The Human Centipede

Rating

Director

Tom Six

Screenplay

Tom Six

Length

1h 32m

Starring

Dieter Laser, Ashley C. Williams, Ashlynn Yennie, Akihiro Kitamura, Andreas Leupold, Peter Blankenstein, Bernd Kostrau, Rene de Wit, Sylvia Zidek, Monica Iconica (Rosemary Annabella), Maurício d’Orey

MPAA Rating

R

Review

Every era of horror history has started with an unusual plot that actually works. The Human Centipede aimed high but stumbled out of the gate.

A German doctor famous for his successful separation of conjoined twins has a dark, disturbing fantasy of joining patients that were not previously conjoined. Using his expertise, he abducts a number of strangers to turn them into a three-person human centipede. His work is nearly successful if not for the continued refusal of his patients to accept their fate and a pair of detectives working a trio of missing persons cases.

It’s an open secret what the “twist” in the film is. You can probably make a guess based off the title alone. However, the narrative is the only inventive element to the film. Taking away the centipede concept, you have a bargain basement horror film built on a boat load of familiar horror tropes that turns this body horror/gross out concept into a bland retread. If it had been released in the 1980s, many young horror fans might have stumbled across it and discovered their new guilty pleasure. Today, the “have you seen it” model works supremely well for selling a film even if it’s neither special, nor original in terms of cinematic devices. What you expect to happen generally does.

Dieter Laser gives the maniacal Dr. Josef Heiter a suitably creepy vibe, nearly nailing the dispassionate approach to medicine one might need to carry out this heinous act on other living creatures. Ashley C. Williams, Ashlynn Yennie, and Akihiro Kitamura are game for the horrors their characters are put through but bring nothing new to the genre in terms of horrified indignance or disgusted rage.

Writer/director Tom Six has gone all-in on his outlandish concept but to make it work, he must find old ways to drive the narrative to its conclusion without finding a reason to exist outside of its high concept foundation. There are some clever shifts in perception that lead the audience astray, but leaps of logic are required to believe half the plot devices available. This is the kind of movie you want to see just out of curiosity, but ultimately wonder why you exerted any effort to see it in the first place.

Requiring a great deal of mental fortitude to watch, an iron stomach will only help you for small portions The Human Centipede. Unfortunately, it’s being able to endure generic horror tropes with a vomit-inducing twist that will color your impression of the film. There have been many ludicrous ideas that have made more inventive and compelling horror films and this one is not among the most successful at that approach.

Review Written

November 4, 2026