The American Genre Film Archive, or AGFA, is a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of genre films and their legacy. Essentially, they collect and distribute films that might’ve otherwise disappeared forever. Centipede Horror, for example, never received a home release in the U.S. and could only be found through rare bootlegs. AGFA found the only 35mm print in existence and restored it, now available to rent on VOD. This 1982 Hong Kong horror film is the precise type of gruesome, skin-crawling insanity worth watching right about now.
Centipede Horror follows Wai Lun, a man that allows his sister to travel to Southeast Asia for a trip despite strict orders from their mother and grandfather that the siblings never, ever, visit the area. When Wai Lun’s sister mysteriously dies from an affliction that stumps all medical professionals, he’s determined to get answers. It leads him on a horrific path that includes sorcerers, a family curse, and, I can’t overstate this, an endless number of centipedes.
This nasty little horror movie earned a certificate from the Hong Kong censors office as a Category III film, a distinction given to films that contained extreme graphic violence, gore, and explicit sexual content. The strictly enforced category ensured no one under the age of 18 could rent, buy, or watch Category III films, which also includes titles like The Seventh Curse and Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky. Of note, Centipede Horror is the only Category III film penned by a woman: writer and actress, Suet Ming Chan.
Similar to films like The Seventh Curse, the further into the plot Centipede Horror ventures, the crazier it gets. There’s nudity, bizarre sorcerer rituals, death, and a surprising amount of characters vomiting up creepy-crawly things. One victim winds up vomiting blood and scorpions, but the central evil sorcerer prefers to inflict centipede curses upon people. Sometimes that means they’re just stung to death by a horde of them, and other times it means getting a stomach full of them to give the sorcerer puppeteer-like control.
The pinnacle, gross-out moment of the film sees actress Tien-Lang Li barf up centipedes. It’s a moment best served to go in on an empty stomach, but it’s made all the more impressive in that Tien-Lang Li stuffed live centipedes in her mouth for this scene. That’s either an unyielding commitment to the craft or a level of fearlessness most will never achieve. Or both.
If there’s a downside to this pick, it’s that the faded age of the film doesn’t mesh well with the white subtitles, especially in the early parts of the film, where things are still bright and cheerful. It’s a small nitpick that will likely bug some. Still, the reality is that this movie is too bonkers for that to be a major sticking point- the plot quickly becomes too convoluted and nonsensical for any subtitles to make sense of things anyway. That’s part of the charm.
We’re talking dancing chicken skeletons, uncomfortable rituals, gore aplenty, sorcerers battling it out to the finish, over the top deaths, laugh-out-loud moments, and so many freaking centipedes that you can’t help but wonder how many escaped the bug wrangler’s grasp to skitter off into the night. There’s something extremely unnerving about a centipede, and this movie showcases them to an uncomfortable degree. Director Keith Li’s horror movie is as over the top as it is gnarly, making it easy to see why the film earned its Cat III status.
Aside from the rarity of this title making it a worthy VOD pick, it also offers up a virtual Alamo Drafthouse experience. The rental page comes with two free videos- a preshow complete with previews and an intro by AGFA’s Joe Ziemba that gives more insight to the film. It’s a rare VOD title that gives you a little more bang for your buck. Though, the skin-crawling madness of Centipede Horror is more than enough to warrant a rental from the adventurous horror fan.
