Writing The inspiration for the film's plot came from a joke that writer/director
Tom Six once made to his friends about punishing a child molester they saw on TV by stitching his mouth to the anus of an overweight truck driver. He has said he was heavily influenced as a filmmaker by the early works of
David Cronenberg and
Japanese horror films. Six has said he prefers horror films that are more realistic over "unbelievable" Further inspiration came from Six's previous role as a director on the
Dutch series of
Big Brother, where he had been able to observe people who "did crazy things when they were alone and thought they were not (being) watched." Six has stated that
The Human Centipede is, to an extent, a reflection on
fascism.
Dieter Laser, who played the antagonist Dr Heiter, said during the promotion of the film that he felt the guilt of Nazi actions during the war had haunted ordinary Germans for generations, and that as a German whose father participated in the war, he often felt "like a child whose father is in jail for murder." Laser stated in an interview with Clark Collis for
Entertainment Weekly that he considered the film a "grotesque [parody] about the Nazi psyche". World War II also played an influence on the nationality of the other main characters who were American and Japanese. Six includes many horror film clichés in the first act, such as a broken-down car, lack of
phone signal and very naïve victims. Six placed a Japanese male at the front of the centipede to create a
language barrier between the doctor and the centipede. Throughout the film the characters (with the exception of Heiter who for the most part speaks to the centipede in English) speak in their native languages only (subtitled for the viewer into English where necessary). Katsuro, as the front part of the centipede, can only speak Japanese and therefore cannot speak with either the doctor or Jenny and Lindsay. Secondly, Katsuro's position in the centipede sets up the opportunity for the doctor and the male victim of the centipede to fight toward the climax of the film. Six stated in the director's commentary for
The Human Centipede that he has a personal fear of hospitals and doctors, so he stretched out the scene where Heiter explains how he will create the centipede and the subsequent procedure to create his "own nightmare." While seeking funding for the film, Six pitched the idea of a surgeon who sewed people together. He did not initially reveal that the victims would be joined mouth-to-anus, as he believed this idea would stand no chance of receiving investments. His backers felt that the idea of a surgeon sewing people together was original and Six received funding. Before signing on, the actors were given an outline of the
storyboard rather than a complete script. They were also shown sketches of how the centipede would be formed. Heiter's home, where most of
The Human Centipede takes place, was a villa in the Netherlands found by the production team. The property was in a residential area and not surrounded by woodland as it appears in the film, but by other houses. This meant the filmmakers had some difficulty ensuring that the other houses did not appear in shot. Some conversion of the property took place prior to filming, such as a home theater which was converted to form Heiter's basement operating room, with real hospital beds and intravenous drips rented from a local hospital. The paintings of
conjoined twins that were displayed throughout the house were painted by Tom Six, which he felt contributed to the atmosphere in the house. The hotel room scene near the beginning of the film was filmed in a hotel suite at a location near
Amsterdam. The film was shot almost entirely in sequence, which Yennie stated helped the actors to develop their characters throughout the film. Laser remained in character as Heiter throughout the filming process, often shouting at the rest of the cast on set, He only ate food he had brought onto the set himself, eating mostly fruit. Six claims that the jacket Heiter wore, which was bought by Laser, was a genuine jacket worn by real Nazi doctors. Laser was also happy for the other actors in
The Human Centipede to add their own ideas to the film. For example, when Heiter is explaining his procedure to his victims, Katsuro's dialogue was improvised, which pleased Laser. Laser also unintentionally hurt Williams during the scene where Heiter roughly grabs and injects Lindsay, which caused a pause in shooting. The Nazi influence behind Heiter led to the use of classical music when the doctor is "training" his centipede. The music was deliberately played at low quality to simulate the music coming from a loudspeaker, in much the same way as music was sometimes played in
Nazi concentration camps. Many of the sound effects in
The Human Centipede were created by manipulating meat. For example, the sound of a nose being broken was made by snapping bones within cuts of raw meat. Yennie stated that she and Williams experienced jaw pain from holding a
bit in their mouths during filming, but overall she did not feel that the physical side of filming had been excessively difficult.
Effects The Human Centipede contains relatively few gory images; little of the surgical procedure is depicted directly, Six has claimed that the central and rear members of the centipede could survive for years by supplementing their diet with an
IV drip. The actors who made up the centipede wore hardened underwear, compared by Yennie to shorts, which had a rubber grip for the actors to wear, and for the actor behind to bite, creating the illusion of the mouth-to-anus connection. However, other effects were relatively simple to create. Heiter's "three dog" was created by
Photoshopping an image of three Rottweilers to create an image of dogs joined together.
Colour grading was used extensively throughout the production of
The Human Centipede. For example, at the end of the film when Lindsay is left between the dead bodies of Jenny and Katsuro, their skin tones were lightened to further emphasise that they were dead and Lindsay was still alive. The rain when Jenny and Lindsay's car breaks down was added digitally in post-production. The filmmakers had not been granted permission to film at the roadside location, but went ahead against the authorities' wishes as Six felt the location in the woods was ideal for the scene. When Heiter's window is repaired after Lindsay's escape attempt, the use of a
tracking shot through the window pane required the reflection of the crew to be digitally removed from the glass. The film contains a large number of long tracking shots; Six has cited the influence of Takashi Miike who also uses many tracking shots in his films. ==Release==