by: JohnSoister
Posted on 02.01.10 in All Horror Films > Torture
Release Date: 2015

“This time you really, really, really won’t believe how it ends…until next time.”

If only I had had been twisted enough to think of locking someone in a room with a bear-trap rigged to their head, I could be a part of the most lucrative horror franchise in history and be well on my way to penning the much anticipated “Jig Saw’s Uncle Ginsu’s Killer Cutlery, part 7 of 9, volume 4, episode 6: The Revenge.”  If only.    Maybe then I could kiss my office corner goodbye (note: I didn’t say “corner office” because I do, in fact, sit in an actual corner – sans cubicle – in a hallway, no less) and have legions of fans lining up for the latest installment of gruesome doo-hickery.

Love it or hate it, you’ve got to admit that Leigh Whannell – the Melbourne-born writer who is responsible for spawning the Saw phenomenon – has got it made. This guy has cranked out the same exact movie six times running and movie-goers are still begging for more.  Maybe the resounding success of the Saw franchise is a testament to the notoriously short American attention span. Or it might be attributable to our society’s thinly veiled appetite for gratuitous violence. Or maybe people just like saws.  Whatever the reason is, I don’t get it.

I just know I’m jealous that I didn’t come up with it first.

• ★★★★★

  Acting:

• ★★★★★

  Blood:

• ★★★★★

  Violence:

• ★★★★★

  Partying:

• ★★★★★

  Language:

• ★★★★★

  Humor:

• ★★★★★

  Predictable:

• ★★★★★

  Girls:

• ★★★★★

  Gore:

• ★★★★★

  Sexuality:

• ★★★★★

  Torture:

• ★★★★★

  Overall:

Oddly the most recent instalment in the Saw saga was actually the best, in my opinion, since the first one. Its very rare that so far into a franchise anything of worth and value emerges, but I thought the critical discussion of the American health system when it has become a very divisive element of Obama's domestic policy put it slightly above the others.

You know, I didn't finish the first Saw movie because of the awful, awful acting. I just couldn't deal with it. So I've missed out on every other saw movie.

The series is a hit and miss. One thing, and where I'll disagree with you, is that the continuing story is amazingly interwoven. After seeing Saw 4, i was impressed by the amount of intelligence within the storytelling that was newly brought to the audience. I believe that there is a stroke of genius to this series, though, it's true that this genius is often times hidden behind overdone themes, bad actors, and a couple instances where the story becomes far too adventurous with secondary character tie-ins.