DISQUS

valido · 2 months ago

Well, there's a scene right at the beginning where the two girls have a flat tyre and they're completely paralyzed by that. They just sit in the car and don't know what to do. It's quite obvious that, from that moment on, we can't expect anything smart from them. Not all human beings on Earth are wise, and that scene tells us right away that those particular girls are quite clueless and we can't expect them to know their way out of the kind of situation they get in - which I would define slightly more unusual than a flat tyre. They also talk like Paris Hilton all the time, so I never really expected them to become Ellen Ripley all of a sudden like they do in every single american movie - actually, it would have been a major let down if it did happen. Strange that you missed that. About the rest: don't care about police procedures or the "scalpel vs. gun" - it's a freakin' movie about a human centipede, not "Cops", and it was fun - but you're right about the japanese, the ending only "works" (erm...) because we don't know that much about him.

RobHunter · 2 months ago

So the only character options for the girls are as either complete bad asses or total idiots? There's a huge spectrum of behavior in between those two extremes. It's not strange that we missed the fact that they're going to be mindless tools, it's odd that you think the scene was an intentional message to the audience of anything more than poor writing, directing, and acting.

valido · 2 months ago

Well, I may agree that making a character totally stupid sometimes is the easiest way to fill plot holes, but stupid people do exist, and at least that scene (PLUS the way they were talking all the time) had the decency to prepare me for that. Yeah, that's what it really did for me. Most movies just don't care: they're just content to make characters do stupid or intelligent things whenever the script requires one or the other. I'm sure you've seen enough to know what I mean.
In general I think you just missed the comedy parts (different sense of humour, I guess) so you started nitpicking on everything else, while I found the movie (and especially Dieter Laser) funny enough to have no problem with some incoherence here and there.

david_Jason · 2 months ago

To Dr. Cole Abaius

You just didn't get the film at all mate, this film is a dark comedy, piss take. The director himself said it. I and everyone else who went to Frightfest and watched the film thought it was great (just read the reviews). BTW, the film recently won the best horror film and best actor award.

Landon_Palmer · 2 months ago

I couldn't agree more, Kangaroo. Where does this idea come from that any award ends any debate regarding a film's merit?

Kangaroo Be Stoned · 2 months ago

I have no idea. It's nothing but an appeal to popularity fallacy. You see it a lot when it comes to film debate: people note scores at Rotten Tomatoes, scores at IMDb, award recognition, etc. Sites like RT are great for determining the general consensus of a film, but not whether it is good or not.

Kangaroo Be Stoned · 2 months ago

"BTW, the film recently won the best horror film and best actor award."
I hope you're not saying it's good because of those awards.

chille · 2 months ago

What difference does it make what genre it is? Dr. Cole made it abundantly clear that he did not enjoy the movie on any level, except the concept and a scene or two.

david_Jason · 2 months ago

The film is cheesy, fun and shocking at the same time, either you get it or you do not. Most people actually liked it. This will be a CULT film for sure.
http://www.chud.com/articles/articles/20943/1/B...

RobHunter · 2 months ago

Saying "you either get it or you don't" is a cop out. What exactly about this movie makes it fun or shocking?

RobertFure · 2 months ago

Posting a a positive Devin Chud review does more harm to your argument than good. Some people might not "get" the concept (which is...?) but a lot of people apparently don't get that a shitty story with shitty characters shitty writing and shitty acting is shitty.

jinxoxoxo · 2 months ago

I saw The Human Centipede at Fantastic Fest
and I thought It was a great horror film!

I hope Film School Rejects get a better reviewer.
Dr. Cole Abaius probably has not seen many horror films..

RobHunter · 2 months ago

I don't want to make a habit of coming to Abaius' defense, but he's actually one of FSR's most consistently mediocre reviewers. And he's seen plenty of horror films too.

His tastes and opinions aside, I've also seen a shit-ton of horror films, good, bad, and everything in between. I also watched Human Centipede at the same screening. And Abaius' review is 100% accurate.

With the singular exception of Dieter Laser's campy performance, there is zero redeeming value in this flick. As a horror film it fails miserably at being either scary or gross. As a twisted comedy it fails to be even remotely funny. But do us both a favor and instead of saying simply that it's "a great horror film" tell us what's so great about it?

pess · 2 months ago

Wow. F.
so you are basically saying FXXK YOU to
the judges who decided that this film was the best horror film
at Fantastic Fest 2009?

ha!

Cole_Abaius · 2 months ago

Whether or not a random group of three people chose it as a winner is irrelevant. And I'm certainly not saying "Fuck you" to anyone. I'm just giving my impression of the film.

That being said...I have yet to hear any cogent arguments about why the film is good.

It has massive plot holes, bland characters that act in whatever way will allow for the next scene to occur, and a shock-concept that's not presented all that shockingly. So we are left with a horror film that's not scary (except that scene where he explains the surgery), a supposed comedy film that's not (intentionally) funny or a gross out movie that's not all that gross. Where's the merit?