FAQ

Because it's common sense that if you are going to make a Human Centipede you don't want it to be able to walk. It should only be able to crawl so you can stand over it and assert dominance.

While traveling through Germany, two American girls Lindsay (Winter Williams) and Jenny (Ashlynn Yennie) and Japanese tourist Katsuro (Akihiro Kitamura) are sewn together mouth to anus by demented surgeon Joseph Heiter (Dieter Laser) in order to create a human centipede.

According to director Tom Six (who also wrote the screenplay), the idea came in part from a joke he made about punishing child molesters by stitching their mouths to the anus of a fat truck driver and from medical experiments carried out at Nazi concentration camps during World War II. It was followed by The Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence) (2011) and The Human Centipede III (Final Sequence) (2015).

Lindsay and Jenny speak American English only. Dr Heiter speaks both English and German. Katsuro speaks only Japanese. Depending upon the version of the movie that is being watched (e.g., Netflix, Redbox, DVD, etc.), subtitles may or may not be provided.

Heiter said that his tissue didn't match the other two girls. He needs subjects who have the same flesh type, so that when he grafts them together, their bodies will not reject the flesh from the others. That's the reason why, when Lindsay and Jenny come to his house asking for help, he asks them whether they are relatives.

In the movie, Heiter says that he is going to cut their patellar ligamentum (knee ligaments) in order to disable knee extension. The Ligamentum patellae attaches the patella onto the tuberositas tibiae, this is a rough bone surface directly below the knee. Proximally attached to the patellae is the tendo musculi quadricipitis femoris and laterally/medially other parts of this muscle (Vastus medialis and lateralis, both part of the M. Quadriceps). By cutting the ligament below the patella (kneecap), the surgeon effectively prevents the victims from extending their knee. The patella, the inserting quadriceps tendon, and the patellar ligament serve as a single functional unit, and the patella is often referred to as a sesamoid bone, which increases leverage for the muscle and prevents degenerative changes in the tendon structure that would otherwise slide directly over bone, while the patella itself is in this respect superior because of the cartilage on its inner surface.

While it certainly is possible to sew three people together as depicted in the movie, there are serious limitations that would make it unlikely for the individuals to survive for longer than a few days. For example, Dr. Heiter makes a point of obtaining three people with matching flesh types, but the odds of him finding three such matches out of four unrelated victims are astronomical. Consequently, rejection would be high on the list of complications. A second consequence would be infection, not only at the surgical sites but also within the individuals' digestive tracks. In the intact human body, the pylorus (a canal that connects the stomach to the small intestine) contains a valve that prevents intestinal bacteria from moving back into the stomach. Being forcefed feces, as was the case for B and C, would eventually result in infections of the stomach and surrounding organs. Although the centipede was receiving IV fluids, the nutritional value in feces is minimal, so malnutrition would be a another likely complication. A fourth risk would be choking. Should B or C throw up , there would be no exit for this material, other than through their noses. The implication is that Heiter wasn't concerned with having his centipede survive, just with performing the procedure itself to show himself that he could do it.

This movie gives no clue as to how this was accomplished. Viewers have suggested several possibilities: (1) Heiter carried them upstairs in the cage on top of a wheeltray, (2) there is a door in the cellar leading directly to the garden, which then slopes round to the ground floor so that the path is level to both the cellar and the ground floor, (3) there is a hatch in the floor and the cable hoist is used to raise/lower the cage, or (4) there is an unseen service elevator.

He confesses to casting out his parents, abandoning his child, dismissing their love, and leading a selfish life. He compares his existence to that of an insect, maybe even lower.

After finding abandoned vehicles near Heiter's house, obtaining a witness' report of an American girl heard screaming at his house, and another report of seeing Heiter's silver Mercedes near one of the abandoned vehicles, Detectives Krantz (Andreas Leupold) and Voller (Peter Blankenstein) stop by to ask Heiter if he knows anything about it. Of course, he denies it and offers them a drink of water, which he drugs like he did for Lindsay and Jenny. Voller drinks the water, but Krantz refuses it, breaking the glass on the floor and incurring Heiter's wrath. The centipede is in the basement, but their cage is still upstairs. Krantz asks about it. When Heiter refuses to answer or to allow them to search the cellar, they leave house, threatening to return in 20 minutes with a search warrant. After they've left, Heiter runs down to the cellar and finds the centipede gone. While he's looking around for it, Katsuro stabs him in the foot and leg with a scalpel that he took off a table. For good measure, Katsuro takes a bite out of Heiter's neck. He then leads Lindsay and Jenny up the circular staircase, Heiter slowly crawling after them. They crawl into the bedroom only to find that Heiter has already had the broken window replaced. Katsuro attempts to break the window by hitting it with a lamp but manages only to crack it. Heiter, holding a scalpel between his teeth, rounds the door and heads toward the centipede. Katsuro picks up a small shard of glass to defend himself, then suddenly starts to laugh. "Are you God?", he asks Heiter and confesses that he's done some terrible things in his life and that he is now punished for it. "What an insane world we live in," he says and slits his own throat with the piece of glass. Suddenly the doorbell rings. It is the detectives back with their search warrant. When Heiter doesn't answer, they break in the door and start searching for him. Just as Krantz finds the surgical suite in the cellar, a shot rings out. Krantz runs upstairs, opening doors along the way. He opens the door to the bedroom and is horrified when he sees the centipede, but he continues to search for Voller. Voller is floating in the swimming pool, having been shot by Heiter. When Krantz enters the pool room, Heiter shoots him twice. Krantz fires a shot into Heiter's head, killing him instantly. Krantz then falls into the pool. Meanwhile, back in the bedroom, Lindsay is sandwiched between the dead Katsuro, and Jenny who is dying from infection. In the final scene, Jenny dies and Lindsay cries hysterically. From outside the house, the only sounds that can be heard are Lindsay's sobs and chirping birds.