"Is the media becoming increasingly violent especially with the rise of the genre 'Torture Porn' horror such as 'SAW' and the 'The Human Centipede'? Why is this? And what impact might this have on audiences?" 

 SUMMER RESEARCH: Look at the human centipede 


The human centipede (first sequence) is a film released in 2010 by Dutch film maker Tom Six. The human centipede is a story of a German Doctor who kidnaps three tourists and joins them together surgically, mouth to anus, forming a "human centipede". Tom Six states that the film came about as a joke of how to punish child molesters and that they should have their mouths stitched to the anus of "fat truck drivers". What inspired the film was Nazi medical experiments during WW2 including those of Joesf Mengele at the Auschwitz concentration camp, Joesf was a German physician who decided who out of all the prisoners would die due to being unfit to work and who would work but he also did human experiments of removing certain body parts and sewing together twins to create conjoined twins

Tom Six at first didn't tell investors of the "mouth-to-anus" aspect of the plot as it may put them off from investing, they all discovered the plot after the film was completed. The film gained many mixed reviews from mainstream critics but had won several accolades at international film festivals. The film was released in the US on a limited release theatrically on April 30, 2010. A Sequel has also been written and directed by Tom Six which was released in 2011

During promotion for The Human Centipede, press materials claimed that the film was "100% medically accurate" which made it even more disturbing for some. Many writers, such as Karina Longworth of LA Weekly magazine and Jay Stone of the Calgary Herald described the film as "torture porn". Roger Ebert, writing in the Chicago Sun-Times stated that he felt the film had been "deliberately intended to inspire incredulity, nausea and hopefully outrage."

The Human Centipede was released in the United States with no Motion Picture Association Of America (MPAA) rating. It was released theatrically in New York City on April 30, 2010 and had a limited release in the US shortly afterward, distributed by IFC Films During 2009 the film was included in several film festivals around the world including the London FrightFest Film Festival, Leeds International Film Festival, Sitges Film Festival and Screamfest Horror Film Festival. Apparently Tom Six states that Spanish audiences often found the film funny, and laughed throughout screenings and did not find the film as gruesome as many other viewers.

Are the Spanish audiences desentilised to this level of violence and wanting more violence for their horror films?

IFC Films has a history of releasing unconventional horror films, having previously distributed the Norwegian Nazi-zombie feature Dead Snow and the 2009 release Antichrist. The Human Centipede's US gross was $181,467, and worldwide takings amounted to $252,207.

Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a 49% 'Rotten' rating, based upon 91 reviews, with an average rating of 5.2 out of 10. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 33 based on 15 reviews.

The media are trying to prevent violence by banning certain films e.g. the sequel to "The Human Centipede (First Sequence)" was banned for being too violent and was denied a rating for posing a "real risk of harm" but after 32 cuts to the film the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) gave the film an 18 rating

Horror films have, of course, always been full of nasty, misanthropic imagery. In many other films, extreme, sexualised violence against women has frequently been a theme (Clockwork Orange, Boxing Helena and many others spring to mind).

a new subgenre of horror films which are so dehumanising, nasty and misogynist that they are collectively known either as "gorno" (a conflation of "gory" and "porno"), or, more commonly, as "torture porn". Other films that make it into the torture porn category are Wolf Creek, Turistas and The Devil's Rejects, with each new film promising higher levels of violence - guaranteeing not just a considerable body count, but long, lingering scenes of terror, torture and pain. In most of these films, both men and women end up being sliced, gored, dismembered, decapitated. In that sense they offer audiences equal-opportunity gore. But it's the violence against women that's most troubling, because it is here that sex and extreme violence collide. The publicity campaigns for many of these films flag up the prospect of watching a nubile young woman being tortured as a genuinely pleasurable experience.

Many of today's torture porn films are being made on tiny budgets by little-known directors, but with the release of the new Tarantino/Rodriguez double-bill, Grindhouse - designed as a tribute to the ultra-violent B-movie programmes of old - the trend officially reaches the mainstream.

Now the British film censor has decided to get tough with so-called 'torture porn' movies such as The Human Centipede II, because the public is worried about the effect they're having on "vulnerable viewers".

The Guardian reports the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) is to "tighten its policy" on films that delight in "sexual or sadistic violence" by issuing new guidelines in six weeks' time. The rethink has been triggered by new research suggesting the public believes the films are having a harmful effect on young, naive men, in particular.

The BBFC is the independent body responsible for age ratings on films, videos, DVDs and certain video games. It can demand cuts if it believes a film poses the risk of harm; for example, if a rape scene suggests the victim is enjoying the act.

Some viewers of the film state that they believe Tom Six has really stepped over the line in these films and could influence many copycats to follow what the film does e.g. a person similar to the character in the sequel to the human centipede, the main character is a copycat fan of the film and recreates it as he is mentally disturbed and fantasies about doing exactly what the film did but bigger. Some viewers of the film had found some scenes so controversial that they walked out during the test screenings, even some actresses who auditioned for the part would walk out from the audition after realising what the film was about.

Roger Ebert refused to assign this film a star rating for his review (not to be confused with giving it a zero star rating, which he hands out to the very worst films that he sees), saying it doesn't really matter whether the film is perceived as good or bad. He closes the review by writing, "[The film] is what it is and occupies a world where the stars don't shine."

IMDB User Review By glyptoteque: "Well, well, now, this is a little gem we have here, a rarity in the world of horror, a film that refuses to pander to a moronic audience. The brain-dead audience that is expecting the happy ending to come soothe their souls, the audience that truly believes that "I Know What You Did Last Summer" is pure horror. "Oooooh, how exciting, and a little bit terrifying, I'll go along for the thrill ride, but I expect that everything returns to normal afterwards."

For me, horror is not about cheap scares, creaking doors, horror is about a pervasive, life- denying, sickening atmosphere, horror is pure misanthropy, an utter negativity that is alien to petty, human existence. And that is why this film is so brilliant in its design and execution; there is absolutely nothing redeeming here, there is not the slightest glimmer of hope, you feel a wonderful calm when you know that these sheepish human beings are being sent straight into pure hell, without a chance of escape. Now, that is true horror, ladies and gentlemen!!

And I don't know which of the critiques I find most funny, on the one hand you have the boring, moralistic nay-sayers, pettily warning other people to not watch the film because of its disgusting, horrifying nature. Ha, ha, congrats nay-sayer, you could not have given a better review, a more healthy recommendation, your pointing finger is like honey to flies. On the other hand you have the intelligentsia, the academic high-brows who seems completely unable to watch a horror film without soiling its pure and visceral nature, by dragging it down into the mud of multi-layered meaning. Well, I guess it is much easier for squeamish minds to digest a horror-film of this nature if you consider the film to be a giant metaphor, if you intellectualize it, you thereby pacify it. Are you really unable to watch a horror-film of this sort without demeaning it to a lowly position of a social commentary? How sad. But that is man for you, always trying frantically to create cosmos out of chaos. Insert meaning where there is none. This film is greatly recommended!!"

Tom Six believes that his film 'The Human Centipede' is a brilliant and unique film, Tom tweets "Attention all script writers: a villain wearing a mask on a killing spree is fucking unoriginal and stupid. Kisses on all your pink parts" Tom finds that the hate on his film is idiotic just because it's disturbing while other unoriginal film ideas are being praised.

For many comedians and fans etc of the human centipede have tried to make jokes of the film to give it a more lighter side to the story, make it seem less disgusting and more accepted in society, some people have created jewellery and shirts for the film, others have made parodies e.g. South Park's "CentiPad" or the "NyanPede" which is taking the viral video of "NyanCat" and using it to retell a scene from the film. A few people have created fan art of star wars characters being shown the diagram as they are strapped into the hospital beds similar to the scene in the film and one person has created a "Where's Waldo" page using lots of human centipedes with Waldo stuck in the middle of one.

The Human Centipede (First Sequence) Trailer Analysis

The whole trailer has key conventions of horror films, they have dramatic scary non-diegetic music and screeches of instruments, low-key lighting is used throughout the majority of the trailer to create shadows and connotes a bad and dark atmosphere. At the start of the trailer is a sound bridge over two shots. The sound is a diegetic voice asking for directions to a club, but just before the name of the club was given the voice cuts off. The shot then shows the female character placing the phone down while another female character who is also with the first female character is on the phone, the fact that the voice got cut off before the place was given could connote that the characters do not reach their destination or/and the character on the phone gets killed during the film. 

The next important thing shown in the film is when the female characters have broken down alone in the dark woods and are lost and then find a house which they run through the rain to get to, the rain could be some pathetic fallacy of the characters, they may feel scared and sad that they've lost their way or could connote and foreshadow bad events possibly ones that would make the female characters cry. We then see the hero's in Propps character roles (the female protagonists) are invited in by a german man with a disgusted and scary facial expression, also with the dark coloured robe he is wearing it could connote that this character is the villain or antagonist. 

He also has at one shot part of his face lit by the candles while the other part of his face has shadows due to the dim lit room which is partially lit up with candles. The audience then see a close up of a painting in his living room of conjoined twins in a contrasting black and red colour scheme, this is accompanied by one of the female protagonists saying "you have a very lovely home" which is a binary opposite to the atmosphere created by the candles, shadows and most of all the painting. The painting gives quite a weird and scary atmosphere. This shot is then followed by the villain turning on some lights and a close up with cuts zooming into a dead males face with a bar for him to bite on in his mouth which is accompanied by a diegetic scream made by one of the female characters. Music is then heard which creates tension. Shot changes are also then changed from fades to straight cuts.

http://twitchfilm.com/2011/06/the-human-centipede-full-sequence-banned-outright-by-the-bbfc.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-15203870

http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/the-human-centipede

http://www.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2010/11/27/real-life-human-centipedeof-one-or-something-whatever-you-call-it-the-mind-reels&view=comments

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2007/may/01/gender.world

http://www.ifcfilms.com/films/human-centipede

http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-human-centipede-2010

http://www.theweek.co.uk/film/50537/uk-film-censor-get-tougher-torture-porn-movies

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/human_centipede/

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2246161/Human-Centipede-2-One-repellent-movies-I-seen-says-Christopher-Tookey.html

https://twitter.com/tom_six 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Torture-Porn-Popular-Horror-after/dp/0230319416

http://www.amazon.co.uk/To-See-Saw-Movies-Torture/dp/0786470895/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_2