch.

Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on:

• Upcoming Movies and TV shows
• Trivia & Rotten Tomatoes Podcast
• Media News + More

By clicking "Sign Me Up," you are agreeing to receive occasional emails and communications from Fandango Media (Fandango, Vudu, and Rotten Tomatoes) and consenting to Fandango's Privacy Policy and Terms and Policies . Please allow 10 business days for your account to reflect your preferences.

OK, got it!

Movies / TV

No results found.

• What's the Tomatometer®?
• Login/signup

Movies in theaters

• Opening this week
• Top box office
• Coming soon to theaters
• Certified fresh movies

Movies at home

• Fandango at Home
• Netflix streaming
• Prime Video
• Most popular streaming movies
• What to Watch New

Certified fresh picks

• Challengers Link to Challengers
• Abigail Link to Abigail
• Arcadian Link to Arcadian

New TV Tonight

• Dead Boy Detectives: Season 1
• The Jinx: Season 2
• The Big Door Prize: Season 2
• Knuckles: Season 1
• Them: Season 2
• Velma: Season 2
• Secrets of the Octopus: Season 1
• Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story: Season 1
• We're Here: Season 4

Most Popular TV on RT

• Baby Reindeer: Season 1
• Fallout: Season 1
• Shōgun: Season 1
• Under the Bridge: Season 1
• The Sympathizer: Season 1
• Ripley: Season 1
• 3 Body Problem: Season 1
• X-Men '97: Season 1
• Best TV Shows
• Most Popular TV
• TV & Streaming News

Certified fresh pick

• Baby Reindeer Link to Baby Reindeer
• All-Time Lists
• Binge Guide
• Comics on TV
• Five Favorite Films
• Video Interviews
• Weekend Box Office
• Weekly Ketchup
• What to Watch

DC Animated Movies In Order: How to Watch 54 Original and Universe Films

The Best TV Seasons Certified Fresh at 100%

What to Watch: In Theaters and On Streaming

Awards Tour

Poll: Most Anticipated Movies of May 2024

Poll: Most Anticipated TV and Streaming Shows of May 2024

• Trending on RT
• Challengers
• Play Movie Trivia

The Human Centipede Reviews

Notable only for the sheer oddity behind its concept, The Human Centipede (First Sequence) is not a horror movie that wants to scare you. Instead, it wants to leave you with a sense of revulsion.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/4 | Aug 18, 2023

Psychologically indelible nastiness.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | May 19, 2021

The simple truth is that the selling point, beyond the obvious novelty of the entire situation, is the freakish yet disturbing performance of Dieter Laser.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.0/4.0 | Sep 11, 2020

Not nearly as shocking as it thinks it is.

Full Review | Original Score: C- | Jul 14, 2020

Never as graphic as one would expect or as inventive as one would hope, there's very little here worth recommending, even to the morbidly curious.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Aug 5, 2019

With cult movies, execution is everything. And The Human Centipede delivers.

Full Review | May 23, 2018

A horror import that actually has the confidence and audacity to deliver something disturbingly different.

Full Review | Aug 26, 2015

Six seems, at some point, to have said to himself, It might be theoretically possible to sew a mouth to an anus and sustain life. Someone should dramatize that, and then he did.

Full Review | Original Score: C+ | Jun 22, 2013

I's at times heart-racingly tense, less gory than you'd expect, hilarious, horrible, and not like anything else you've ever seen.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 4, 2011

Deep down it's just more torture porn with an artistic gloss...

Full Review | Oct 30, 2010

The evocative title, the lack of motive and the absence of genre tropes are completely intentional -- Six is giving us what we want, reminding us all the while that getting exactly what we want is usually the last thing we should ever really have.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 21, 2010

The Human Centipede won't be everyone's cup of tea, but if you're willing to sit through the film's gory moments, and delve deeper into the narrative, there's something genuinely enthralling about this shocker.

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Oct 14, 2010

The film deserves some points for being sickening and over the top.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4 | Oct 13, 2010

Yet despite the disturbing subject matter, Six directs the film with surprising restraint. You won’t find any handheld shakycam, excessive gore, or fast-cutting here.

Full Review | Oct 11, 2010

These folks -- both in front of and behind the camera -- really threw themselves into their work, and, provided you have an open mind, it shows.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 9, 2010

There is a tradition among mad scientists who exhibit creativity with their victims that comes down to three little words: some assembly required.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.0/4.0 | Sep 28, 2010

The problem is that this slick piece of schlock is dull, risible and, ultimately, boring.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/4 | Sep 8, 2010

A well-staged but exceedingly conventional payoff highlights the fact that the film, despite being based on a perversely scatological and quite horrific premise, is actually rather palatable in its execution.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 8, 2010

The Human Centipede (First Sequence) is one of those movies that's much more entertaining to talk about than it is to actually experience.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Sep 1, 2010

It's an undeniably revolting concept, but most of the actual gore would be matched by your average pre-watershed medical shock doc.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Aug 26, 2010

The Definitive Voice of Entertainment News

Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter

site categories

The human centipede — film review.

It's hard to say whether Tom Six's horror film "The Human Centipede" is more appropriately reviewed by a critic or therapist.

By The Associated Press

The Associated Press

• Share this article on Facebook
• Share this article on Twitter
• Share this article on Flipboard
• Share this article on Email
• Show additional share options
• Share this article on Linkedin
• Share this article on Pinit
• Share this article on Reddit
• Share this article on Tumblr
• Share this article on Whatsapp
• Share this article on Print
• Share this article on Comment

It’s hard to say whether Tom Six’s horror film “The Human Centipede” is more appropriately reviewed by a critic or therapist.

Credit or blame — depending on how one looks at it — certainly must go to this aptly named Dutch filmmaker for producing an effort so horrifically twisted that it makes the “Saw” and “Hostel” movies look like lighthearted romps. And that’s without an excess of blood and gore.

The Bottom Line Empty

The story line is of your basic horror-film variety: Two American women (Ashley C. Williams, Ashlynn Yennie) vacationing in Germany make their way to an isolated house after their car breaks down in the woods late one night. One would think they’d be suspicious when the oily-looking man who greets them at the door asks, “Are you alone?” before inviting them in, but no. So after falling prey to the date-rape drug, they find themselves strapped to gurneys in his makeshift basement hospital.

Related Stories

'dead boy detectives' review: netflix's 'sandman' spinoff is a fast, fun binge, dermot mulroney says he "didn't work for a year" due to 'my best friend's wedding' movie poster.

Their host, it turns out, is Dr. Heiter (Dieter Laser), a twisted genius physician whose specialty is separating conjoined twins. But that’s become unsatisfying for the good doctor, who has decided to instead go in the opposite direction. With a third prisoner, a Japanese tourist (Akihiro Kitamura), at his disposal, he sets out to surgically create the titular phenomenon, which won’t be described here. Let’s just say the results — which the press notes proudly proclaim are “100% medically accurate!” — bring a whole new meaning to the term “kiss ass.”

Stylishly photographed and edited, the film boasts an undeniable technical proficiency, and Laser’s performance as the demented villain is indelibly creepy.

As the phrase “First Sequence” attached to the title indicates, a sequel is on the way. You’ve been warned.

Opens Friday, April 30 (IFC Films) Production: Six Entertainment Cast: Dieter Laser, Ashley C. Williams, Ashlynn Yennie, Akihiro Kitamura Director-screenwriter: Tom Six Producer: Ilona Six Director of photography: Goof De Koning Production designer: Thomas Stefan Editor: Nigel De Hond Music: Patrick Savage No rating, 90 minutes

THR Newsletters

Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day

More from The Hollywood Reporter

Janet jackson and drew barrymore reveal iconic movie roles they turned down, zendaya on why she has been “nervous” about ‘challengers’, hugh grant made an audition tape for tony the tiger role in ‘unfrosted’ that left jerry seinfeld “stunned”, ‘gabby’s dollhouse: the movie’ to get the big-screen treatment in 2025, ‘humane’ review: jay baruchel stars in caitlin cronenberg’s tense but underbaked dystopian thriller, kenneth branagh, uma thurman to voice star in charles dickens-themed ‘king of kings’ (exclusive).

• International edition
• Australia edition
• Europe edition

The Human Centipede (First Sequence)

T hese last couple of years have seen in both the movies and so-called real life an alarming number of secret sanctums and torture chambers concealed beneath innocuous, middle-class residences in continental Europe. The latest is this low-budget, Anglo-Dutch, body-horror movie, featuring that familiar figure, the mad scientist.

The basic plot can be traced back to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein via HG Wells's The Island of Dr Moreau and centres on a demented German surgeon called Dr Josef Heiter, whose given name underlines his connection to the notorious Josef Mengele of Auschwitz infamy. Apparently celebrated for separating conjoined twins, Heiter has decided to go in the opposite direction and create a human centipede in the basement operating theatre of his country home. He abducts two hapless American girls and a young Japanese tourist and turns them into a single creature, linking them by a gastric tract via their mouths and anuses.

The writing and direction are ham-fisted and Dieter Laser was no doubt cast as Heiser because of his resemblance to the ubiquitous German heavies Klaus Kinski and Udo Kier. The film is intended to be both comic and emetic; at the press show, the distributors, reverting to the outlandish style of publicity associated with exploitation horror flicks of the 1950s, invited apprehensive smiles by greeting the audience with sick bags on every seat. They did not prove necessary. Perhaps the inevitable sequel will provide the necessary visceral turbulence.

• Horror films
• The Observer

Comments (…)

Most viewed.

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

The Human Centipede (First Sequence)

A mad scientist kidnaps and mutilates a trio of tourists in order to reassemble them into a human centipede, created by stitching their mouths to each others' rectums. A mad scientist kidnaps and mutilates a trio of tourists in order to reassemble them into a human centipede, created by stitching their mouths to each others' rectums. A mad scientist kidnaps and mutilates a trio of tourists in order to reassemble them into a human centipede, created by stitching their mouths to each others' rectums.

• Dieter Laser
• Winter Williams
• Ashlynn Yennie
• 558 User reviews
• 287 Critic reviews
• 33 Metascore
• 8 wins & 3 nominations

• (as Ashley C. Williams)

• Det. Voller
• Dirty Man in Car
• Truck Driver
• Hotel Receptionist

• (as Monica Iconica)
• TV Presenter
• (as Maurício d'Orey)
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

More like this

Did you know

• Trivia Director Tom Six showed a drawing of the human centipede to all the actresses who showed up to the casting sessions. Many actresses walked out in disgust after discovering what the role actually entailed.
• Goofs Whenever Dr. Heiter walks in the room where his patients lie down, a breathing machine can be heard. However, none of the people are connected to a breathing machine with tubes, so this sound doesn't make sense.

Katsuro : Oh shit! I have to shit!

• Crazy credits Tom Six 's dog Nigel is credited under "Edited by" and "Making of edited by" as "NIGEL DE HOND", which is Dutch for "Nigel the dog".
• Connections Featured in Scream Awards 2010 (2010)

User reviews 558

• Michael_Elliott
• May 15, 2010
• How long is The Human Centipede (First Sequence)? Powered by Alexa
• Why did Dr. Heiter cut the Centipede's knee ligaments?
• What is 'The Human Centipede (First Sequence)' about?
• Is "The Human Centipede" based on a book?
• April 28, 2010 (United States)
• Netherlands
• The Human Centipede
• Naarden, Noord-Holland, Netherlands
• Six Entertainment
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• €1,500,000 (estimated)
• May 2, 2010

Technical specs

• Runtime 1 hour 32 minutes
• 1.78 : 1 / (high definition)

Related news

Contribute to this page.

• See more gaps
• Learn more about contributing

More to explore

Recently viewed

• Become a Critical Movie Critic
• Movie Review Archives

Movie Review: The Human Centipede (First Sequence) (2009)

• MovieGoddess
• Movie Reviews
• One response
• --> January 30, 2011

The jury is still out for me because I can’t quite make up my mind, but it may be that The Human Centipede (First Sequence) will go down in my book as the most disturbing movie I’ve ever seen. Director Tom Six boldly goes with his bio-horror feature — deemed “100% Medically Accurate” — where no director has gone before, or should go, for that matter. A sadistic doctor is so obsessed with creating his own “pet” that he conceives of a plan to stitch together three unfortunate people thereby creating a “human” centipede. If you stop for a moment to ponder the “anatomy” of such a creature, you’ll realize that it involves a serious ass-to-mouth arrangement.

Two young American girls with more enthusiasm than sense are traveling through Germany. They agree to meet a friend at a popular night club. For some inexplicable reason, they take a short-cut through the woods. When their car breaks down, they wander like lost children until they stumble upon, in the best Hansel and Gretel fashion, a house belonging to a mysterious and very creepy-looking man named Dr. Heiter (Dieter Laser) from whom they seek help. What they find is their worst nightmare come to life. I mean, wouldn’t alarm bells go off in your head if you noticed your host had an abstract painting of conjoined babies hanging on his wall? And, apparently our dimwitted heroines never read the memo that women shouldn’t accept drinks from strange men. Only something sinister can come from a situation like this.

When they wake from their drugged sleep, Lindsay and Jenny (Ashley C. Williams and Ashlynn Yennie, respectively) find themselves helpless, strapped down on hospital beds and hooked up to IVs and other medical gadgets. Struggle is useless. Here, they along with another victim Katsuro (Akihiro Kitamura), a Japanese man with a strong sense of national pride, learn of their fate at the hands of the good doctor: The trio will be reassembled into a “human” centipede.

Director Six’s film strikes me to be as much a Nazi revenge fantasy, as it does a horror movie. One look at the stone-faced Dr. Leiter — he of the black shoe-polish hair and spackle make-up — calls to mind real-life Nazi madman, Josef Mengele, who experimented with conjoining twins, among his other innumerable atrocities. It seems like no accident that our victims are a Japanese man and two American women. If the anatomical arrangement of bodies means anything, then the doc issues the biggest fuck you to the Americans who are placed one after the other at the tail end of the Japanese man. The digestive system being what it is, we all know that what goes in, must come out. You get my meaning. It’s a double blow considering America prevailed over the Germans and the Japanese in World War II. For winning the war, the Americans are literally forced to eat shit.

Control and degradation gives Heiter a sexual rush. Witness how his lids lower slowly and his eyes roll back each time he makes an incision, removes some tissue, or injects a sedative or lethal concoction. The centipede’s waking after surgery sends him into paroxysms of erotic bliss as he embraces a mirror and kisses his reflection, so overcome with his own twisted genius.

The rest of the film is a catalog of cruelty, subjugation, perversion, and degradation as Heiter puts his “pet” through its paces. It’s hard to stomach his barbarism and the victim’s suffering even for a horror film buff like me. More than once I wondered if I should just walk out.

The Human Centipede (First Sequence) had the dubious distinction of rendering me speechless, something that rarely happens. Once it was over, I sat there dumbstruck with my chin scraping the floor. I’m forced here to assign a starred rating, and that’s difficult. It’s a film intended for the diehard filmgoers, horror fanatics, and midnight circuit viewers who take risks and can appreciate the twisted artistry of Tom Six. To the general filmgoer and casual horror fan, consider my review a public service announcement and stay far, far away.

By the way, if you think the madness of The Human Centipede (First Sequence) is more than enough, think again. Tom Six’s follow-up, The Human Centipede II (Full Sequence) is due in theaters in 2011.

I've been a fanatical movie buff since I was a little girl, thanks to my parents who encouraged my brother and I to watch anything and everything we wanted, even the stuff deemed inappropriate for minors. I work, write, and reside in San Francisco the city where I was born and bred.

Movie Review: Madea’s Big Happy Family (2011) Movie Review: Piranha 3D (2010) Movie Review: Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore (2010) Movie Review: Love Ranch (2010) Movie Review: Splice (2009) Movie Review: Chloe (2009) Movie Review: A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)

'Movie Review: The Human Centipede (First Sequence) (2009)' has 1 comment

December 15, 2011 @ 11:49 pm Shaun

Dieter Laser was the only bright spot in the movie. He nailed the mad scientist down to a tee and I could see him doing that type of role many more times in the future. I found myself laughing at the movie more then being scared or grossed out. I think the absurdity of the idea made it hard for me to latch onto as something that could really happen, and the cheek flaps made me laugh for some reason. I was told about the movie from a coworker at DISH who seemed to be big horror movie buff, I think he was looking for me to get grossed out by it and give him some satisfaction in his meaningless life perhaps. So when I got home I started looking for the movie, I had happened to be on dish online when I found it on IFC. I can see why it was there, but found it out that it was streaming. Have you ever watched a bad Kung Fu movie and made up your own lines as you go? That what my roommate and I did to this movie, towards the end when the good doctor was stabbed in the leg, we were calling it the battle of the worm dudes. I found the sequel online that night too, where the first one is clinical, and not a lot of blood for the most part. The second was dirty, gory and down right odd. So when I got back to work on Monday, I asked the same coworker if he had seen the second, he lit up for a second when he thought wow a second one cool. He must have watched it because he hasn’t talked to me since. So does that mean I win?

Log in to Reply

Privacy Policy | About Us

 |  Log in

The Human Centipede Review

20 Aug 2010

Human Centipede, The

Yes — This film really is about what you’ve heard it’s about. A sinister European scientist (Dieter Lasar) sews two American tourists (Ashley C. Williams, Ashlynn Yennie) and a Japanese chap (Akihiro Kitamura) together mouth-to- anus to create the eponymous composite creature… and, inevitably, there’s a scene where the one in the lead can’t hold his bowels. However, once you get past the transhuman gross-out, this is a surprisingly conventional mad scientist movie. The innocents-abroad are menaced and abducted in the sort of crackpot research storyline which wouldn’t be any different if this were a 1945 movie starring Bela Lugosi about gorilla brain transplants. Tom Six’s film is odd and unforgettable, but never quite as outrageous as it threatens to be.

Related Articles

Movies | 26 09 2011

Movies | 07 06 2011

There’s Way More to ‘The Human Centipede’ Than Just Gross-Out Body Horror

How the shocking Tom Six feature provided more thrills and horror outside of being a gross-out film.

The Big Picture

• The Human Centipede taps into a different fear that the horror genre isn't used to, instilling the notion that there are fates worse than death.
• The characters in The Human Centipede may be basic, but they are empathetic and elicit sympathy from viewers due to the evil intentions of the mad scientist.
• The film focuses more on psychological horror rather than excessive gore, creating a sense of dread and tension in the audience.

It's been over 10 years since the shocking Tom Six film entered the cinema world with mixed results. In many cases, The Human Centipede won't go down on the list as one of the greatest horror films of all time since the reviews were divided by critics and fans; in fact, The Human Centipede holds the distinction of being t he only review to receive no stars from legendary critic Robert Ebert . However, there's no denying the impression that this controversial film made. The Human Centipede did an excellent job of grossing out audiences , but the main reason that this film left such a lasting impact is that it taps into a different fear that the horror genre isn't used to. Psychological horror is nothing new , but the mental fear that The Human Centipede plays on is. The Human Centipede explores the " what if" scenario, instilling the notion that there are fates worse than death.

The Human Centipede (First Sequence)

A mad scientist kidnaps and mutilates a trio of tourists in order to reassemble them into a human centipede, created by stitching their mouths to each others' rectums.

The film is about a surgeon who successfully separated conjoined twins and now has an unhealthy obsession with creating the world's first human centipede : sewing three people, in a line, anus-to-mouth. Unfortunately for Lindsay ( Ashley C. Williams ), Jenny ( Ashlynn Yennie ), and Katsuro ( Akihiro Kitamura ), they're forced to take part in Dr. Josef Heiter's ( Dieter Laser ) sick fantasy of stitching three people together by their gastric systems. The thought of being attached to another human being for the rest of your life is horrifying. If you're the middle or end piece, there's little chance for escape. Your mouth is attached to someone's backside, and as showcased later in the feature, Jenny is forced to swallow the feces that comes out of Katsuro. More importantly, all three characters lose their freedom. They can't simply crawl back to their everyday lives of work, family, and fun; they're eternally stuck with a sick madman ( inspired by Nazis, no less ) who has little regard for their humanity. They are serving a life sentence in the confines of Dr. Heiter's home. At least with death, you're not suffering physically and mentally each and every day under the rule of some lunatic who sees you as a pet.

'The Human Centipede's Characters Are Basic But Empathetic

Characterization is an essential tool in storytelling for every genre of filmmaking; however, it's widely known that horror bends the rules a bit when it comes to this format. For example, Jaime Lee Curtis 's Laurie Strode is a beloved final girl , but in truth, there's not much depth to her character when she's introduced in the first Halloween feature. That style of storytelling is prominent in The Human Centipede, as we don't know anything about Lindsay, Jenny, and Katsuro, but their characters are crafted well enough that we're still able to empathize with them . This actually works in favor of the feature. Granted, if the backstory of these three protagonists were showcased, then viewers would've had a stronger connection to Lindsay, Jenny, and Katsuro. However, by leaving an air of mystery about them, it makes the incident more unpredictable. Though we don't know who they are personally, it's impossible to not sympathize with these characters because of the heinous things that they are being subjected to. Their panic and fear immediately strike a chord with the audience from the get-go.

'The Human Centipede' Doesn't Show Too Much Gore

That sense of dread overwhelms us as each second passes by; the drama and tension come from the psychological hell that these characters are being put through. They're terrified because a perverted madman with an equally unknown backstory has achieved the unimaginable. Once the human centipede is officially formed, the anxiety is racked up even further because it's now harder for these three to escape. This could've easily turned into some gross-out creature feature like David Cronenberg 's The Fly or John Carpenter 's The Thing , but Tom Six wisely doesn't shatter the illusion of reality by not going overboard with this sort of tactic. It's the reason the first feature in his three-part trilogy remains the best as Six went The Texas Chain Saw Massacre route by not going crazy with the blood and gore , focusing on the psychological aspect instead.

While watching The Human Centipede , you may ask yourself "What's the point in all of this?" Why are we spending so much time with this deranged doctor treating three people with an abhorrent lack of humanity? These scenes make us root for Lindsay, Jenny, and Katsuro to somehow escape this unimaginable nightmare. These characters may be paper thin, but Tom Six does deserve credit for writing situations that make it impossible to side with Heiter's character. Even the infamous scene of Katsuro relieving himself into Jenny's mouth is wisely played for comedic effect. Yet, Heiter saying, "Swallow it, bitch!" continues to show his disregard for human life and keeps him away from becoming a fan favorite like Freddy Krueger . People love horror movie villains, whether it's an everchanging figure like Ghostface or the unkillable Jason Vorhees or Michael Myers . But Tom Six in no way allows you to find any fun in The Human Centipede 's monster. The drama rises further when it's revealed that Jenny (the middle of the centipede) is dying due to sepsis. This gives the protagonists a timer that forces them to act or die under the roof of this demented surgeon. The climax of the film is pretty simple but it's surprisingly haunting and effective.

‘The Human Centipede’ May Be Gross, but It’s Not Bad

Katsuro has lost all hope in surviving this ordeal, so he opts to kill himself. He had the best chance at survival since he was at the front of the centipede, but he's been broken down mentally throughout the feature, and to him, this is his only option. Significant moments like this are overlooked because The Human Centipede is seen as a gross-out film; however, the examination of human behavior is the real central theme of this 2010 horror feature . Is physical or mental pain worse? Even the ending that sees Jenny eventually die following Katsuro's suicide cements that statement. Lindsay is still alive when credits roll, but at what cost? She's the tail end of two people whose corpses will soon rot. Plus, she won't be able to eat anything herself because her face is stitched to Jenny's backside. Her only chance at help in the form of two detectives has been killed off by Heiter before his death. Lindsay may be the last one standing, but she will die a slow and painful death — that's arguably a worse fate than what Jenny or Katsuro get.

It's understandable why fans are so divided when it comes to The Human Centipede . On the surface, it comes across as just a horror feature meant to make you vomit or walk out of the theater. However, t he film is actually deeper than the gross-out scenes . Does this mean that The Human Centipede is a horror classic? No, but it's also not a bad film either. Whatever camp you stand in when it comes to The Human Centipede , it surely made a lasting impression that won't be forgotten in the world of horror .

The Human Centipede is available to stream on AMC+.

Watch on AMC+

Den of Geek

The Human Centipede Trilogy: A Metaphor for Miscommunication

The Human Centipede Trilogy has completed its final sequence, as well as a metaphor for a higher plane of communication.

• Share on Facebook (opens in a new tab)
• Share on Twitter (opens in a new tab)
• Share on Linkedin (opens in a new tab)
• Share on email (opens in a new tab)

Ever since The Human Centipede (First Sequence) skittered onto screens in 2009, Tom Six’s horror exploitation flicks have presented exactly what they promised: people stitched together into grotesque human chains. But that’s not what Six’s trilogy—ending this year with The Human Centipede (Final Sequence) —is actually about.

Six claims that he came up with the idea  after seeing a news story about child predators, and musing about what a brutal punishment it would be to stitch them ass-to-mouth to fat truckers. But it would be an oversimplification to just lump the movies into the appropriate torture-porn subgenre. In truth, the Human Centipede movies are involved commentaries on miscommunication.

This is most apparent in the gut-wrenching ride that started it all. The recurring motif of communication (and lack thereof) announces itself very clearly near the beginning of (First Sequence) , in the form of an obvious stereotype: the ignorant, crass American tourists. When Lindsay and Jenny’s car breaks down in Germany, they flee to Dr. Heiter’s (Dieter Laser) home to make a phone call. Instead, he sees the perfect two-thirds of his desired human centipede.

The thing is, up until now, Heiter has only worked with animal subjects; he is still reeling from the loss of his beloved Dreihund . So, he only knows how to treat humans on the level of animals—lower, even, as he clearly treasured the Dreihund as his companion. He drugs the glasses of water he offers the girls and hardly deigns to speak with them, instead regarding them with a steely non-communication we would eventually see reflected in the second film’s antagonist.

Ad – content continues below

Later, when Heiter attempts to perform the same maneuver on the police who come looking for them, they absentmindedly reject his offer—and he shoves the glass in their faces, urging them to “Drink!” the way you would a disobedient pet. This, obviously, does not go as intended.

No matter, because Heiter has a new pet in the prized human centipede. That training montage is difficult to watch, not least because on the agenda is teaching the hybrid creature to defecate through each of its components. Here is where we note Heiter’s odd decision to place Japanese tourist Katsuro at the head of the centipede, cutting off any English the audience could be exposed to. Electric Sheep picked up on the same motifand commented, “With the two girls unable to comprehend Heiter’s German, and no one speaking Katsuro’s Japanese, the doctor has, perversely, given his centipede a head he himself cannot understand.”

What, asks the magazine, is Heiter going for with this choice? Is it a commentary on the absence of communication, on the uselessness of language when faced with a nightmarish situation such as this? Is it a condemnation of English, even to Heiter and his agenda’s own detriment? If nothing else, it unifies everyone: centipede segments, audiences, fans. The story is everyone’s and no one’s, so that we are all equally appalled during the surreal scene where Heiter is striking the centipede with a riding crop, screaming, “Feed her!” Helpless, Katsuro mumbles and shouts horrified apologies to the strangers hooked up to his anus as he succumbs to the unstoppable urge to go .

Ironically, it’s when Heiter is absent that the centipede best learns to work as one creature. While the doctor is dealing with the police threat, panic at their depraved future stretching ahead of them inspires the centipede components to learn to painstakingly make their way out of the basement laboratory and up the spiral staircase to try and escape.

Of course, it’s not to be. When their master and creator face each other, the former mortally wounded Katsuro takes the opportunity to deliver a longwinded speech about how he is an insect, less than an insect, for leaving his family behind, and Heiter is God, come to punish him. This is all in Japanese, and you can see the confusion on Heiter’s face; he has no idea what the hell Katsuro is saying. Then Katsuro cuts his own throat with a shard of glass. Here is where the centipede’s communication has fallen apart: pursuing his own selfish quasi-redemption, Katsuro resigns the girls to his fate. Jenny (at the back of the centipede) has already begun succumbing to blood poisoning, so it’s Lindsay who is the film’s “final girl,” except lacking the agency usually granted to that archetype. The only part of the centipede who is healthy enough to escape, she is chained to her companions on both ends, utterly silenced.

As a movie, The Human Centipede (First Sequence) achieved legendary heights of horror while still establishing some thought-provoking visuals and commentary. And it was just morbidly fascinating enough to encourage Tom Six to go ahead with his intended sequel. But in topping himself, Six didn’t try for another horror tale set in the same world. Instead, he went completely meta.

The second film’s antagonist (or, one could argue, protagonist) is Martin, an overweight, asthmatic, mentally challenged parking-lot attendant. Verbally abused both at his job and by his mother at home, and sexually abused by his doctor, Martin finds his only solace in his favorite movie, The Human Centipede . That’s right: the original film inserts itself like a Mary Sue, occupying the center of Martin’s obsession. He’s the worst kind of fan in this case, the one who wants to emulate Dr. Heiter for himself. He has a pet centipede that he lovingly feeds, and has even more lovingly assembled a scrapbook of how he would make his own human centipede pet.

Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox!

He goes about his monstrous plan by picking up potential centipede segments from his daily interactions: two drunk girls who catch him masturbating, an unsuspecting couple, his vile neighbor…and Ashlynn Yennie, the actress who played Jenny in The Human Centipede (First Sequence) .

The most interesting part is, Martin does all this without speaking at all. As EdgeBoston ‘s review puts it, “It’s the words that Martin doesn’t say that will make you shudder: his non-communication is disturbing.”

According to an interview with IFC , Six originally intended for Martin’s character to spend the film quoting his idol Dr. Heiter. But when actor Laurence R. Harvey auditioned, he (in his words) “forgot to speak.” The next time the two met, Six had nixed all of Martin’s lines. “He doesn’t talk a lot in his daily life,” Yennie pointed out. “He doesn’t talk to anybody at his job, and nobody talks to him…[People talk at] him, but not to him. So it fit him better to portray everything through his actions and his face.”

Martin capitalizes on this relative invisibility in luring his test subjects, most ingeniously Yennie’s movie version of herself. Reaching out through the Internet, he masquerades as a talent agent bringing her to England for a Quentin Tarantino movie. When she arrives, he’s her silent, unassuming driver. It’s only when he brings her to the empty warehouse he’s procured for his experiments that she realizes something is wrong. Up until that moment, it’s too easy for her to believe that this is her big break—that her time spent on the set of a gruesome horror indie has actually gotten her somewhere.

If you can get past the awfulness of his stapling people together to make a 10-person centipede, the scenes where Martin tries to communicate with it are fascinating to watch. Whereas Heiter barked orders, Martin fumbles through some grotesque approximation of sign language, giggling the whole time like a deranged child. The worst is when he approaches Yennie, at the head of the centipede, with a funnel and a can of chili (and, after some resistance, some laxatives). I don’t think I need to describe any further his twisted intent.

Of course, with Martin being nonverbal, it only magnifies his frustration with his disobedient pet. It doesn’t help that he is cobbling together the 10-person centipede from multiple watches of the movie, with no medical method to his madness. Heiter’s tantrums are nothing compared to Martin’s emotional breakdowns when his dream cannot be achieved—whether it’s by the pregnant woman jumping up screaming and running away, or one of the segments breaking the centipede into two flailing pieces, or the encroaching fear of the cops bearing down on the warehouse. Upset by Yennie’s screams, he tears out her tongue with pliers, totally silencing her.

Thankfully, the poor actress gets him back near the end of the film, with a literal up-yours; she takes advantage of his brief flicker of sympathy for her to kick him in the genitals, stuff the funnel in his ass, and send his beloved pet centipede (the actual one) scuttling into his rectum. Martin’s screams of agony are some of the only sounds we hear from him in the entire movie, but they’re oh-so-memorable. Yet, he still comes out on top.

Compared to its predecessor, (Full Sequence) ‘s ending is left ambiguous: we see Martin flee the twitching remains of his centipede, but then the movie cuts back to Martin sitting in his tollbooth watching (First Sequence) . Was it a dream, or is he partway through the process? The screaming baby—abandoned in a car after Martin kidnapped its parents—would point toward the latter, but it’s an odd shift in timing that we don’t see in the rest of the trilogy.

When it came time to complete the Human Centipede Trilogy , Six returned to the notion of punishment that drove the first film, but made the proceedings more meta than the second installment. And, I’m sorry to report that The Human Centipede (Final Sequence) is the worst movie of them all.

Six’s idea to make a movie about his own filmmaking is ballsy, but the lack of communication between the sequels is to their detriment. The follow-ups don’t share the original’s high-minded ideal of “100 percent medically accurate” for even the most shocking procedure. Instead, they parody themselves, with the tagline of the second film gleefully presented as “100 percent medically inaccurate,” and the third unapologetically declaring itself to be “100 percent politically incorrect.”

Each Human Centipede successor is like an unsuccessful game of Telephone, with the message getting more warped the more often it’s reproduced. Or perhaps a better analogy is copies of copies, with the template eventually blurring into something indistinct. Six returns again and again to the source material of (First Sequence), cannibalizing his original characters for subsequent villains, and in doing so creates characters who are more upsetting than entertaining to watch. Most notably, he brought back Dieter Laser to portray evil control-freak prison warden Bill Boss, on whom the third movie’s atrocities hinge.

Laser was the best part of (First Sequence) , gnashing his teeth and marching around as Heiter. But here, there is absolutely no connection between the characters, aside from them both being German. For Heiter, submission is a benefit of having a broken-in pet. Boss is completely obsessed with the notion and spends most of (Final Sequence) employing various experiments to break 500 spirits: waterboarding with boiling water, castration, and finally stitching them ass-to-mouth. That final solution comes from his financial adviser Dwight (played by the man who terrified us as Martin in the second film), who is—surprise surprise—a diehard Human Centipede fan.

Heiter dresses like he lives: austere, cool, only the elements that are completely necessary. Boss, constantly sweltering in the Texas heat, alternates between his warden’s uniform and various stages of sloppy undress. All of Heiter’s decisions—every silly hand-drawn diagram and ass incision—were carefully developed and weighed. Boss shoots a gun into a man’s stomach because he’s upset that the inmate cannot be part of his centipede. The more self-aware the movies get, the more difficult it is to explain away their excessive gore and senseless brutality.

The one trait that Heiter and Boss, and Martin and Dwight, share is their violent opposition when plans do not proceed as expected. While getting a check-up from the prison doctor (whose license has been revoked but who has a job thanks to the warden), Boss outright refuses to hear that his blood pressure is dangerously high. Instead, he growls, “I demand some fucking good news.” “You’re in perfect health,” the doctor stammers, and that’s that. Once Boss fixates on Dwight’s idea of uniting the inmates into one submissive creature, he will literally blow a hole through any obstacle in his path.

For some inexplicable reason, these men are so emotionally invested in the human centipede being a viable creature that when each creation invariably fails, it’s the end of the world. They would rather shut themselves in their dream worlds, marathoning the Human Centipede movies and lovingly poring over their scrapbooks and inspiration boards, than face their shortcomings as humans. Except that in this case, the experiment is a cautious success… though not without at least as much bloodshed as the first two failed tries.

And so it goes since (Final Sequence) doesn’t reveal its money shot—the 500-person centipede—until the last 10 minutes (I know because I counted down the running time)! As Boss proudly shows off his handiwork, it becomes clearer and clearer how much he has dehumanized his inmates. Compared to Heiter’s private joke of placing Katsuro at the head of his centipede, it doesn’t much matter who sits in front of the 500-person monstrosity. Though it is worth pointing out that most of the inmates with whom Boss interacts speak languages other than English: Spanish, Arabic, Yiddish.

What also sets this centipede apart from its predecessors, and likely contributes to its overall success, is that the punishment is temporary. For the duration of their sentences, these men will be strapped in place, mouths over asses, end over end, forced to defecate in each other’s mouths, for months or years.

Latest Movie reviews

Challengers review: zendaya scores in twisted sports thriller, rebel moon 2: the scargiver review – zack snyder definitely leaves a mark, spy x family code: white review – a radical genre pivot for a beloved anime.

But once a prisoner’s term is up, he can be easily detached from the centipede and released back into society. The only marks he carries from his ordeal are scars around his mouth, which broadcast his punishment to all people he crosses. Boss’ eventual hope is that without the man even having to say so, people will know: he was temporarily silenced, he was made submissive.

There’s one prisoner who has to serve only a short punishment before being released. In a reversal of Katsuro’s defiant death speech to Heiter, this prisoner blubbers an effusive thank you peppered with religious invective. His speech is in Arabic and is untranslated, but it doesn’t need to be. Boss knows exactly what he is saying.

So, the Human Centipede movies come full circle from fatal miscommunications to achieving a higher plane of communication. But while the characters are weirdly united by this gruesome experiment, the movies are forced to separate themselves from the original, and in doing so, to alienate their oldest fans.

Natalie Zutter | @nataliezutter

Natalie Zutter is a playwright, audio dramatist, and pop culture writer living in Brooklyn. She writes what she loves reading/seeing: space opera, feminist epic fantasy, time…

Screen Rant

“you may be grateful to be warned”: roger ebert refused to review this divisive horror classic 13 years ago.

A 2010 horror movie was so disturbing that legendary critic Roger Ebert refused to give it a star rating, and it continues to be a divisive film.

• The controversial horror film "The Human Centipede" was so disturbing that it was banned in some countries, but the controversy only made it more popular.
• Renowned film critic Roger Ebert refused to give "The Human Centipede" a star rating, stating that the star rating system was unsuited to the film, which he found depraved and disgusting.
• Despite receiving mixed reviews from critics, "The Human Centipede" continues to be divisive, with some praising its direction and performances while others found it revolting and repulsive.

The horror genre is home to many controversial and divisive movies, and one, in particular, led to Roger Ebert refusing to review it. Due to their style, purpose, characters, and the themes addressed in horror movies, these often receive backlash and some even end up being banned in different countries. Other horror movies benefit from the controversy they generate and become quite popular, largely thanks to their quality, but others end up being quite divisive.

Horror movies, regardless of whether their controversy is deserved or not, can greatly benefit from the response of critics. Good reviews can influence the audience’s reaction and reception of a movie, no matter how shocking its story and visuals might be, but there can also be cases where critics don’t want to share their thoughts on certain movies. Such was the case for a 2010 horror movie that is one of the most controversial but also divisive movies of the decade, so much so that Roger Ebert refused to assign it a star rating.

10 Shocking Horror Movies That Were Banned For Being Too Disturbing

Roger ebert disliked the human centipede so much that he didn't even give it a star rating.

In 2010, the independent body horror film The Human Centipede (First Sequence) was released. Written and directed by Tom Six, The Human Centipede is the story of Dr. Josef Heiter (Dieter Laser), a retired, psychopathic surgeon who drugs and kidnaps three tourists with the purpose of conjoining them surgically to form a “human centipede” . Although Heiter succeeds at creating this disturbing “creature”, the tourists’ health rapidly deteriorates and they do their best to survive and escape. Unsurprisingly, The Human Centipede was very controversial, with some people reacting strongly to the movie, but that didn’t stop it from spawning two sequels – The Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence) and The Human Centipede 3 (Final Sequence) .

The Human Centipede received mixed reviews from critics, but the one that stood out was Roger Ebert’s . The legendary film critic, while writing for Chicago Sun Times , refused to assign a star rating to The Human Centipede (which doesn’t mean a “zero stars” rating). Ebert didn’t offer a long review of The Human Centipede like he usually did, telling the events of the film to warn readers about it, and ended his review stating that he refused to award stars to this movie. Ebert added that “ the star rating system is unsuited to this film ” and didn’t share if he thought the movie was “good” or “bad”, simply saying that “ it is what it is and occupies a world where the stars don’t shine ”.

The Human Centipede Still Has A Shockingly Divisive Response From Critics After 13 Years

Although more than a decade has passed since the release of The Human Centipede, and it even made way for a trilogy, the movie that started it all continues to be divisive. At the time of writing, The Human Centipede holds a 48% score on Rotten Tomatoes , giving it a “rotten” label yet still being a surprisingly high score for a movie like it, and with a 26% score from viewers. Of course, to get that rating, The Human Centipede got mostly negative reviews from critics, who called it “grotesque” , “visceral”, “and repulsive” yet “ a relatively conventional horror movie ” (via Empire ), but there were also critics who found good things to say about it.

Clark Collins from EW praised Six’s direction and Laser’s performance, while Peter Bradshaw from The Guardian called it “ sort of brilliant ”, despite its “revolting” elements. Others compared it to the works of David Cronenberg and even found parts of The Human Centipede to be “funny”, going as far as to award it a four-star rating. Ebert was the only critic who didn’t give The Human Centipede a star rating , stating that “ no horror film I’ve seen inflicts more terrible things on its victims ” and that it’s “ depraved and disgusting enough to satisfy the most demanding midnight movie fan ” but it wasn’t just an exploitation film. The Human Centipede will most likely continue being one of the most shocking and divisive movies in the horror genre, and has gone down in history as the one movie so disturbing that Roger Ebert didn’t want to give it a star rating.

Sources: Roger Ebert , Empire , EW , The Guardian .

Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

UK Edition Change

• UK Politics
• News Videos
• Paris 2024 Olympics
• Rugby Union
• Sport Videos
• John Rentoul
• Mary Dejevsky
• Andrew Grice
• Sean O’Grady
• Photography
• Theatre & Dance
• Culture Videos
• Food & Drink
• Health & Families
• Royal Family
• Electric Vehicles
• Car Insurance deals
• Lifestyle Videos
• UK Hotel Reviews
• News & Advice
• Simon Calder
• Australia & New Zealand
• South America
• C. America & Caribbean
• Middle East
• Politics Explained
• News Analysis
• Today’s Edition
• Home & Garden
• Broadband deals
• Fashion & Beauty
• Travel & Outdoors
• Sports & Fitness
• Sustainable Living
• Climate Videos
• Solar Panels
• Behind The Headlines
• On The Ground
• Decomplicated
• You Ask The Questions
• Binge Watch
• Travel Smart
• Watch on your TV
• Crosswords & Puzzles
• Most Commented
• Newsletters
• Ask Me Anything
• Virtual Events
• Betting Sites
• Online Casinos
• Wine Offers

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in Please refresh your browser to be logged in

The Human Centipede 3, movie review: A truly atrocious film

Tom six, 100 mins, starring: dieter laser, eric roberts, bree olson, tom six, robert lasardo, tommy 'tiny' lister, laurence r. harvey, article bookmarked.

Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile

Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse Loughrey

Get our the life cinematic email for free, thanks for signing up to the the life cinematic email.

This is a truly atrocious film which takes a perverse glee in its own ineptitude.

The scenes of waterboarding and castration are carried out as if they are larkish interludes in a Carry On movie.

The film is at least partially enlivened by the manic and thoroughly ludicrous performance by Dieter Laser (an actor from the Klaus Kinski school of rolling eyeballs and neurasthenic tics) as the sadistic warden of an out of control American prison.

The most controversial films

Adapted from Anthony Burgess's best-selling novel, A Clockwork Orange tells the story of Alex and his gang of violent 'droogs' who kill tramps and rape women.

The film is infamous for the copycat behaviour it inspired - which many thought to be the reason that director Stanley Kubrick withdrew the film in the UK. After his death, his wife Christiane revealed that the actual reason he had the film banned was on the advice of the police after severe threats were made to him and his family.

Five friends go to visit their Grandfather's grave after hearing it was vandalised, and pick up a hitchhiker on the way. After the hitchhiker takes a knife and slashes himself and one of the boys, they promptly get rid of him but have to stop for gas at a small sinister looking place which unbeknown to them, is the home of the chainsaw wielding Leatherface.

The film was loosely inspired by real-life murderer Ed Gein who wore human skin, but didn't use a chainsaw.

It was banned in several countries, including in the UK on the advice of the British Board of Film Classification. However, the BBFC passed it for release in 1999 with an 18 certificate.

One of the most controversial horror films of all time, this tells the story of a 12 year-old girl possessed by a demonic force and the two priests who try and save her soul.

The film received critical acclaim when it was nominated for 10 Oscars, and won two for Best Sound and Best Writing. But filming was plagued by disaster and William Friedkin's movie has legendary status as one of the most cursed films to have been made.

This Monty Python film was banned in Norway (1979-1980), Singapore and Ireland (1979-1987)

Brian was born in a stable next to Jesus and as a result is deemed a messiah, but he can't seem to convince his followers otherwise.

Due to its heavy religious satire, the film was not well-received by many religious activists. In 2009, the thirty-year old ban of the film in the Welsh town of Aberystwyth was finally lifted. Sweden, on the other hand, used the controversy to its advantage, marketing the film as 'the film so funny that it was banned in Norway'.

The film is too kitsch and tongue in cheek to work effectively as a horror movie but so self-conscious revolting in its imagery that it is well-nigh impossible to digest as a comedy.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article

Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.

New to The Independent?

Or if you would prefer:

Want an ad-free experience?

Hi {{indy.fullName}}

• My Independent Premium
• Account details
• Help centre

Advertisement

Supported by

‘Humane’ Review: An Ethical Crisis and a Dinner Party

Caitlin Cronenberg’s debut feature is set in a dystopian world that’s alarmingly believable.

• Share full article

By Alissa Wilkinson

“Humane” is a thought experiment sprung to bloody life, a cross between the trolley problem and dystopian extinction nightmares. Set in the very near future, it tries to tackle a cascade of ethical questions. Who counts as valuable? What does it mean to be good? If humans wreck the earth, what will we do to survive? Do we even deserve it?

Those are gargantuan questions, enough to power several graduate-level philosophy courses. But “Humane” wraps them in admirably small-scale trappings: a family drama with immensely high stakes. Just after widespread ecological collapse, every country on earth has shut its borders and has committed to reducing its population within one year.

In Canada, the target reduction is 20 percent, and to coax people into joining the effort, the government’s Department of Citizen Strategy has come up with language as euphemistic as its name. People who agree to be euthanized are “enlisting” in the “war.” Posters declare that “Enlistment = Opportunity,” because the families of those who enlist receive a substantial payout, enabling higher education or homeownership.

The volunteers tend to be older people, but they’re not the only ones being euthanized. It doesn’t take much to realize who else might be willing: prison inmates facing long sentences, terminally ill people, financially disadvantaged parents, undocumented immigrants whose families are promised a fast track to citizenship. But people haven’t been enlisting fast enough to reach the threshold. On TV news, some are beginning to discuss “conscription.”

“Humane,” directed by Caitlin Cronenberg (a daughter of the celebrated horror auteur David Cronenberg) in her feature debut, builds this world at a satisfyingly rapid speed, raising stakes so quickly that you’re left breathless as the implications sink in. (That also means some of the logical leaps — like how you’d get the whole world to agree to these measures — fade into the background, and that’s fine.)

The screenplay, by Michael Sparaga, sets up a society that hasn’t imploded yet but is about to, and is recognizably littered with the detritus of a discourse-obsessed culture very like our own. People talk about conspiracies, about the lies of mainstream media, about calling the crisis the “Asian collapse.”

Then the film shifts to more insular environs: a well-off family with a lot at stake. There’s a former war correspondent, Charles (Peter Gallagher), his celebrity chef wife, Dawn (Uni Park), and his four children — an anthropologist and conscription supporter, Jared (Jay Baruchel); a disgraced pharmaceutical chief executive, Rachel (Emily Hampshire); a piano prodigy and sober addict, Noah (Sebastian Chacon); and an aspiring actress, Ashley (Alanna Bale). Charles has called the family together for a dinner party. They arrive, unwillingly, because they all kind of hate each other. And of course, they soon find out that this gathering is not what they expected.

Unfortunately, the first twenty minutes or so of “Humane” are the most powerful. At some point, the pileup of hypotheticals starts to tax the imagination, while cutting into the kind of character development that might aid the audience in actually caring what happens to the family members. (Most of them are pretty reprehensible, too, which doesn’t help much.) A few twists and turns might have helped, but the story eventually starts to feel like it’s making up new rules every 10 minutes to throw us off, and not in a way that is satisfying. Chacon, playing the most three-dimensional character, is hypnotically watchable. But the rest of the family is hard to latch onto, and they feel oddly underdeveloped in contrast to the world they’re living in.

That said, it’s a strangely sticky story, one that lingered after the movie was over. Most of the scenarios “Humane” presents feel only a few clicks away from possibility, and the ethical questions it raises, while only shallowly explored, are disconcerting.

The most terrifying part of “Humane” is not the family drama as much as the societal one, and knowing that euphemistic language has often been used by modern authoritarians to control populations makes it all the more frightening. This isn’t a movie with much to say, but it’s the sort of thought experiment that will keep you up at night.

Humane Rated R for a whole lot of blood and violence and language. Running time: 1 hour 33 minutes. In theaters.

Alissa Wilkinson is a Times movie critic. She’s been writing about movies since 2005. More about Alissa Wilkinson

Explore More in TV and Movies

Not sure what to watch next we can help..

As “Sex and the City” became more widely available on Netflix, younger viewers have watched it with a critical eye . But its longtime millennial and Gen X fans can’t quit.

Hoa Xuande had only one Hollywood credit when he was chosen to lead “The Sympathizer,” the starry HBO adaptation of a prize-winning novel. He needed all the encouragement he could get .

Even before his new film “Civil War” was released, the writer-director Alex Garland faced controversy over his vision of a divided America  with Texas and California as allies.

Theda Hammel’s directorial debut, “Stress Positions,” a comedy about millennials weathering the early days of the pandemic , will ask audiences to return to a time that many people would rather forget.

If you are overwhelmed by the endless options, don’t despair — we put together the best offerings   on Netflix , Max , Disney+ , Amazon Prime  and Hulu  to make choosing your next binge a little easier.

Sign up for our Watching newsletter  to get recommendations on the best films and TV shows to stream and watch, delivered to your inbox.