The cinema hides various films that are uncomfortable to watch, such as “Cannibal Holocaust”, a film that even led its director to be arrested for murder. However, one of the most disturbing films in the history of the seventh art is “The human centipede”feature film directed by Tom Sixwho, believe it or not, found his inspiration in a true crime.
“The Human Centipede” starred Dieter Laser, in the role of Dr. Heiter. Photo: IFC Films
What is “The Human Centipede” about?
Two young Americans are traveling through Europe. Already in Germany, they end up alone at night when their car breaks down in the middle of the forest. They seek help and find an isolated village.
The next day, they wake up to find themselves trapped, along with a Japanese man, in a terrifying makeshift hospital, inside a basement. As if the scene couldn’t get any worse, an elderly German man appears before them, identifying himself as a retired surgeon who specializes in separating conjoined twins.
However, his three ‘patients’ are not going to be separated, but joined in a horrible operation. The so-called doctor wants to be the first person to connect people through their gastric systems. In doing so, he plans to bring to life his lifelong sick fantasy, the human centipede.
What crime inspired “The Human Centipede”?
An article from the BBC was commissioned to portray Tom Six, the filmmaker in charge of “The Human Centipede”. The report, entitled “The man behind the most horrifying movie of all time”, brings us closer to the filmmaker and part of his creative process to make such a film.
In this way, Six revealed that the idea to create the central core of the tape came while watching television. Tuning in to the news, he came across the aberrant story of a pedophile.
“His crimes were so horrible that I asked myself: ‘What is the most extreme punishment that could be given to him?’ That’s how the ‘Human centipede’ concept was born,” he explained to the BBC. With this in mind, he structured his project, in which he also relied on stories from Nazi Germany to build his narrative and premiere his cult work.
