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Review: ‘The Human Centipede’ Trilogy Has Made Waves



Review: 'The Human Centipede' Trilogy Has Made Waves

In 2009, The Human Centipede (review here) debuted and everyone was talking about it. Whether you loved or hated it, it’s clear that Tom Six created a monster. It might be a monster sewn together ass to mouth, but pretending that this film wasn’t a horror game changer would be narrow minded. The story took off in the form of two sequels. Are they worth checking out? Well, that depends on if you have a hunger for seeing bigger and bigger human centipedes.

The Human Centipede 2009 Still

The Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence) came out just two years after the original. The film opens on the ending credits of the first film. Our main character, Martin, is watching the film at his job. Martin happens to have an unhealthy obsession with the first Human Centipede movie. He even has his own scrapbook that details the “medical accuracy” of building a human centipede. Martin is a pretty pathetic character who lives with his abusive mother. We quickly learn that Martin has also suffered sexual abuse at the hands of his father and the psychiatrist who is supposed to be helping him with the childhood abuse. As the film progresses, we watch Martin kidnap 12 individuals to make his own centipede, including the actress from the first movie, Ashlynn Yennie.

The Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence)


Six promised that the squeal would make the first movie “look like My Little Pony”. He delivered on his promise. The sequel is much more grotesque. The gore is ramped up, there’s a rape scene, and even the violent birth and death of a baby. It is not for everyone. The first one is pretty safe for everyone to watch. While the idea is vastly disturbing, the actual content is pretty tame. The sequel is not. It may even show a little too much (I.E. poop). The entire film is shown in black and white and there’s no real answer as to why that is. Some reports say it’s because the film was too gorey and Six was forced to make it black and white. However, Six has also said that while it was shot in color, he preferred it in black and white because it felt scarier. Knowing Six and his means of marketing, I’d bet the “too gorey” claim is likely just used to drum up the hype.

The Human Centipede 3 (Final Sequence) once again takes a stark turn in contrast to the previous two films. Again, the film starts up at the ending credits of The Human Centipede 2. At this point, the first two films are just movies in this universe. We see a prison Warden and his accountant watching the film. Dwight, the accountant, suggests that the films are, once again, “100% medically accurate” and would be a great punishment for the inmates. The warden, Bill, is having issues with his particularly violent inmates. Ultimately, the warden subscribes to this idea and we get the largest centipede of all, a 500 person human centipede.

The Human Centipede 3 (Final Sequence)

The last film of the series is obviously a dark comedy with heavy social commentary. Dieter Laser (the Doctor from the first film) and Laurence Harvey (the main character in the second movie) both join Six in this film as the Warden and the accountant. Tom Six even makes an appearance playing himself. This movie gets a lot of bad reception. Everyone seems to be in agreeance that this is the worst one of the trilogy and just an overall bad movie. Clearly, Six was attempting to deliver a message here, but every single character in the film is so unlikable, you really don’t invest much in it. It has some pretty disturbing scenes, but the film around those scenes is so cartoonist that the scenes themselves lose their effectiveness.

Even though the series has gone down hill with each sequel, I think both sequels fit well. Tom Six does a great job making completely different films about the same subject. All three films are so different that you could easily mistake them being directed by different people if Tom Six weren’t so loud about them. The guy has range and I’ll give him that. The sequels don’t hold a candle to the original, but I would say they are worth the watch. Even if just for curiosity sake. The Human Centipede trilogy has made waves. By itself, I’d consider that a success in filmmaking. The journey is likely not over. Tom Six has discussed the possibility of spin offs and having other human centipedes in other films. I think he should continue to milk the series. After all, we will watch them.



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