Movies
IFC Films Acquires Knuckle-Biter ‘Human Centipede’
One of the most disturbing films in years has finally been acquired for US distribution. Tom Six’s The Human Centipede (First Sequence) (review) – a film that’s selling point is based around two women and a Japanese man who are sewn together to create a “human centipede” – was snatched up by IFC Films with plans on releasing the knuckle-biter in theaters and VOD this year. Read on for the skinny.
IFC Films, one of the leading American distributors of independent and foreign films, announced today it has acquired North American rights to the acclaimed horror film THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE (FIRST SEQUENCE). Written and directed by Tom Six, THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE premiered at Fantastic Fest in 2009, receiving the top prize for Best Horror Film and Best Actor for Dieter Laser, who stars as stars as an obsessed doctor who surgically joins his unsuspecting victims together. THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE also received Best Picture at the 2009 Scream Fest LA Film Festival.
In addition to Laser, THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE stars Ashley C. Williams (interview), Ashlynn Yennie (interview), Akihiro Kitamura, and the film was produced by Tom Six and Ilona Six.
The deal for THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE was negotiated by IFC Films’ Jeff Deutchman & Arianna Bocco with Ilona Six.
Building on their success with acclaimed horror fare such as ANTICHRIST, THE LAST WINTER and DEAD SNOW, IFC Films is releasing THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE in 2010 via its IFC in Theaters platform which brings critically-acclaimed independent movies to on demand viewers at home the same day they premiere in theaters.
THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE is an unconventional – and medically accurate — biological horror film that enthusiastically explores territory that few filmmakers dare to tread. When two pretty American girls go on a road trip in Europe, they end up alone at night in Germany with a broken car in the woods. They search for help and find an isolated villa, and awake the next day to find themselves trapped in a terrifying makeshift basement hospital. Their captor is the internationally respected Siamese twin surgeon Dr. Josef Heiter with a demented vision for mankind’s future existence. Dr. Heiter wants to remove human beings’ kneecaps so they have to exist on all fours and then surgically graft them mouth-to-anus to form a centipede chain. But when his victims give him more trouble than he expects – including unwanted attention from the authorities – Dr. Heiter is forced to decide whether to abandon his latest project, or protect it from the outside world – with their and his very lives, if necessary.
Jonathan Sehring, President of IFC Entertainment said, “I can’t remember when I have been as excited and had as much fun being horrified and repulsed while watching a movie. Echoing back to the early works of David Cronenberg, THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE is a landmark work in the horror genre, taking the “mad doctor” conceit and perversely twisting it into a mind-boggling roller coaster ride. Everyone at IFC is excited to introduce such a unique talent as Tom Six to American audiences and it’s a perfect film for our theatrical and VOD platforms.”
Tom Six said, “I think IFC’s distribution is the last and best link to complete the human centipede chain.”
A contemporary reimagining of H.P. Lovecraft’s short story Herbert West: Reanimator is on the way, and Deadline has unveiled the first look at the new Herbert West and the pathologist drawn to his orbit.
Adam Simon (The Haunting in Connecticut, “Salem”) and Tim Metcalfe (The Haunting in Connecticut, Kalifornia) penned the script. The original screenplay and storyline come from Jade Sandberg Wallace.
Michael Grossman (“The Originals”, “Pretty Little Liars”) directs.
The new images introduce star Joseph Morgan (“Vampire Diaries“), who plays “brilliant surgeon and scientist Herbert West, who is obsessed with creating a serum to reanimate the dead.” Katie Cassidy (Speed Demon) stars opposite as the pathologist with a troubled past who joins his efforts.
Together, they prove that conquering death may be the ultimate sin against life itself.
The film’s official synopsis: “As a child, Herbert West watches his father Peter reanimate his dead mother Judith in a secret basement lab — only for Judith to mortally wound Peter and nearly kill Herbert before Peter shoots her. The trauma leaves its mark on Herbert, but so does one final image: his mother’s finger, twitching after death. Thirty years later, Herbert West is a brilliant, secretive surgeon still chasing his father’s obsession.
“Pathologist Kate Locke arrives in town and is drawn into his orbit — first through a spark at a hospital fundraiser, then through his secret lab, where he reveals a serum capable of reanimating severed tissue. Kate, hiding a dark past of her own, is thrilled rather than horrified, and moves into West’s mansion to work alongside him. Their early experiments on a cadaver succeed only briefly. West concludes that dead tissue is the problem — they need something fresher.”
Supporting cast includes Scott Aiello, Ira J Amyx, Randall Newsome, Emma Reinagal, James D. Bryce, Kathryn A Bentley, Jack Lancaster, Amy Holland Pennell, John Pierson, Mindy Shaw, Eric Dean White, Tristan Wilder Hallet, Adrienne Lamping, Aaron Crippen, and Drew Patterson.
Makeup artist Jeff Lewis (“Star Trek: Voyager,” “Star Trek: Enterprise”) and cousin Roger Lewis are heading the production via their newly established Woodlake Entertainment.
Lovecraft’s short story, first serialized in Home Brew magazine in 1922, is the first among his works to mention the fictional Miskatonic University. It was most famously adapted into a 1985 horror movie from Stuart Gordon, starring Jeffrey Combs as Herbert West.
Herbert West: Reanimator is set in Alton, Illinois, where production is now underway.
Herbert West: Reanimator. Photo credit: Matt Lief Anderson
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