The most upsetting horror movie premise of the year. And next year. And probably the next year, too. Dutch writer/director Tom Six claims he’s received death threats over it, it’s so horrible. The prospect of seeing three people kidnapped by an insane German doctor who sews their bodies together, mouth-to-anus (so that two of these unlucky clucks are forced to survive on eating shit from the person in front of them), to create an experimental pet for himself really gets under some folks’ skin. It is a brilliantly disturbing idea. 
The actual movie isn’t so brilliant. The biggest problem is that all of the victims are dumber than potato salad. You’ll be screaming at your TV. It’s almost appropriate that these three are all grafted together, as each one seems to have about one-third of a brain. The film is entertaining enough, but it can’t live up to its ghastly concept. It won’t keep you up at night. In terms of squirm-inducing gross-outs, it barely compares to some of what’s in the Saw series or in Takashi Miike films. One of the most curious things about it is how Tom Six (a guy you’d assume would be a real sicko) softballs the most potentially stomach-turning scenes, such as the surgical grafting procedure and the actual moment when the suggested shit-eating first happens. JUST when you think something’s about to get really outrageous, he backs off.
The best thing here is 67 year old Dieter Laser as the mad Dr. Heiter, easily one of the creepiest villains of the decade. The mere sight of his unblinking eyes lowers the temperature of your room about ten degrees. He’s Boris Karloff meets Skelton Knaggs meets Josef Mengele meets a python.
The idea for the movie started as a joke that Six made to his friends about sewing a dangerous criminal’s mouth to a fat trucker’s asshole. When he made it the basis of his first independent film, he claims that he somehow kept the details of his story secret for fear of losing investors. He was already having problems with actresses walking out on the auditions. I’m not sure that I believe it, but the story goes that none of the film’s backers even KNEW about the mouth-to-anus aspect until after the movie was completed.