Ass To Mouth
“So, Jeff…are you thinking about seeing The Human Centipede?,” an IFC guy asked me a night or two ago. My response was something along the lines of “Gee, I…uhm, well, not at the moment but…” That was party-speak for “I’ve heard such repellent things that I tossed it out of my mind and haven’t given it a second thought until ten seconds ago.”
“It’s time to add a new type of bad movie to the ever-growing list: The aggressively bad movie,” wrote Horror Chick on 4.23. “There’s no ironic badness or nudge-nudge wink-ery here — it’s more like ‘screw you, you were sucker enough to see this movie and now we will do our best to make bile shoot straight up your esophagus and launch out your nostrils’ bad.
“Our prime example is The Human Centipede (in theaters — or maybe just Manhattan’s IFC Center). ‘Wait,’ you say, ‘isn’t that the ass-to-mouth movie?” Yes. Yes it is. In every literal and figurative sense.”
I heard about this ages ago and had completely forgotten about it as well. I’m not sure what I find more surprising:
1) That it managed to find theatrical distribution. I had assumed this had direct-to-DVD written all over it.
2) That it looks so comparatively “slick” considering the repellent subject matter. Again, I had assumed some crappy looking do-it-yourself flick. This clearly had some investors and time & money poured into it.
Still, I have 0% interest in seeing this and I generally consider myself a fan of horror movies.
1) IF C will release it this friday in theater(s) and on VOD for cable users.
2) That new trailer looks VERY slick, but the move still looks repellant to me.
3) This is the first film in a planned trilogy and the next one starts shooting in June in London, according to the director.
I don’t think I can watch this. Gross out horror lost me after I saw INSIDE.
I still just love the fact that we get that “100% medically accurate” claim at the end. Hopefully this will satisfy all the folks who are obsessed with keeping it REAL!!!
The more interesting movie would be one about an actress who agrees to be in a movie entitled The Human Centipede.
I’m waiting for DeeZee’s post saying that this film isn’t hat much different than AVATAR.
Maybe that should have gotten Lindsay Lohan to star in this. As long as she got to be in the front of the centipede of course.
Indeed this looks pretty foul (aka, I’ll totally end up seeing it)…
But that thing in the trailer where the two girls show up at the guy’s house with smeared eye makeup and wet hair? The way their eyes look? HOT. Plus they’re all wet and they have to carry their shoes and run barefoot. Everything from there out looks repulsive, but the smudged makeup thing is HOT.
The thing they don’t tell you is that while they’re trying so hard to be disgusting and shocking, they forget to make, you know, a competent movie. I don’t understand all the hype surrounding it.
It’s so poorly acted and over the top ridiculous, it makes Uwe Boll look talented. Yes, the ass-to-mouth bit is gross, but that’s all it is. Like the rest of the movie. It comes off like an Eli Roth movie, where the premise sounds promising enough, but the execution is piss poor,
The most shocking thing about The Human Centipede is that it’s not Japanese.
WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH SOME PEOPLE?
I’m hoping the sequel is The Human Daisy Chain. Because a human millipede with three more people just ain’t gonna be enough.
Does anyone else think IFC has ruined any and all credibility with this one? The next time they’re talking to a filmmaker and tell her/him they’re not gonna pick up a movie for pretty much any reason, I’m sure this is the film that will we going through that filmmaker’s head as they think, “Huh?”
The Wiki page on this film is pretty funny, I encourage a read; especially the “no-shit” facts that state that the director did not inform his financial backers nor cast of the ass-to-mouth stuff until they were already signed and ready–to-film.
@Sad: I also, read, somewhere, that when they did casting for the two girls in NYC, like everybody walked out after they heard the plot and that these two ladies were the only ones “brave enough” to do the film.
Also, WAY TOO MANY people ar throwing around David Cronenberg’s name. Like this akin to anything in his work. Unless this thing can rise above being nothing but nasty, exploitation horror (which I doubt), they need to stop that stuff right now. Yeah, DC has made films that are about using the flesh, but usually in a twisted human/tech way. this is NOTHING like ay of his work.
I’m not proud to admit, however, that I’d be all over a movie called “The Human Spotted Weaver Beetle”.
“Mom! Mom! I got the lead in a movie!”
One year later:
“Isn’t your daughter in that film where she eats shit out of some other girl’s butt? You must be so proud. Hey, at least she didn’t end up stripping or hooking like everyone thought, right?”
Deathtongue!
(I laffed)
This movie is brilliant and terrifying, a masterpiece of bad taste. I can’t get it out of my head, and I saw it a month ago. Those who deride it without seeing it are either stupid or too squeamish.
“100% Medically Accurate” … lol
@Gabe: There is nothing wrong with being “squeamish.” I don’t have ANY desire to see movies like SAW or other torture porn, which this obviously is. Granted, the idea of this film is kinda attractive in a driving-slowly-by-a-car-accident kinda way.
Winchester: “The most shocking thing about The Human Centipede is that it’s not Japanese.”
You forgot to add “or German or Italian”.
If you’re a fan of gurochan.net, you’ll love this movie! Out of five severed tits, I’d give a four.
How did Billy Drago sleep through a chance to star in this?
Recognize the doc? That’s Dieter Laser, the amoral journalist in THE LOST HONOR OF KATHARINA BLUM.
Films like this wouldn’t keep getting made if there weren’t enough sickos willing to see them. I’m sure this will bomb in theatres but become a big enough success on DVD to warrant more. Hooray!
I can’t wait to read Ebert’s review.
One thing – I hope the simultaneous VOD release won’t hurt its Oscar eligibility.
“Films like this wouldn’t keep getting made if there weren’t enough sickos willing to see them…”
Hold on a minute now… Let’s not get all moralistic and judgmental.
I was never one of those Fangoria kids who stopwatches Friday the 13th kill scenes to see how many frames have been shaved from the Japanese laser import, but even the people who are that extreme about their horror fanaticism are generally just harmless dorks. You don’t have some bullshit moral high ground because you don’t like extreme horror, or heavy metal, or violent videogames, or what have you. Millions of people enjoy those things and they’re perfectly functional, responsible types, not a bunch of slobbering mouth breathers penning in their John Doe notebooks how to abduct the girl at the end of the block. Just because it’s not entertaining to you or because your cutoff line of what constitutes entertainment doesn’t require that much intensity, doesn’t mean some dude seeing “Human Centipede” or “Captivity” or “Saw” is having anything other than an entertaining time at a silly movie THAT ISN’T REAL.
Don’t be an alarmist or a censor, please.
Does anyone else think IFC has ruined any and all credibility with this one?
nope
Not that I actually want to see this thing now, but why the fuck would you give away the entire story in the trailer?
Agreed, Bob Violence. It’s no different than what Miramax did with its genre films or that studio that does the SAW crap.
I agree that you’re not really a “sicko” if you like extreme horror, but whe one hears about things like the AUGUST UNDERGROUND series, one has to wonder. I wouldn’t watch those movies with a gun to my head.
@DZ: Most trailers, nowadays, give away the whole film.
Also: CAPTIVITY *ruled.*
what i want to know is if this will be given the Criterion treatment as part of the IFC deal they inked earlier this year?
“Just because it’s not entertaining to you or because your cutoff line of what constitutes entertainment doesn’t require that much intensity, doesn’t mean some dude seeing “Human Centipede” or “Captivity” or “Saw” is having anything other than an entertaining time at a silly movie THAT ISN’T REAL.”
But what is “entertaining” about it? The point is that there is a desire for it to be real enough in order to invest in it, or at least evidently there’s that desire at present. In that sense then it’s not quite fantastic escapism or even just wild, gonzo exploitation; it suggests a different register of interaction.
Hey just because ALL fans of a film like this aren’t mentally disturbed doesn’t mean most of them aren’t suffering from some sort of either emotional developmental problems at the very least or something much more disturbed.
Being a fan of this film might not be proof in itself that the Ortez kid down the street has some emotional development problems, but it’s certainly going to land him on my >b>parental watch list of boys my girls aren’t allowed near alone. Only the naive will be shocked years from now when the bodies turn up in the corner of the yard the dog kept digging up, ya dig?
John, I can’t speak for the Saw movies (just saw the first one, wasn’t really my cup of tea), but — and I’m probably going to get flamed for this — the Hostel movies operate on a pretty high level for this genre. Roth plays with genre conventions, dashes audience expectations, and perverts the viewer’s bloodlust.
It’s obviously not meant as a direct comparison, but in a sense he’s using some of the same “interactive” techniques Hitchcock used on his audiences — making them self-aware of their own id, indicting their deeper impulses/darker desires through the actions of the main character(s).
I wouldn’t say most of Roth’s films so far have been deep, per se, but there is social commentary in the Hostel movies if you choose to seek it out. I can’t say the same for 90% of the modern American horror I’ve seen.
Of course the flip side of that argument, DtG, is that by listening to heavy music/watching horrific films, those kids are actually releasing their inner tensions in a healthy way on a daily basis, whereas someone who goes around bouncing off the walls in elation everyday is actually repressively bottling up some of the darker aspects of their personality.
Not saying I believe any of that shit, I’m just saying — psychologically speaking — that argument is also out there.
Personally, I believe it’s all just simply a matter of taste.
I was going to say the same thing, CitizenKaned. The Hostel films are, in my opinion, far from actually being good movies but they are, unlike all the Saw sequels, actual functioning narratives. They make an attempt to be satirical and the first one is pretty well shot. The first Saw wasn’t exactly my genre, but I thought it was a passable b-movie. After that, I always seemed to be dating skanks around Halloween who would drag me to those damn sequels. Saw 2 was just a traditional terrible movie (bad acting, hokey twists, too much gore) but Saw 3 was like a learning disabled child’s nightmare. Some artsy movies have flown over my head; Saw 3′s plot twists were so intensely stupid I couldn’t wrap my mind around them. After that, I avoided the series at all costs. Destruction of the human body for its own sake is something that I really have no interest in.
As to the Human Centipede, I not only will avoid this at all costs in theaters and on DVD, I have tried to avoid media coverage of it when I can. Jeff has thankfully refrained from gleefully recounting every new detail about the movie’s premise so I’ve been able to stomach this entry without too much trouble.
I realize that the film business is just that: a business. Still, if I were a quality filmmaker, I would feel more than a little weird about working with IFC after this. Torture porn is bad enough, but a movie that’s built wholly around people eating shit? I’m sure the director has some explanation for why this is a “satire” or has “deep political meanings,” but it’s being marketed as the “movie where people have to eat shit.” People using horror films, even grotesque ones, as a means to conquer their fears I can understand. People paying money to watch a movie about a guy forcing people to eat shit? I’m not sure I want to be friends with that person.
“Those who deride it without seeing it are either stupid or too squeamish.”
Gabe – Would you say the same about those who skip yet mock “Paul Blart: Mall Cop”?
I just hope it’s as half as good as THE SINFUL DWARF.
Sorry, Lexolicious, but for me, anyone who finds movies like The Human Centipede to be “entertaining” is a sicko. There is a difference between pushing boundaries and being disgusting because there is a market for shit like this.
“Saw 2 was just a traditional terrible movie (bad acting, hokey twists, too much gore)”
Hey, that’s not fair; Saw 2 had one genuinely solid twist, when it’s revealed that everything has actually been on video the whole time, and everybody’s actually already dead, there’s no chance for Wahlberg to save them.
Lex – in point of fact, the person I know who’s interested in ‘Human Centipede’, the one I heard about it from (it sounded better when he described it; he played down the shit-eating), he knows more about film and pays more attention to it than anybody on here. He’s exactly what you say, he’s a dork. He saw the new Gilliam movie more than once in a theater.
What interests me is, suddenly, with ‘Centipede’, everybody here is worried about if the movie is entertaining. I don’t think anybody would use the word “entertaining” to describe ‘Centipede’ even if they did like it. Just as nobody would use the word “entertaining” to describe ‘Greenberg’. There’s all kinds of movies that are worthwhile and good but not particularly entertaining.
Why would anybody want to watch a movie where Eric Roberts acts like an unlikable moron for two hours and then stabs his wife and rapes her corpse? It’s rarely entertaining, but ‘Star 80′ is a masterpiece.
I’m surprised Jeff hasn’t chimed in yet with his (well, not *his*, the one he took from Michael O’Donoghue) theory about comedy, how entertaining people is the lowest form of comedy.
Speaking of Greenberg, I’d have liked it more if I could understand why a yuppie living in a well-off part of L.A. who manages to bag the female lead, is so pissed off. The clinical depression plot device just seems like a cop-out, because he’s got no traumatic life history to rail against, and he doesn’t even have to deal with any real responsibilities and pressures like his friends and family. Over all, this film feels like it was trying to be the indie answer to Fight Club, but without any sense of urgency or direction.
And, in terms of marketing, I think Stiller should’ve released Greenberg *after* Fokkers, because once the former film comes out on BD/DVD, it could actually end up hurting the take of the latter film.
EdHavens -
So where does that leave a filmmaker like Takashi Miike? Not that you would necessarily know, because it’s clear you don’t have a taste for this kind of material, but he is a genuinely creative and experimental filmmaker who also works — although not exclusively — in extreme horror.
I know all the marketing on these kinda flicks really makes people sick, but the fact of the matter is horror has one of the most loyal audience fanbases in the country. It’s absolutely imperative that the word about these movies gets out to them or else they’ll certainly never be profitable because there is a pretty high percentage of the population — people like you — that won’t see these pictures on general principle. That’s a pretty frightening handicap if you’re a producer or exhibitor, so I think you can almost forgive the marketing for going so far over-the-top on these things.
DeeZee, you didn’t like Greenberg because it was lamely trying to cash-in on your gimmicky life story (only with more P+A).
Oh wait, except for that part where he actually has a relationship with a real female.
Um, P.S. — Moms don’t count.
buck swope – thanks for giving me a much-needed laugh.
Looks like a trailer left out of the GRINDHOUSE previews….
“I’d have liked it more if I could understand why a yuppie living in a well-off part of L.A. who manages to bag the female lead”
Well, if you actually watched the movie, you’d know that he’s not a yuppie and he doesn’t live in L.A. (Whether he bags the female lead is also debatable.)
“and he doesn’t even have to deal with any real responsibilities and pressures like his friends and family”
Sounds exactly like you, and yet you’re incredibly bitter, much moreso than Greenberg.
The hype has me wary, but color me intrigued.
See, look… not to be “that guy,” but I’ve seen August Underground (DON’T, would be my one-word review, utterly repellent stuff), Cannibal Holocaust, Horrors of Malformed Men (which is where Centipede seems to have borrowed a lot from) and the rest of the horror-geek “baptism by fire” canon. I don’t bring that up in some kind of macho “bring it on”/”you can’t shock me” bullshit sense, my point is that I want to see this because the “taboo” it’s breaking is more of a HORROR taboo than a societal one.
Think about it: The “splatter” subgenre has a weird internal morality all it’s own that basically says “blood/guts/whatever spilling out of vicitms is awesome and cool and wicked fun… but not shit. Never, ever shit. Because scatology “ruins” the sexual-release/blood-spray metaphor. How many times have you seen naked people get killed in slasher movies? How many times have you seen them crap themselves, which is what would actually happen? Never. In Hostel 2 a naked chick slices up a hanging girl and bathes in her blood… ONLY blood. Somehow, nothing else “comes out.” Interesting biological specimen that has no digestive system. Mainstream TV cop shows do Halloween episodes with “vampire lifestyle” fetishists drinking eachothers blood, and it’s “sexy” – think they’ll build an episode around 2 Girls 1 Cup? Nope, because only gore is “cool.”
So yeah, I want to see this – even though it’ll probably make me want to retch – because I’m intrigued that someone has basically gone and made something SPECIFICALLY to tweak hardcore gore-movie fanboys about the one thing THEY don’t even want to see.
Kane: I’ve had relationships, and I ain’t on Zoloft. Plus I’ve never lived in a swanky part of town, either, because no one in L.A. who isn’t already loaded coming here can afford it, especially after the housing bubble. If anything, Stiller reminds me of some brats I knew when I was younger who had it too good, and thought being self-centered druggie assholes was the only way to be one of the “in” kids. Ironically, one of them actually had less trouble finding work than I did, even though, in another life, he’d be future Columbine material.
Gordon: He’s definitely a yuppie. He might be from the East Coast, but he’s still a yuppie. Only they have the time and resources to be nostalgic for music from the 70s and 80s when they’re dwelling in a city with a high poverty rate. And if you don’t think I have responsibilities and pressures, you really don’t know shit about me.
I’m with Gabe on this: “Centipede” is indeed a masterpiece of bad taste, unsettling and grimly hilarious at the same time, and even somewhat restrained in its approach. I won’t judge or deride anyone who has no interest in seeing it, but I agree with Lex and some others on here that just because one watches these movies (“enjoy” is a tough term not just for a lot of horror, but a lot of other films), that doesn’t automatically make you a sicko or even give you a predisposal toward being one. I grew up watching and reading gory horror and listening to heavy metal from a very young age, and I think I turned out just fine, the 37 corpses in my basement notwithstanding.
“Only they have the time and resources to be nostalgic for music from the 70s and 80s when they’re dwelling in a city with a high poverty rate.”
Well, maybe someday, you’ll get around to seeing the movie, and realize that he’s nostalgic for the time period WHEN HE WAS AN ACTIVE MUSICIAN.
As for “yuppie”, let’s see… he’s not young, and he’s not an urban professional. When he was young, he was in a band, so he wasn’t an urban professional. Now, he’s a carpenter. The word has a simple definition, and he meets none of the qualifications, and the word has further implications, which he meets none of.
“And if you don’t think I have responsibilities and pressures, you really don’t know shit about me. ”
I know that you said you decided to willingly stop looking for a job because it was too much stress and you’d rather just live with your parents making unemployment. So, yeah, I’m sure you have the responsibilities of emptying the dishwasher, but you’re deliberately removing yourself from being an adult. If you still feel pressure, then what, exactly, is the advantage of the stupid choice you’ve made?
Gordon: “and realize that he’s nostalgic for the time period WHEN HE WAS AN ACTIVE MUSICIAN.”
He was in a college band. There is a difference.
“As for “yuppie”, let’s see… he’s not young, and he’s not an urban professional. ”
Who said they have to be young or professionals? It’s a status and location thing.
“Now, he’s a carpenter.”
It seems more like he does carpentry as a hobby.
“I know that you said you decided to willingly stop looking for a job because it was too much stress and you’d rather just live with your parents making unemployment.”
I didn’t willingly choose that. I’d been searching for a real fucking job for the last seven years, and my unemployment was the only immediate pay-out I was going to get, given the current economic crisis. And technically, the only way to continue getting unemployment is to continue looking for work. It didn’t pan out, so I’m stuck in school again.
“but you’re deliberately removing yourself from being an adult.”
I told you. You want me to be an adult, find me a job.
“If you still feel pressure, then what, exactly, is the advantage of the stupid choice you’ve made?”
There was no fucking advantage. I’m taking what I can get. There are engineers who are having as much fucking trouble finding work as me. That’s just a fact you seem to be pretending doesn’t apply to you.
“He was in a college band. There is a difference.”
Uh, no, they were a band that was successful enough post-college to get a record deal that he messed up. Again, this is all said explicitly in the movie you didn’t see.
“Who said they have to be young or professionals?”
That’s what yuppie stands for.
“It’s a status and location thing.”
It isn’t about location, it’s a type of person, and Greenberg isn’t a yuppie.
“It seems more like he does carpentry as a hobby.”
well what, exactly, do you think his *job* is if it isn’t what they say his job is?
“That’s just a fact you seem to be pretending doesn’t apply to you.”
No, I live in the adult world. Sometimes I take an office job, but lately I’ve been able to make money as a writer, which also affords me the time to start raising money for a feature-film.
You blame the “current economic crisis” for not being able to get a job for seven years… it’s weird how everything in the world is responsible for the shitty life that has made you so bitter except for *you*.
Much like Greenberg.
Damn. I just saw “Greenberg” too. I SO wanted to like it more. Loved “Squid and the Whale”.
I’m not one who needs the main character of a piece to be “likable”, but damn. He was just a total cock.
Worst part was the trailer package at the Arclight. “Sex and the City 2″ and some movie consisting of home movies of people’s babies.
I’m really worried that ‘Babies’ movie is going to do well, Travis.
Gordon: “Uh, no, they were a band that was successful enough post-college to get a record deal that he messed up.”
Still a college band which almost to the big time.
“That’s what yuppie stands for.”
Yes, but that’s not necessarily a literal thing, since it’s associated with Boomers who don’t necessarily live in urban locales.
“well what, exactly, do you think his *job* is if it isn’t what they say his job is?”
Probably a contractor.
“Sometimes I take an office job, but lately I’ve been able to make money as a writer, which also affords me the time to start raising money for a feature-film.”
Sure it does. So where is it? And you’re probably just a copy editor.
“it’s weird how everything in the world is responsible for the shitty life that has made you so bitter except for *you*. Much like Greenberg.”
Except he *doesn’t* have a shitty life. He just gets off on making it seem shittier than it really is, because he’s so jealous of people who actually get more mileage out of smaller lots in their own lives than he’s able to get from greater spoils he doesn’t even have to work that hard for.
Travis: Seriously. I wish my life “sucked” as much as his did. He doesn’t even have to deal with L.A.’s infamous rush hour traffic.
Oh, it will. It’s like any movie with the words “marriage” or “wedding” in the title.
“Yay! Babies! Awww!”
made it to the big time
“So where is it? And you’re probably just a copy editor.”
“because he’s so jealous of people who actually get more mileage out of smaller lots in their own lives”
Yep, you’re nothing at all like Greenberg. Nothing at all.
“since it’s associated with Boomers who don’t necessarily live in urban locales. ”
Yuppies are the generation after boomers.
“Yep, you’re nothing at all like Greenberg.”
Yes, because having to rely on unemployment and going back to school for a third time vs. a steady job is so awesome.
“Yuppies are the generation after boomers.”
I’ve heard yuppies used in conjunction with boomers.
MovieBob has more guts than I do. I couldn’t watch any of those films. i am fascinated by them, but I just don’t need that shit in my head. Seriously. Watching INSIDE, and seeing that girl’s stomach cut open and hr baby pulled out was too much for me. Made me a horror pussy, I guess.
So Jeff, are you thinking about seeing A SERBIAN FILM?
“I’ve heard yuppies used in conjunction with boomers. ”
And, when I ask where, you’re gonna say “Internet message boards”.
“vs. a steady job is so awesome.”
I don’t think Greenberg has a steady job, I’m pretty sure he’s just getting out of a mental institution (more or less, anyway).
And, again, more specifically, I was pointing out how everything you say is dripping with bitterness towards people but lacks any self-awareness as to your own faults and how they cause so many of your problems.
Yuppies were baby boomers. Think Jeff Daniels in SOMETHING WILD. Why is it so hard to get this straight? They were business and pre-law majors in high school. Greenberg is GenX, but I guess he’s a “yuppie” because he makes DeeZee feel jealous; Greenberg is getting away with something that DeeZee is not able to get away with. It’s like when dittoheads call up Rush Limbaugh and bitch about “welfare queens.”
I meant to say they were business and pre-law majors in college.
Tom Six is a solid director and gross premise aside, this is a solid chiller… I wasn’t too into seeing it when I first heard about it but I decided to buck up and see it and I’m glad I did. It’s not perfect but it’s very funny at times and probably the closest we’ll get to a Texas Chainsaw Massacre for this decade. It blows Paranormal Activity out of the water.
“So Jeff, are you thinking about seeing A SERBIAN FILM?”
I’m glad somebody brought that up. Maybe IFC will release that too.
Somewhere in a dark cave one slimey little publicist is laughing his ass off the fact this movie is getting so much attention.
Y’know, I’ve been thinking about this. God knows why…nobody should think about this movie at all, much less waste time and space on a blog commenting on it.
But I feel I must say something.
The thing is, making a movie is an intense deal. Sure, you can toss off some piece of shit on digital with little effort, but a thing like Human Centipede–even just what goes into making that slick trailer–takes time, money, effort and focus from dozens (if not hundreds) of people. It’s a serious fucking endeavor.
So you marshall all those resources, hire actors, lie to everybody about the subject matter, cheat and steal your way into funding and gear, etc, at the service of…what? Stitching mouths to buttholes? THAT is what has inspired you to climb this tall mountain of making a film? That’s what inspired you?
In my view, this is a very sick person behind this. Think of all the many, many better things a person can do with his or her time, the great maw of human endeavor, the gift of having an evolved cerebral cortex and opposable thumbs. How could someone be so lost, so totally deranged as to channel all those gifts into a concept so utterly insane?
We should be getting this person the help he needs, not encouraging him by attaching some kind of intellectual sheen to what is clearly a sick cry for help.
“Babies” is going to be fucking JUGGERNAUT. March of the Penguins times a thousand. Whoever put up the money for that is a goddamn genius. “DAAAAAW: THE MOVIE.”
And y’know who’s gonna go fucking nuts over it? The pro-life toolboxes on Big Hollywood and Movieguide. Just watch: “It’s a celebration of LIFE!” Jill Stanek is probably jilling-off to the trailer as we speak.
Well that was a fun end to the thread that I missed out on. I like the parts where DeeZee tries desperately to argue with the specific plot points of a movie he’s clearly never watched before. That was kind of a new and fresh take on his trademark willful ignorance — not to mention just plainly “being wrong” — that I’d never quite seen before.
He’s really taking this insanity thing up a few notches to the next level. I’m pretty blown away by it.
Gordon: “but lacks any self-awareness as to your own faults and how they cause so many of your problems.”
Being picked on because of my “weaknesses” is partly why I’m so bitter in the first place. ‘Cus I was brainwashed into believing that working on them would make me more likeable, when it’s just a way fake me out to keep me from attaining my true potential. Oh, and Prager proved me right on the yuppie thing, so, it’s three to zero.
George: Greenberg is a wannabe Gen X’er, but a yuppie in spirit. And the only reason he’s able to get away with it is because he hangs out in an affluent part of town. And considering it’s probably responsible for Prop. 13, I guess welfare queen is appropriate.
Kane: I saw Greenberg, but walked out on the last 10 minutes or so.
>I was never one of those Fangoria kids who stopwatches Friday the 13th kill scenes to see how many frames have been shaved from the Japanese laser import
This is good.
>In my view, this is a very sick person behind this. Think of all the many, many better things a person can do with his or her time, the great maw of human endeavor, the gift of having an evolved cerebral cortex and opposable thumbs. How could someone be so lost, so totally deranged as to channel all those gifts into a concept so utterly insane?
On the one hand I see your point; on the other hand I think there’s a legitimate humanistic purpose in tweaking the bluenoses and pushing the boundaries of bad taste.
All that said, this isn’t going to be atop my Netflix queue anytime soon.
>Yuppies were baby boomers.
I wasn’t aware that Yuppie was a generational designation. Boomers may have been the first generation of yuppies (or at least the first generation labeled as such), but I know plenty of Gen X’ers who fit the bill. The term comes from Young Urban Professional, so is not, I think, era-dependent.
Just curious: how many of you deriding Human Centipede for its premise are fans of John Waters, or at least respect him as an artist?
Y’know, the director who made a movie in which somebody ACTUALLY ate shit? As opposed to one in which it happens BY IMPLICATION ONLY, and is NOT REAL?
I will grant anybody that Human Centipede is tough to defend morally, but it works very well as a HORROR movie, i.e. it presents a horrific situation that its protagonists must escape at all costs, and the viewers experience tension because we would want to escape that situation also. Horror is all about tension and catharsis, and this movie provides them.
LYT: I like John Waters the personality, but his films are pretty hit-and-miss.
“‘Cus I was brainwashed into believing that working on them would make me more likeable, when it’s just a way fake me out to keep me from attaining my true potential.”
Yeah, you’re really living up to your true potential! Good thing you didn’t fix any of your issues!
“Oh, and Prager proved me right on the yuppie thing”
No, Prager didn’t prove you right; first off, as I said, baby boomers are post-WWII, and yuppiers were 20-30 in the 1980′s.
Second, if Prager agreed with you, then why are you disagreeing with him in this same post? Oh, right, ’cause you’re an idiot.
“so, it’s three to zero.”
I honestly don’t know what you mean by that. It can’t be any kind of score, because that would imply that you think you’ve never been wrong. You might be counting one genuine point for yourself, ‘Kick-Ass’, but you can’t be, because of the hundreds of times you’ve been wrong about grosses and dismissed it by saying that film grosses are too much of a craps shoot and you don’t consider that as something that counts.
So, yeah, baffling point, there.
Just curious: how many of you deriding Human Centipede for its premise are fans of John Waters, or at least respect him as an artist?
Y’know, the director who made a movie in which somebody ACTUALLY ate shit? As opposed to one in which it happens BY IMPLICATION ONLY, and is NOT REAL?
I will grant anybody that Human Centipede is tough to defend morally, but it works very well as a HORROR movie, i.e. it presents a horrific situation that its protagonists must escape at all costs, and the viewers experience tension because we would want to escape that situation also. Horror is all about tension and catharsis, and this movie provides them.
“Greenberg is a wannabe Gen X’er”
I just want to let you know, if I take your comment at face-value — which is almost always a mistake, but I digress — it literally means that Greenberg is a person who really wants to be born between the years of ____ and ____. Riiiiiiiiiiight.
“Kane: I saw Greenberg, but walked out on the last 10 minutes or so.”
I don’t believe you (most likely scenario — if you even saw it AT ALL — you stopped streaming it from your computer). But even on the off-chance that this actually is the case, if you stuck with it for that long — why wouldn’t you see it through to the end? Got more important things to do, like rush home and post more pointless links here? Hard to imagine being unemployed and just walking out of movies randomly like that, I’d certainly want to make my money count (esp. since, relatively-speaking, I’d have a lot less of it than free time).
Kaned… one thing you need to understand… I spent a couple years working for Troma. I saw so many stupid, degrading, bullshit “movies” in those years from filmmakers who were trying to be “edgy” and “provocative” that I’m done with them for the most part.
Yes, I have seen several of Miike movies, thanks in part to working with Lloyd Kaufman, who is probably the world’s #1 Miike fan, but after a while for me, much of Miike’s work became redundant. I actually do want to see Yatterman, but I haven’t had the time to watch it yet.
After 42 years and at least 10,000 movies, my bullshit meter for movies is empty. I just want to be engaged in what I am watching, and engaged honestly. I can find The Cove engaging, even as I find its storyline more sickening than anything Tom Six could ever dream up. But I cannot in good conscience find fake human degradation to be engaging.
If The Human Centipede had something interesting to say about humanity, that’d be one thing. But it doesn’t. It just wants to gross you out, and that’s just not my thing anymore.
Fair enough, Ed. Thanks for giving me some context on where you were coming from because I was honestly kind of lost. Your postings read almost like a moralistic creed condemning anyone who spent time watching any films in the genre. I was kinda having a hard time getting behind that line of reasoning.
But given your personal history with Troma, and some of the stuff they pump out — I think I understand now. I think working up-close and personal with almost anything can really pervert — if not outright kill — your appetite/motivation for spending any more of your free time with it. Just kills your taste for it.
e: ” which is almost always a mistake, but I digress — it literally means that Greenberg is a person who really wants to be born between the years of ____ and ____. Riiiiiiiiiiight.”
More like he wants to be perceived as part of the segement people who considered themselves screwed over by the bullshit from the Boomers. But he’s had it too good.
“why wouldn’t you see it through to the end? ”
If I wanted to see a movie where the main character gets more irritating as the story moves along, I can just Netflix Evangelion.
“I’d certainly want to make my money count (esp. since, relatively-speaking, I’d have a lot less of it than free time).”
When you’re that far into a movie, it’s not like you can get your money back anyway. But I saw a matinee screening @ the Beverly Center. Glad I wasn’t one of those disappointed people who paid Sucklight prices.
Ed: Yatterman’s fairly fucking boring. It actually played at the New Beverly for JFFLA a few weeks ago.
Late to the game and (judging by the thread) now completely off-topic, but HUMAN CENTIPEDE is not an “ass to mouth” movie. That term implies a dick (or something like it) being inserted in one and then the other (ad infinitum). Outside of “rimming,” I’m not sure if there is an existing term that accurately captures what is happening in this thing, aside from “disgusting.”
You’re welcome.
bmc – I’m too lazy too look up the fancy word for “shit-eating” (a good-enough word right there), something like “corophagia”.
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