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The Human Centipede [Blu-ray]
(Tom Six, 2009)
Review by Gary Tooze
NOTE: Bounty Films stats are in GREEN
Studio: Theatrical: Bounty Films Cinema Video: IFC Films vs. Bounty FilmsDisc: IFC Films is Region: 'A' - Bounty Films is Region 'B'-lockedRuntime: 1:31:57.970 / 1:28:03.479Disc Size: 20,982,978,713 bytes / 31,612,982,708 bytesFeature Size: 17,863,102,464 bytes / 19,884,460,032 bytesAverage Bitrate: 19.90 Mbps / 24.99 MbpsChapters: 17 / 12Case: Standard Blu-ray case sRelease date: October 5th / October 4th, 2010
Video: Aspect ratio: 1.78:1 / 1.78Resolution: 1080P 23.976 fps / 1080i 25 fpsVideo codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video / MPEG-4 AVC Video
Audio:
LPCM Audio English 2304 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 2304 kbps /
24-bit
DTS-HD Master Audio English 1739 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1739
kbps / 16-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 16-bit)
Subtitles: English, Spanish, N one
English, none
Posters
Extras: • Commentary by Tom Six • Trailer (2:23 in HD) • Behind the Scenes (9:03 in SD) • Director Interview (5:18 in SD) • Casting Tapes of Ashley C. Williams + Ashlynn Yennie (2:04 in SD) • Foley Session (4:53 in SD) • Deleted Scene (1:30 in SD) • 5 Alternate Posters
• Commentary by Tom Six
• Deleted Scene (1:27 in HD) • Director Interview Part 2 (5:07 in HD)
• Foley Session (4:40 in HD) Bitrate:
Description: Two pretty American girls on a road trip across Europe end up alone in the woods at night when their car breaks down in rural Germany. As they search for help they find an isolated house. Offering to call them a taxi, the house's owner Dr. Heiter, a retired surgeon, invites the girls inside with the promise of a drink and dry place to wait until help arrives. However they realize that there is something not quite right about the formidable Dr. Heiter... As their demented host explains his twisted vision, the two girls discover that they are soon to become a lot closer to each other than they ever wanted to be. Heiter s plan is to connect the two girls to each other with a third person, a hapless Japanese tourist, via their gastric systems in a daring bid to be the first person to create a Siamese triplet -bringing to life his sick lifetime fantasy THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE! Inspired by a conversation over what punishment would be appropriate for convicted pedophiles, Tom Six's bizarre biological horror film has the distinction of being 100% MEDICALLY ACCURATE!
100% Medically accurate.
The Film:
Touted in press
materials as "100% medically accurate" -- translation: yuck -- it's the
story of a deranged German surgeon (Dieter Laser) who kidnaps three
people and sutures them together, mouth to rectum, in order to create a
kind of freakish conjoined triplet, sharing one long digestive tract.
(Come to think of it, maybe "annals" isn't the best choice of words
here.) Excerpt from Michael Sullivan at The Washington Post located HERE
The Human Centipede has received excessive 'chatter' on and off the Net and I don't want to contribute by investing too much time on this film review so... let's be brief. The film was shot on HD at 25 fps - BUT should have been slowed down to 24 fps for mastering like the Masters of Cinema did with Jia Zhang Ke's THE WORLD as Criterion will also be doing with their upcoming ANTICHRIST (von Trier). So, IFC did this important rendering facet and Bounty Films - in association with Eureka - did not (note running times). The UK edition is interlaced and the image quality is softer in motion and exhibits 'combing'. This will be dependant on systems that identify it and most will overcome it. This combing made matching a bit more difficult than usual but there are enough captures below to see the differences. Flesh tones on the IFC are warmer but generally colors aren't far off. The UK feature has a larger file size for the feature and hence a higher bitrate but both produce consistent visuals. The UK transfer is not fatally poor but I do consider it a mistake and judgment for superior image goes to the IFC Blu-ray.
CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION
Audio :While one uses a linear PCM track (IFC) and the other DTS-Master (Bounty) - in the 4, less vulgar, scenes that I did direct audio comparisons - I couldn't distinguish enough of a difference to state anything definitive. So, they are both lossless and original 2.0 channel. The UK may have been a bit less robust but both are clear and dialogue is easily audible. Both have English subtitles appear for the infrequent German and Japanese used and English for the whole feature is optional (Spanish too for the IFC). There is some difference in translation - but again not enough to make issue, IMO. My Momitsu has identified both as being region-locked - 'A' for IFC and 'B' or Bounty. Extras :Extras are mostly duplicated - both with Tom Six's commentary - which isn't bad. He apologizes for his English but it is excellent and I had no problems distinguishing what he was inferring about production and extraneous storyline details. Both offer an HD Trailer, a 10-minute Behind the Scenes piece, a 5-minute Director interview and 2-minutes of casting segments of Ashley C. Williams + Ashlynn Yennie. There is a Foley recording session for 5 minutes with chicken parts etc. and a brief deleted scenes with Dr. Heiter doing a victory dance. The Bounty (UK) are all in HD where only the trailer is on the IFC. The UK also has 45 more minutes with an additional director interview and a Q+A with Six and actor Dieter Laser. This can explain why the UK release is dual-layered to hold all this extra file space for the supplements (both HD and additional). You may note that the extras are in a 25 fps speed on the Bounty Blu-ray.
BOTTOM LINE:
I always frown on over-hyped marketing and The Human Centipede kinda smelled like it. The Blu-rays will suffice most purchasers despite the differences but the region-locking will probably be the biggest factor in any purchase decisions. For that small group that have BD region-freedom and desire the film - I'd say the IFC although the UK edition is about $1 USD cheaper and has more extras. To each his own!
NOTE: This is the 'First Sequence' - a 'Full Sequence' is scheduled for 2011. Gary Tooze September 25th, 2010
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About the Reviewer: Hello, fellow Beavers! I have been interested in film since I viewed a Chaplin festival on PBS when I was around 9 years old. I credit DVD with expanding my horizons to fill an almost ravenous desire to seek out new film experiences. I currently own approximately 7500 DVDs and have reviewed over 3000 myself. I appreciate my discussion Listserv for furthering my film education and inspiring me to continue running DVDBeaver. Plus a healthy thanks to those who donate and use our Amazon links.
Although I never wanted to become one of those guys who
focused 'too much' on image and sound quality - I
find HD is swiftly pushing me in that direction. So be
it, but film will always be my first love and I list my
favorites on the old YMdb site now accessible
HERE.
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