Is there any place left that torture porn won't go? Not now. "The Human Centipede (First Sequence)," an abominable curiosity by Dutch writer-director Tom Six, takes the dismal genre in an entomological direction that few could have expected and fewer still could have wished. The picture has already won awards in the usual places (Screamfest, Austin Fantastic Fest), and now here it is for the delectation of ... well, of people you probably wouldn't want to get to know too well.

The opening sequence is a parody of the torture-porn form. Two American girls, Lindsay (Ashley C. Williams) and Jenny (Ashlynn Yennie), passing through Germany on a European vacation, set out in search of a hot nightclub and wind up lost in the woods on a dark and rainy night. They come upon a house, ring the bell, and are beckoned inside by the cadaverous inhabitant, Dr. Heiter (Dieter Laser). They don't appear to notice the big framed photographs of grotesquely conjoined creatures hanging on the walls, although they are a bit creeped out when the doctor grimly informs them, "I don't like human beings." Before they can think too deeply about this, however, they find themselves waking up in a drug haze in Heiter's basement operating room, strapped down and soon joined by a third victim, a Japanese man named Katuro (Akihiro Kitamura). With this captive audience in place, Heiter begins to explain what's coming next.

There's no delicate way to put this. Heiter intends to create a human centipede, in three segments. The unfortunate Katuro will be in the lead, with the two girls following behind, each of their faces sutured to ... well, let's just say the centipede's human components are to be connected through their gastric systems. There's also some surgical knee-capping and brief tooth-yanking involved, but in this dreadful context these seem almost minor indignities.

The picture is skillfully shot, on hi-def video, and there are even occasional twitches of humor. (A grave-marker on the doctor's property bears the German words for "My beloved three-dog.") It must also be admitted that Dr. Heiter is one of the more memorable mad scientists in recent horror history. (The ranting Laser, with his putty-like skin and razor-slash mouth, seems genuinely deranged.) And the movie's intentions are appropriately modest: It seeks only to be disgusting -- to be an instant cult film, in other words -- and in this it easily succeeds.

But there's something especially foul about this picture. I don't believe I've ever felt more pity for actors than I did for Williams and Yennie, who spend most of the movie in positions of appalling degradation (wordless, of course, and topless, too). The sight of flesh-and-blood performers submitting themselves to such humiliation lends "The Human Centipede" a documentary hatefulness that makes it even more repellent.

The movie leaves us wondering: Now is there any place left that torture porn won't go? The director plans to shoot a "Centipede" sequel this summer, so I guess we (or someone far outside our circle of acquaintance) will soon enough see.

Don't miss Kurt Loder's reviews of [article id="1638146"]"Furry Vengeance"[/article] and [article id="1638146"]"A Nightmare On Elm Street"[/article], also new in theaters this week.

Check out everything we've got on "The Human Centipede (First Sequence)."

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