Saw (Full Screen)

So I was generally non-plussed when someone suggested we rent "Saw". I was much more interested in spending time as a group (since our days were numbered, most of the group leaving in just a couple of days) than wanting to see a movie, much less a horror flick. But as no other suggestion seemed as enticing, I agreed.

And thus began the film, with a beginning I have to admit was quite different from what I'm used to seeing (and, as many a scene in this film, comes back into play for the rapid-fire finale). The acting wasn't the best I'd seen... but then again, how many horror flicks are commended for their acting?

The chillingly nightmarish "games" proposed throughout the movie sucked me into my usual stance of "I can't believe this ****ing writer, twisted mind, how can he even suggest this, what if he influences people, yadda yadda..." The same stance I adopted when walking past "Se7en", already two thirds done, and then incapable of moving away. The fact that, throughout the film, "Jigsaw" pits his victims against their own fears and taboos, makes this movie even more bone-chilling than seeing a potential victim cower in fear, trying to hide from a killer, and then flailing blindly when the killer does appear.

I have to admit that, down to the last five minutes, I was hating this movie big time, rating it on my list of "Psychological Dislikes" somewhere between terrorism and hate propaganda.

Then came the ending. Ton after ton of information hurled at me. Sheer volumes of things I couldn't have expected. And everything fit (if one applies the logic that becomes clearer, yet still hid even in plain view, in "Saw II"). The movie ended, and all I could do is breathe another expletive, pant say, "That movie was genius," and then lunge for the remote to rewind to every part of the film referred to by the ending.

In short, if one didn't grasp the ending properly, it's easy to see how someone could dismiss this film as "poor acting", "didn't go anywhere", "cliched". The ending, once understood, literally transforms the film into something much more substantial. In fact, once the ending is aired, the rest of the film is literally transformed. And more new questions are raised than answers given to those that the rest of the film churned up. To me, that's much more worthy of "classic" status than jumping out of my seat every five minutes because some masked, homocidal killer jumps out at a victim with whatever instrument is available. If you don't find any of "Saw" disturbing, then you've become desensitized to many a taboo that revolts many of us to this day. I don't know whether to congratulate you or to run away screaming.

:(

By the way, the little kid in this movie, the same girl from SIN CITY, is amazing in this. When she has a gun to her head and begins to scream...you believe she's really terrified. She's the best actor in this one (sorry Mr. Glover).