Human Centipede (First Sequence)

First off, I did not think this concept was that awful. Maybe I've seen too many weird and outlandish movies at this point but this was not shocking to me really at all. Every time this movie came up in conversation it was always prefaced with "Oh my God have you heard about Human Centipede?!" or ended with "Eww thats so disgusting and fucked up". Newsflash guys, thats the point. This film was not made to be mainstream, it was not made to make you scared of bumps in the night, it was made for you to say "whoa that was fucked up!" at the end. The acting is not amazing and nor is the dialogue yet again, not the point. It got people talking and generated its own buzz without doing anything, hell it was only showing at our tiny IFC in the west village with few showings, but most of my friends (most of which are not into movies like I am) heard about it at the least.


Human Centipede is a Dutch horror film that takes place in Germany where three tourists are kidnapped by a psychotic Dr.Heiter who has devised a plan to create a new "pet", which consists of sewing three humans together "mouth to rectum" and redirecting their digestive tracks to work as one, thus dubbing it the human centipede. Does it sound a little gross? Sure ok yeah by traditional squeamish standards. Did I personally find it that disgusting and horrifying? No, not really. Maybe it is because this concept is somewhat so outlandish that it's hard putting myself in these characters shoes or on their hand and knees to be more accurate. I think in most horror movies we imagine ourselves in the positions of the characters or at least are seeing situations we know could potentially effect us, for me this just isn't one of them and trust me I am well aware of the insane people there are in this world that are fully capable of making this plot a reality. The surgical scenes and dreaded "someone is going to have to go to the bathroom eventually" scene weren't that graphic to me and I feel that other human torture movies like Hostel or I Spit On Your Grave cause more of an uncomfortable feeling than this movie did. It's all really about shock value and one of those things you feel you just have to see to see and if you're interested there is a sequel coming titled "Human Centipede (Full Sequence) aka "The Human Millipede".

Human Centipede
Released 2010
Directed by Tom Six

Frozen

Anyone who has been skiing or snowboarding can tell me that when the ski lift stops in midair for a few minutes your heart doesnt jump into your throat and start to beat a bit faster. You look down at the ground and realize just how high up you are and how much it would suck to be stuck there...Frozen takes on those fears. Three friends go skiing for the weekend and after bribing the lift operator to let them take just one last run ultimately get stuck at the top all alone. Someone would notice eventually right? Wrong, they are closed for a holiday weekend and theres a storm moving in.

I think the main hesitation for audiences with this film is the idea that a whole movie taking place on a ski lift would be or get boring. I didnt find that to be the case and was pretty interested the whole way through, there is obviously a lot of dialogue but that allows for character development and gives you an idea of what each character is going to have to overcome within themselves to push through this situation.

Frozen
Released 2010
Directed By Adam Green

"This is huge, this one night changes everything for me" - The House of the Devil

I finished my work day early on this afternoon and had 4hrs to kill. I had been hearing great stuff about The House of the Devil and decided to go check it out.

It was awesome. It is your classic 80's "C" list sort of horror movie but done way better than films from the actual time period. An Official Tribeca film festival selection of 2009, the movie is shot to look as if it were actually made during the rise of the horror genre, the director ran a huge risk of being campy/cheesy in the worst way possible. But it seems like director Ti West knew exactly what he wanted to do and was able to execute it perfectly, I cant imagine it being shot in any other way or taking place in any other time.

The story revolves around a college sophomore, played by Jocelin Donahue, pressed for cash for a new apartment to escape her messy roommate. She miraculously finds a babysitting job posted on campus with only a few days to come up with her first months rent. To her friends reluctance she heads out to the house only to find out that there is no baby and she will in fact be watching and elderly woman. At this point she is offered more money than she needs and knows that she has to take this job despite being misled. Sit around, watch tv, order pizza and wait till midnight. Simple enough. After tons of suspense, bumps in the night start to get to her and things start to really get rolling.

The suspense in the film is well played, there was only a minute or two where I started to get a little antsy but overall I was on edge waiting to jump and I definitely did. I have been a fan of grindhouse/exploitation/C List movies for the last few years and it was awesome seeing a new one that was done right.