human centipede nazi experiment

The Twisted Nazi Experiments That Inspired ‘The Human Centipede’

• The Human Centipede films are known for their depraved and disgusting content, but they have also sparked a fascination with body horror.
• The trilogy was actually inspired by horrific events from Nazi Germany, particularly the experiments conducted by Dr. Josef Mengele.
• The filmmaker, Tom Six, wanted to create a discomforting film that was different from typical horror genres, and the concept for the Human Centipede originated from a disturbing joke about punishment for child molesters.

Although disgusting, the Human Centipede films have created a deep fascination with the gross and twisted world of body horror . If you know, you know; if you don't, you're likely more well-adjusted than the rest of us. Directed by Tom Six , The Human Centipede is a trilogy of films — released in 2009, 2011, and 2015 — widely known as depraved and, well, icky. It's the story of three people trapped by a deranged German surgeon after their car breaks down. This surgeon has a sick, twisted desire to torture them in various, inhumane ways and eventually turn those three people into a human centipede. How does he plan to do that, you might ask. He conjoins them through their gastric systems , of course! In simple terms, he puts them on their hands and knees and sews them together from mouth to anus.

But did you know that The Human Centipede was actually inspired by some horrific history ? After reading the description of the film, it seems far-fetched that something of that abominable nature would be based on anything real — but it is! Between the heinous history of Nazi Germany and a joke between Tom Six and his friends, The Human Centipede was born.

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The Human Centipede (First Sequence)

A mad scientist kidnaps and mutilates a trio of tourists in order to reassemble them into a human centipede, created by stitching their mouths to each others' rectums.

Is ‘The Human Centipede’ Based on a True Story?

During the Nazi reign of Germany , some incredibly questionable doctors and surgeons were performing experiments on victims in concentration camps. One of these doctors in particular was Dr. Josef Mengele. According to the Chicago Tribune , Mengele is accused of killing around 400,000 Jews at Auschwitz in a span of two years. During a testimony at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem, 30 survivors came forward to reveal the horrors of what Mengele would do. These survivors are only alive because they were twins. Mengele practiced eugenics, which is a set of practices where the main goal is to improve the genetic quality of the human population , typically by excluding or attempting to eradicate groups that were said to be "inferior." For eugenicists, twins were the perfect subject because their differences were only due to behavior and not genetics . Ultimately, this means they felt as if they could wipe out what they deemed to be non-desirable characteristics through selective breeding. Based on that information, we can conclude that Mengele was a real piece of work.

The survivors shared in their testimony some of the horrors that Mengele performed. One of those was ripping an infant from its mother's womb and throwing the fetus into an oven because it wasn't a twin. Another recounted him pinning eyeballs to the wall like a sadistic mural. Many of Mengele's subjects who survived were subject to deep-seated trauma and even sometimes lifelong disfigurement. Mengele was known to try to force sterilization , inject diseases, amputate limbs, and even sew twins together to replicate conjoined twins. It seems very clear that the demented surgeon in The Human Centipede , Dr. Josef Heiter ( Dieter Laser ) was named after and inspired by Dr. Josef Mengele.

Roger Ebert Simply Refused to Rate ‘The Human Centipede’

The horror movie proved to Ebert that some films simply live outside the standard star ratings.

‘The Human Centipede’ Was Also Inspired by a Joke

Tom Six told IndieWire that he was assuredly wanting to create an uncomfortable film . That is the understatement of the year, Mr. Six! He attributes the success and popularity of the film to the fact that it is a new and fresh idea that isn't a ghost story or a slasher. In a n interview with The Guardian , Six revealed that he doesn't do morals, and the contents of The Human Centipede trilogy really showcase that. The other inspiration for The Human Centipede came from a joke between him and a friend of his . The joke in question is just as appalling as the film itself in a very true Tom Six fashion. That joke is about how the greatest punishment for a child molester would be being sewn to the anus of an overweight truck driver.

What Else Did Tom Six Want ‘The Human Centipede’ To Convey?

The sensationalism of The Human Centipede can make it difficult to understand there's more within the film. When you see a monstrosity on screen followed by lines of "feed her!" fully knowing what's going to happen, it's a little difficult to get your brain to think critically . The first sequence of The Human Centipede strongly takes a look at the concept of impurity, and not just because of the intestinal content. The Nazi regime focused solely on the existence of impurity and how, in those leaders' and doctors' eyes, they had to get rid of it. Where the Nazis viewed anyone not of the "master race" as impure, Six tackled the concept of their history being corrupt and full of monsters.

In the rest of the trilogy, metaphors are addressed in slightly different ways . The second sequence showcases how the line between fantasy and reality can sometimes blur, especially regarding obsessive adoration. The antagonist of the second film is obsessed with the first film and Dr. Heiter's work, so he sets out to create his own human centipede. The final sequence brings back Dr. Heiter's character, but this time as a prison warden who co-conspires with his peers to create an even larger human centipede from prisoners after watching the first and second films. The third film tackles issues ranging from racism, xenophobia, violence, and prison systems.

The Human Centipede has become a test of endurance in the horror world. It challenges anyone to sit through the whole thing without wanting to be sick, covering your eyes, or turning it off. Many critics will pin the movie as having no plot and being too disgusting to enjoy, but those viewers who are really into body horror may marvel at just how absolutely insane these films are. The Human Centipede may take gross-out horror to the extreme, but its real-life inspirations materialize just how toxic society can be in the wrong hands . If you dare, you can watch for yourself, but it may be best to keep a barf bag handy.

The Human Centipede is currently available to rent or buy on Amazon Prime in the U.S.

Watch on Amazon Prime

• Movie Features
• The Human Centipede

True story behind The Human Centipede - its link to Nazi Germany as director talks new film

The plot of the controversial film is steeped in horrifying history, here's what inspired the graphic movies.

• 14:46, 24 May 2018
• Updated 14:00, 28 May 2020

The iconic Dutch horror film The Human Centipede by director Tom Six was released in 2009 and produced some rather visible reactions.

It was condemned for its revolting and grotesque scenes , which showed a German surgeon who kidnaps three tourists, tortures them, before he joins them surgically, mouth to anus, forming a "human centipede" - a conjoined triplet.

The controversy would continue with Six's sequel to the film The Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence), which was only released in the UK in 2011 after substantial cuts and edits, after the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) refused to give the film an 18 certificate unless the film cut a large number of graphic scenes - including masturbation with sandpaper, rape with barbed wire, and the brutal murder of a newborn baby.

The final film in the torture trilogy The Human Centipede 3 (Final Sequence) was critically panned and derided for its enjoying of sexual violence and self-serious focus on punishment in the criminal justice system.

Tom Six's next film is psychological thriller The Onania Club, which is due out later this year, so we think this would be the perfect time to look at what inspired the Dutch director's disturbing iconic trilogy.

The Human Centipede

There were some key inspirations for Six's original horror flick, but some are much more serious than others.

The main inspiration for the film came from a joke that Six had told to his friend where he explained a punishment for child molesters which would see their mouths stitched to the anus of a fat truck driver.

As the film germinated in Six's mind, he took inspiration from real life and abhorrent episodes in recent history.

Six's chief historical inspiration was the Nazi experiments conducted on Concentration Camp prisoners in World War Two, including the diabolical experiments of Dr. Josef Mengele.

The experiments saw prisoners across Europe forced to participate in tests that mostly ended in death, trauma, disfigurement, and permanent disability.

The vile examples of medical torture included tests on twins, with twins being forcibly sewn together to become conjoined, and dying eyes in twins to see how they would react. If one twin died in the experiment, the other would always be killed.

The monsters also conducted bone, muscle, and nerve transplants on prisoners without the use of anesthesia.

There were also tests of new drugs, weapons (such as mustard gas and poisons) and sterilization on prisoners, against their will, which would have long-lasting medical reprecussions.

The film also features victims of multiple nationalities to represent countries involved in World War Two, with the evil Dr Josef Heiter (Heiter meaning "cheerful" in German) representing the Nazi German psyche.

Finally, Six was also inspired by the previous cinematic offerings from visceral directors David Cronenberg and David Lynch, and also the Dutch iteration of the iconic reality series Big Brother.

The Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence)

The sequel film took things to an even darker place, with much more graphic scenes and more disparate inspirations.

Six decided to make the plot very meta: it would focus on a fan of the first film who would then conduct his own sadistic experiments and punishments.

The chief inspiration for this decision was Six's fascination with copycat serial killers, who usually start as fans of the original killer.

The term copycat killer was coined after the killings by iconic and mysterious serial killer Jack the Ripper sparked a number of similar murders.

The film Natural Born Killers starring Woody Harrelson is often blamed for sparking copycat killings, after being loosely based on serial killers Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate.

Up to 12 murders were linked with being inspired by that film, including teenage couple Benjamin Darras and Sarah Edmondson, who described themselves taking LSD and watching the film on repeat before killing 3 people and paralysing another.

The character of Martin Lomax is a short, obese man who is mentally challenged and becomes obsessed with the first film, before setting out to create a larger human centipede than the 3 people sewn together in the first film.

The Human Centipede 3 (Final Sequence)

The last film saw Six want to return to the theme of the original joke that inspired the film series: punishment.

It was set in a prison where a psychopathic prison warden and his accountant (each played by the actors behind the villains of the first two films) who decide to inflict brutal torture upon the inmates of the prison - including mass castration, cannibalism, genital mutilation and a massive five-hundred person sized centipede.

The film had a much more satirical tone, but this was one of the many aspects of the piece that critics and fans slammed.

With the Governor (played by Hollywood star Eric Roberts) approves the torture as being "what America needs" at the end of the film, things enter a more dystopian territory - as we see extreme values in corporal punishment come bleed into culturally-approved torture.

Corporal punishment is always a controversial topic, but its pros and cons were dealt with no sympathy here.

Six likely saw inspiration in infamous prisons that were the site of torture, such as the US base at Guantanomo Bay in Cuba, and of course the Nazi concentration camps that were the chief basis of the first film.

We expect Tom Six's next film to be just as provocative.

The Onania club will be released later this year.

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One of the most bizarre movies in history raised questions to viewers, with many asking, “Was the human centipede real?” 

The Human Centipede was a disgusting and terrifying movie that amerced a large following, almost like a cult that still loves it over a decade after its release. 

But what is the real story behind the human centipede? Are the events depicted in the movie based on real-life events, or are they all the imaginations of a twisted writer? 

This article will take a deep dive into the film to get you all these answers, so let’s get into it;

Was The Human Centipede Real?

The human centipede was inspired by horrific Nazi experiments shared by survivors of concentration camps, but it is not exactly as depicted in the movie. 

Scientists and surgeons in Nazi Germany were performing inhumane and unethical experiments on victims in concentration camps. 

Tom Six, the director, attributes the movie idea to a joke between his friends, the joke being how the best punishment for child molesters would be to be sewn to the anus of an overweight truck driver. 

Metaphors and Theories About The Human Centipede

People knowing that True events inspired the Human Centipede contributed to its large following, but most people didn’t give it much thought. What were the directors using the movie to convey to their audience? Let’s find out; 

The analogies that emerge from the graphics and offer further depth and nuance to the idea are at the core of The Human Centipede. The most evident are the parallels with Nazi Germany and actual stories from that era. 

During the Nazi regime, several reports of German scientists attempted to conduct heinous experiments on humans. 

Dr. Josef Mengele’s experimental endeavors were particularly noteworthy. These were actual stories about Human Centipede-like experiments.

These experiments added a grisly cap to an already repulsive period in history. Many experiments resulted in the unfortunate and reluctant participants suffering pain, impairment, trauma, and death. 

Some tests were conducted on twins forcibly sewn together to simulate conjoined twins who suffer a similar fate. 

Other experiments, including experimental bone, skin, muscle, and nerve transplants, were frequently performed without anesthetic.

Scientists would also experiment on unwitting victims with new biological weapons and medications. 

New surgical treatments such as brain surgery and sterilization were also attempted with gusto, frequently with fatal results or, far worse, long-term medical consequences. 

To emphasize the connection, the principal character, the scientist conducting these tests, is also appropriately named Dr. Josef Heiter. The Human Centipede is referring to these genuine accounts of heinous experiments.

What Made The Human Centipede Stand Out To Most Audiences?

The Human Centipede is no regular horror movie with a villain with a complicated goal and torturing people to get to it. 

It took a much darker and twisted approach to its story and characterization that made the movie create a bigger splash in pop culture.

There’s no disputing that this contentious film left an impression. The Human Centipede did a fantastic job of grossing out spectators, but this picture left such a lasting impression because it taps into a terror that the horror genre isn’t used to. 

Psychological terror is nothing unfamiliar, but the psychological fear exploited in The Human Centipede is. The Human Centipede delves into the “what if” scenario, establishing worse fates than death.

The story revolves around a successful conjoined twin surgeon who develops an unhealthy obsession with building the world’s first human centipede: stitching three individuals in a line, ass-to-mouth. 

Lindsay, Jenny, and Katsuro are forced to participate in Dr. Josef Heiter’s macabre vision of sewing three individuals together by their gastrointestinal systems. Being linked to another individual for the rest of your life is terrifying. 

There is little prospect of escape if you are the middle or end piece. Jenny is compelled to drink Katsuro’s poo because her mouth is tied to someone’s rear, as shown later in the feature. More crucially, all three characters are deprived of their liberty. 

They can’t just return to their everyday lives of family, work, and fun; they’re stuck with a sick man without regard for their humanity . Lindsay, Jenny, and Katsuro are serving a life sentence in the confines of Dr. Heiter’s home. 

They even lost the right to simply eat, sleep, and breathe as prisoners can do behind bars. With death, you are not subjected to physical and emotional torture daily by some maniac who regards you as a pet.

Characterization is an essential technique in storytelling for all genres of filmmaking, yet it is widely acknowledged that horror bends the rules a little when it comes to this style. 

For example, Jaime Lee Curtis’ Laurie Strode is a cherished final girl, but her character lacks depth when appearing in the first Halloween film. 

That storytelling method is prevalent in The Human Centipede since we know little about Lindsay, Jenny, and Katsuro. Still, their characters are well-crafted enough that they don’t appear unlikeable. 

This works in the feature’s favor. If the backstories of these three protagonists had been revealed, viewers would have had a closer connection to Lindsay, Jenny, and Katsuro. 

However, leaving an aura of mystery around them makes the incident more unpredictable. Though we are unaware of who they are, it’s easy to sympathize with them because Dr. Heiter has wicked intentions. 

Their panic and fear quickly connect with viewers. The sensation of dread overrides our emotions with each passing second; the drama and tension stem from the psychological torment that these folks are subjected to. 

They’re terrified because a twisted, insane man with a similarly unknown past has thrown off the status quo. When the human centipede is fully formed, the fear increases because it is now more difficult for these three to flee. 

This could quickly have devolved into a gross-out creature in David Cronenberg’s The Fly or John Carpenter’s The Thing. Still, Tom Six skillfully avoids shattering the illusion of reality by not going beyond this strategy. 

It’s why the first film in his three-part trilogy is still the finest, as Six chose the Texas Chainsaw Massacre path, focusing on the psychological aspect rather than the blood and gore.

The Dark Cinematic Choices Behind The Human Centipede 

The Human Centipede was a revolutionary film that made waves in Hollywood, and it is still featured in many pop culture references an entire decade after its release. 

This primarily owes to its dark and twisted approach to telling its story, which made it gory and timeless.

The Human Centipede, although lacking the subtlety of Wes Craven films or The Wicker Man, makes it evident that historical similarities are in the visual story that merits greater examination.

There is an implicit attempt to familiarize viewers with the certainty of situations that result in the loss of self-respect, comfort, and life. 

The sense of approaching doom affects various victims differently, and their behaviors reveal fascinating details about who they are as people.

The lack of nuance and the deep dive into plain sensationalism bolsters this comparison significantly. Six practically dares the audience to turn away, and many do. 

However, suppose you keep your eyes on the screen. In that case, you will notice the gradual but steady revelation of the human condition’s frailty and how it responds to an inevitable, unavoidable end.

The Human Centipede also serves as a nuanced reflection on modern misunderstanding, as naïve American tourists fall victim to this crazy scientist and are treated with a steely, persistent lack of empathy that seems to befit their vulgar, stupid natures.

Similarly, he deliberately positions the Japanese tourist at the head of his monstrous centipede. The only one of the three who can speak speaks only Japanese, a language he does not understand.

Katsuro’s final statement, in which he creates a moment of severe self-reflection and compares the doctor to God, brings the metaphor to a close.

Despite its horrifying sights, The Human Centipede remained a vital cog in the wheel of horror cinema because of a committed audience that accepted the metaphors it depicts. 

There were also confirmed true stories of experimentation, which The Human Centipede draws on. This enabled it to climb beyond ignominy and sustain a cult following for decades. 

Director Tom Six also deviated from the template to create two completely different sequels, each with its style of metaphor, narration, and even more stark, disgusting imagery to emphasize the point.

Conclusion 

For those wondering, was The Human Centipede real? You now have a better understanding of the inspiration and source of the movie. The movie was based on recollections of World War II Nazi camp survivors subjected to inhumane experiments in concentration camps.

The experiments were not precisely similar to what is depicted in The Human Centipede, but there are many similarities. 

It paints a clear picture of the dark side of humans and experimental science while terrifying and grossing out viewers. It is a true masterpiece of horror cinema.

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The Human Centipede idea came from a disturbing joke about child molesters

Writer tom six has revealed how he came up with the idea.

Claire Reid

The Human Centipede has earned itself a reputation for being one of the most grim horror movies out there - but you may not know that it partly came into existence due to a disturbing joke.

The 2009 Dutch horror movie centres on retired German surgeon Josef Heiter who kidnaps three tourists and surgically joins them from the anus to mouth . What a lovely sentence to read on this fine Wednesday, eh?

Although the independent film wasn’t exactly a Box Office smash, it did go on to gain a bit of a cult following in the years after its release.

In an interview with the Guardian the Human Centipede’s writer, director and co-producer Tom Six said he didn’t care about bad reviews of his movie as it meant that people were still talking about.

“I know I made a brilliant film and I’m not alone in knowing that,” he said.

“Bad reviews also help the film’s status so I don’t mind. As long as people talk about it, I’m happy.” Fair enough.

He added: “I am 100 percent proud of these films and I am 100 percent sure that in 100 years people will still be talking about my Human Centipede films.

“There are so many films out there that are immediately forgotten, but my films do something to people and they have become part of pop culture.”

The movie was partly inspired by the real-life twisted experiments carried out on Concentration Camp prisoners by Nazis during World War Two .

Surgeons and doctors, including the infamous Josef Mengele, carried out sadistic experiments including removing the hearts and stomachs of victims without anaesthesia.

Mengele showed a particular interest in identical twins, and carried out several operations which involved stitching them back to back to create ‘conjoined twins’.

But in interviews, Six has revealed that the inspiration for the movie also came from a disturbing joke he made with his friends in which he suggested that the best punishment for child molesters would be to have their mouth stitched to the anus of a ‘truck driver’.

In an interview with the Guardian, Six said : “This started out as a joke. I saw a TV news report about how a paedophile had got a really light prison sentence and I said it would be a better punishment to stitch his mouth to the a** of a truck driver. The idea stuck in my head.”

The movie went on to spawn two sequels: The Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence) and The Human Centipede 3 (Final Sequence) .

Topics:  TV and Film

Claire is a journalist at LADbible who, after dossing around for a few years, went to Liverpool John Moores University. She graduated with a degree in Journalism and a whole load of debt. When not writing words in exchange for money she is usually at home watching serial killer documentaries surrounded by cats. You can contact Claire at [email protected]

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True story behind The Human Centipede - its link to Nazi Germany as director talks new film

The iconic Dutch horror film The Human Centipede by director Tom Six was released in 2009 and produced some rather visible reactions.

It was condemned for its revolting and grotesque scenes , which showed a German surgeon who kidnaps three tourists, tortures them, before he joins them surgically, mouth to anus, forming a "human centipede" - a conjoined triplet.

The controversy would continue with Six's sequel to the film The Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence), which was only released in the UK in 2011 after substantial cuts and edits, after the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) refused to give the film an 18 certificate unless the film cut a large number of graphic scenes - including masturbation with sandpaper, rape with barbed wire, and the brutal murder of a newborn baby.

The final film in the torture trilogy The Human Centipede 3 (Final Sequence) was critically panned and derided for its enjoying of sexual violence and self-serious focus on punishment in the criminal justice system.

Tom Six's next film is psychological thriller The Onania Club, which is due out later this year, so we think this would be the perfect time to look at what inspired the Dutch director's disturbing iconic trilogy.

The Human Centipede

There were some key inspirations for Six's original horror flick, but some are much more serious than others.

The main inspiration for the film came from a joke that Six had told to his friend where he explained a punishment for child molesters which would see their mouths stitched to the anus of a fat truck driver.

As the film germinated in Six's mind, he took inspiration from real life and abhorrent episodes in recent history.

Six's chief historical inspiration was the Nazi experiments conducted on Concentration Camp prisoners in World War Two, including the diabolical experiments of Dr. Josef Mengele.

The experiments saw prisoners across Europe forced to participate in tests that mostly ended in death, trauma, disfigurement, and permanent disability.

The vile examples of medical torture included tests on twins, with twins being forcibly sewn together to become conjoined, and dying eyes in twins to see how they would react. If one twin died in the experiment, the other would always be killed.

The monsters also conducted bone, muscle, and nerve transplants on prisoners without the use of anesthesia.

There were also tests of new drugs, weapons (such as mustard gas and poisons) and sterilization on prisoners, against their will, which would have long-lasting medical reprecussions.

The film also features victims of multiple nationalities to represent countries involved in World War Two, with the evil Dr Josef Heiter (Heiter meaning "cheerful" in German) representing the Nazi German psyche.

Finally, Six was also inspired by the previous cinematic offerings from visceral directors David Cronenberg and David Lynch, and also the Dutch iteration of the iconic reality series Big Brother.

The Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence)

The sequel film took things to an even darker place, with much more graphic scenes and more disparate inspirations.

Six decided to make the plot very meta: it would focus on a fan of the first film who would then conduct his own sadistic experiments and punishments.

The chief inspiration for this decision was Six's fascination with copycat serial killers, who usually start as fans of the original killer.

The term copycat killer was coined after the killings by iconic and mysterious serial killer Jack the Ripper sparked a number of similar murders.

The film Natural Born Killers starring Woody Harrelson is often blamed for sparking copycat killings, after being loosely based on serial killers Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate.

Up to 12 murders were linked with being inspired by that film, including teenage couple Benjamin Darras and Sarah Edmondson, who described themselves taking LSD and watching the film on repeat before killing 3 people and paralysing another.

The character of Martin Lomax is a short, obese man who is mentally challenged and becomes obsessed with the first film, before setting out to create a larger human centipede than the 3 people sewn together in the first film.

The Human Centipede 3 (Final Sequence)

The last film saw Six want to return to the theme of the original joke that inspired the film series: punishment.

It was set in a prison where a psychopathic prison warden and his accountant (each played by the actors behind the villains of the first two films) who decide to inflict brutal torture upon the inmates of the prison - including mass castration, cannibalism, genital mutilation and a massive five-hundred person sized centipede.

The film had a much more satirical tone, but this was one of the many aspects of the piece that critics and fans slammed.

With the Governor (played by Hollywood star Eric Roberts) approves the torture as being "what America needs" at the end of the film, things enter a more dystopian territory - as we see extreme values in corporal punishment come bleed into culturally-approved torture.

Corporal punishment is always a controversial topic, but its pros and cons were dealt with no sympathy here.

Six likely saw inspiration in infamous prisons that were the site of torture, such as the US base at Guantanomo Bay in Cuba, and of course the Nazi concentration camps that were the chief basis of the first film.

We expect Tom Six's next film to be just as provocative.

The Onania club will be released later this year.