The Human Centipede
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About
The Human Centipede is a horror film where 3 tourists are taken prisoner by an evil doctor, who turns them into a "human centipede" by attaching them anus to mouth. They are meant to be the first sequence of what he dreams will be a much longer human centipede.
Origin
Tom Six wrote and directed the movie, and in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, he explained how he came up with the idea:
I saw a child molester on television and I said, ‘They should stitch this guy with his mouth to the a–– of a very fat truck driver. It would be a really good punishment for him.” Then I thought, “That’s a cool idea for a film.”[1]
Movie clips from the film were uploaded to YouTube in September of 2009, and spread quickly around the Internet.
Spread
2009
On September 3rd, 2009, BuzzFeed featured a post title "Human Centipede: A Mouth to Anus Fusion Horror Story" which including a screenshot from the movie, but no video.[2] On September 29th, the Livejournal community Oh No They Didn't posted an embedded YouTube video containing clips from the movie.[3]
2010
On May 24th, a Human Centipede flash game based off the 1980 Atari video game Centipede was uploaded to Newgrounds.[4] On June 1st, 2010, a Human Centipede tattoo starts to make the blog rounds, and it is revealed to belong to projectionist Dakota Milam.[5] The first cosplay appearance at Fangoria was posted on July 23rd.[6] The Daily What posted a trailer for the sequel on September 24th.[7] On October 11th, a cat toy was listed on Etsy.[8]
Search
Search queries picked up around the same time that movie clips were posted in September of 2009. It peaked in May of 2010 when it received a wider US release.
Sequel
A trailer for a sequel called "The Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence)" was uploaded to YouTube on September 24th, 2010. In this film, the centipede consists of 12 individuals, rather then the original 3.
The sequel premiered at Fantastic Fest on September 22, 2011, with the film being released into theaters on October 6th. [9]
South Park Parody
A South Park episode premieres on April 27th, 2011, called "HUMANCENTiPAD", and features an iPad-like device that can only be used by people attached anus to mouth.
The latest Apple product to hit the market is revealed in the 15th season premiere of “South Park” titled, “HUMANCENTiPAD,” premiering on Wednesday, April 27 at 10:00 p.m. on COMEDY CENTRAL. Kyle is intimately involved in the development of a revolutionary new product that is about to be launched by Apple. Meanwhile, Cartman doesn’t even have a regular iPad yet. He blames his mother.[10]
Image Derivatives
External References
[1] Entertainment Weekly – Human Centipede: Director and star of the year's most disgusting horror film spill their guts / 4/30/2010
[2] BuzzFeed – Human Centipede: A Mouth to Anus Fusion Horror Story / 9/3/2009
[3] Livejournal – Oh No They Didn't – WTF: The Human Centipede / 9/29/2009
[4] Newgrounds – Human Centipede: The Game / 5/24/2010
[5] Original Alamo – Projectionist goes totally insane, gets HUMAN CENTIPEDE tattoo / 6/1/2010
[6] Nerdcore – Human Centipede-Cosplay / 7/23/2010
[7] The Daily What – Teaser Trailer of the Day 9/24/2010
[8] Etsy – The Human Centipede CAT TOY / 10/11/2010
[9] Coming Soon – The Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence) Poster is here
[10] The Examiner – Breaking News: South Park takes on The Human Centipede, iPads on Wednesday / 4/25/2011
