Well... I Finally Saw Saw....

I'm sure we all have seen the nonstop advertisements on television and online for the upcoming film Saw IV in theatres October 26th. I knew relatively little about Saw except from what I have heard from friends, reviews, and funny parodies on Mad TV. Well I have started my own little game and are forcing myself and some friends of mine(whether or not they've seen any of the films) to sit and watch each of the three Saw films before the release of Saw IV. This newer torture genre of horror movies gave me the feeling that Saw would be merely random tortures, mindless gore, and may even a saw... Boy was I wrong, I absolutely fell right into this movie and found the tortures to be clever, the mindless gore to be necessary, and hell there even was a saw.

This was a smart movie that included my favorite element to any movie, plot twists. There seemed to be twists coming at you every minute as the characters background develop. The movie pulls you in and makes you feel completely entranced and locked in the room with the two main characters. The movie starts off with two strangers in the room they attempt to work together in order to escape a room while chained to a pipe. The way the characters introduce each other and speak revealing little about themselves at a time grants you a feeling of trying to piece together their life while they are speaking. Even more incredible is while the movie progresses you constantly make your own predictions and try to solve puzzles left by the jigsaw killer. It's like watching the Zodiac killer meets Al Capone. The murders are left with intricate puzzles and clues like the 1970s Californian killer Zodiac, but the one behind the murder isn't actually responsible for executing it just like mobster Al Capone.

From film analysis point of view the acting wasn't terrible and completely believable. A scene where one of the trapped prisoners fakes his own death after ingesting poison is memorable in comparison to the real deaths throughout the film, because you know his acting job is not believable enough to pass the test. In most cases you can actually feel the insanity that the major characters deliver in the film. Notable are Cary Elwes playing one of the prisoners who's self actualization in how he has missed the importance of his wife and children show you what insanity can lead a man to do. Also the former investigator played by Danny Glover gives you a feeling of how obsessive one may become when it comes to solving a murder. That and I have a feeling I haven't seen much of Glover in popular theatrical releases since Lethal Weapon 4. hmmm Saw caught up in sequels and now even with the Lethal Weapon series, and about a fifth of the time too. Perhaps Glover's character can return from the dead with Mel Gibson in some terrible crossover movie like Lethal Saw.

Well I really enjoyed this movie and hope that the next three offer the same sense of originality and hopefully more development of the jigsaw killer. I realize that a majority of sequels fall apart and I hope to avoid redundancy with my review of Saw II. I hope you all have the opportunity to view this film and the other two before Saw IV is released in theatres. It's worth it!

October 31st...Not So Far Away

Well since Halloween is rolling around what other movie would I discuss besides well ...John Carpenter's Halloween. Insert creepy jingle here* (Notice that I said John Carpenter's and not that horrible remake by Rob Zombie) Halloween is the best movie that Carpenter has ever made and one of the best horror movies ever made. I beleive this to be true for a few reasons; the ability to relate to Halloween, the creation of terror without blood, and the character of Michael Myers.


I ralked about this a little bit in my earlier post, but Halloween is so scary because the majority of people have experienced trick-or-treating. These experiences hold a special place in the minds of many. When something so positve from your childhood is turned into something evil, this has a lasting effect. Also it is a topic everyone can relate to. People can imagine this sort of thing happeneing in there neighborhood and the scenes are set up so well that it could be any neighborhood in the midwest.

The next big thing this movie did was create terror in scenes without using alot of gore. Instead of using alot of blood to get the shock factor Carpenter chose to depict the scenes are realistic as possible and use that to frighten the audience. The other aspect that allows the movie to still be scary and not use blood is the use of emotion in scenes. Jaimie Lee Curtis was extremely emotional over everything with her character. On the other end of the spectrum is Michael Myers that did the most horrible things and never showed and ounce of emotion.

Speaking of Michael Myers, lets discuss him further. Myers is just pure evil. He killed his family, among many other people, and never once showed an ounce of emotion. This is scary, usually we would expect people to fell bad about things. Some killers in movies will show an enjoyment for killing, but Myers does not even do that. Michael Myers maintains a stoic expression throughout the film...creepy.

This movie is truly revolutionary and out of all the holiday movies made this is the only one that ever really caught on. Other movies use forgetable actors in roles that should have never been written. Then they use a holiday theme to try and make a quick buck. Halloween has a great actress in Curtis and one of the most frightening monsters in Hollywood history with Michael Myers. I can not wait until I have kids that are old enough to watch this movie. I will show it to them on Halloween just as my parents did to me...scaring the crap out of them and giving them a love of the holiday.