The film begins with the introduction of Heiter (played by Dieter Laser), a former German surgeon who has lost his medical license due to his extreme and inhumane methods. Heiter kidnaps three tourists: Lindsay (played by Ashley C. Williams), Jenny (played by Valeria Marini), and Paisley (played by Eric Stoltz's body double). He then surgically connects them mouth-to-anus, creating a human centipede.

: Papers in Sage Journals argue the film serves as a satirical critique of mass incarceration and institutional violence in Western society.

The trilogy concludes with a satirical, self-referential film set in an American prison, where the "centipede" concept is proposed as a grotesque solution to mass incarceration. Themes and Academic Analysis

"No Pain, No Gain: Strategic Repulsion and The Human Centipede"