Hello. I would like to play a game? The game, how many sequels will we be able to milk from one movie, therefore diluting any impact the movie has over time? If you guess incorrectly, the penalty is having to sit through my sequels. If you guess correctly, well, you still have to endure my sequels. Good luck.
The directorial debut from filmmaker James Wan, this psychological thriller comes from the first screenplay by actor Leigh Whannell, who also stars. Whannell plays Adam, one of two men chained up in a mysterious chamber. The other, Dr. Gordon (Cary Elwes), like Adam, has no idea how either of them got there. Neither of them are led to feel optimistic by the man lying between them dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Together, Adam and Dr. Gordon attempt to piece together what has happened to them and who the sadistic madman behind their imprisonment is. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi
Alright, I will admit that I enjoyed the hell out of the first Saw installment. It seemed fresh, sadistic, visceral and a great mind game to watch unfold. Sure, once the big reveal comes towards the end of the movie, repeat viewings don’t particularly seem captivating, but I still revel in the setting and world of Saw, the first one anyways. It was the right balance of psychotic violence and torture with a nicely put together jigsaw of different scenes and miniature stories, enough for me to get involved and be taken for a ride.
This is pretty much torture porn at its finest. The biggest selling point is the ultra-elaborate traps and mechanical devices that the feeble creator managed to think up. I would love to be a fly on the wall of the creative department as they came up with such freakishly, beautiful death traps. There is a lot of twisted creativity in the deaths of this movie that you have to at least appreciate the work that goes into the aesthetics of the film, while they completely neglect you know, story and plot developments. That is really the hallmark trait for the Saw series, the elaborate traps and death scenes, enough gore and blood to titillate the most hardened horror fan.
That is really the gist of my adoration of Saw, the first one anyways. The interesting concept and surprise twist ending was absolutely shocking and well deserved, while the fancy kills and death traps created this industrial and steely mood of despair. The concept and execution was novel for the first movie, before all the subsequent sequels just rode that into the ground hard. Jigsaw was a great villain, instilling this sense of moral choice in being willing to die to live again. I say that the first Saw is a great horror movie that brought in a some depth with the act of death. It’s a shame as to where the franchise went to, crappy twist endings and even more ridiculous traps. But hey, at least the original still manages to scare.
