Horror Movie Reviews
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Title: Saw - Unrated (Two-Disc Special Edition) (2005) |
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Review of Saw - Unrated (Two-Disc Special Edition)
- Saw opens with a gruesome scenario: Two men are chained to the walls of a grimy bathroom with a bloody corpse lying on the floor between them. Tape recordings tell them that one of the men has to kill the other, or his wife and child will die. The corpse is holding a gun in one hand, but it's out of reach...but whoever has locked these two up has thoughtfully provided a hacksaw that can't cut through the heavy chain, but might cut through a little flesh and bone. From there, Saw jumps back and forth as the two men slowly unravel how they know each other and that their tormentor is one of those all-knowing, all-capable serial killers (it goes without saying that Saw is hugely influenced by Seven and the movies of Dario Argento), a fellow known as Jigsaw who disguises his voice and lets a creepy puppet (lifted almost directly from the eccentric animations of the Brothers Quay) be his visual representative. But imitation isn't inherently bad; what puts Saw ahead of its horror compatriots is a gleeful enthusiasm that a dozen sequels to Halloween couldn't muster. Saw has problems--it's clumsily overwritten (every detail of what's going on, no matter how visually evident, will be explained by the characters); most of the situations are static and implausible; and though the cast includes talented veterans like Cary Elwes (The Princess Bride) and Danny Glover (Lethal Weapon), the acting has the depth of a puddle. The rapid pace and frequently frenzied camerawork keep things in motion and while the philosophical underpinnings of Jigsaw won't challenge Hegel or Schopenhauer, they do offer more food for thought than most contemporary horror. Discriminating fans of the genre who like their gore with a glimmer of an idea will embrace Saw.
The Uncut Edition differs only slightly from the theatrical release; it reinserts a little more gore that was cut to get an R rating and tightens up the editing (the uncut version is actually a teensy bit shorter than the theatrical release). The extras are plentiful (if a bit thin): Two audio commentaries (one by director James Wan, screenwriter/actor Leigh Whannel, and Elwes), one by the producers--thankfully, no one takes themselves too seriously. Also included are a trio of typically self-congratulatory making-of featurettes ("He was amazing to work with" etc.), an animated storyboard of a sequence they couldn't afford to shoot, a DVD-ROM game in which you can construct your own puppet, a couple of self-mocking Easter Eggs, and lots of promotional stuff for Saw II. There's a very curious faux-news show purporting to be an investigation of the "real" Jigsaw, which uses clips from the movie as if they were documentary footage--it's hard to say whether this is a misguided attempt to make the movie seem creepier or a bit of flimsy humor. Most fans will find the regular DVD release satisfactory; this special edition is largely for hardcore enthusiasts. --Bret Fetzer
Amazon.com
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Comments for Saw - Unrated (Two-Disc Special Edition)
- Posted on 2008-06-28
How much blood would you shed to stay alive?
Heck yeah! Finally, a mainstream horror movie that's not afraid to be gritty. No campy, PG-13 family-friendly crap. No teenagers running around having sex and then getting hacked by a lumbering serial killer. Just 2 men locked in a dirty bathroom, cryptic clues left by a deranged killer, and a puppet.
The beauty of this movie is in its simplicity. The entire film was shot in one building with an extremely low budget. The two main characters, a photographer named Adam and a surgeon named Lawrence, wake up one day to find themselves locked in a grimy bathroom, chained to pipes on opposite sides of the room. In between them, there is a dead body with a gun in one hand, a tape recorder in the other, and his brains blown out and pooling on the floor. From then on, the two men must work together to solve the puzzle the killer, Jigsaw, has left them, and get out of their situation alive.
Jigsaw is a serial killer who uses "traps" to test his victims. His basic M.O. is that he puts them in situations, often with medieval-like torture devices, that will either kill them horribly, or leave them alive with permanent psychological and/or physical damage. Most of the time, these traps relate in some way to the person's lifestyle. Jigsaw's goal is to teach people to be grateful to be alive.
There are many misconceptions people have about this movie. First of all, it's not THAT gory. Yes, there is blood aplenty, and the traps Jigsaw sets for his victims(including a web of barbed wire a man must plow through, and a device hooked into a woman's jaw that could potentially permanently rip her mouth open) are just sick. But most of the horror comes with the THOUGHT of how painful the traps are, and not necessarily what is shown on screen. The majority of the gorehounds I know say that this movie is pretty tame.
Second of all, "Saw" is NOT torture porn. "Hostel" is torture porn. "Touristas" is torture porn. "Saw", however, is not. You know why? The fact of the matter is...THERE IS NO PORN IN THIS MOVIE. Not even a boob or a buttcrack. THERE IS NO NUDITY. And heck, there isn't really any "torture" either...not really.
However, I'm not gonna lie and say this movie is flawless. This has a lot to do with the director's lack of money, but that doesn't account for everything. In fact, I can see why some people really don't like this movie.
There are a ton of plot holes and unanswered questions. There are quite a few hammy one-liners("This is the most fun I've had without lubricant!"), and the acting in some places is hilariously abysmal(Like when Adam pretends to die). I understand how these could get in the way of enjoying the movie, but for me, they weren't that big of a deal.
All in all, this is one creepy and fascinating movie. The most enjoyable aspect of it is discovering more and more facts about the two main characters as the movie progresses, and discovering the connection they have while watching them learn to cope and work with each other. While not perfect, it's certainly entertaining and worthwhile.
Score: 5
- Posted on 2008-06-20
'induced nausea' as an artform! inspired brilliance!
From an admittedly gruesome but purely artistic viewpoint, this first Saw movie is the only 5 star and by far the best film of the series. Sure, the premise is a bit far-fetched and unlikely, but a good movie can ask you to believe the unbelievable, if it's well made. If movies did nothing more than reflect our everyday mundane lives, there would be no reason to escape to the theater to bury ourselves in fantasy. But if that fantasy just so happens to include a little carnage and gratuitous violence to the point of inducing just the tiniest bit of innocent nausea, then grab a barf bag, smile and enjoy it! I'm exaggerating now. I'll spare the synopsis I'm sure you've seen about the two men chained to filthy bathroom pipes with a violent suicide victim between them. Instead, I'll focus on what makes this a brilliant movie. There is an actual premise to this movie, and an actual psychology as well. It's difficult to imagine the main antagonist in this work, Jigsaw, could have the financial or mental (or any other necessary) resources to pull off the stunts in this movie. But to imagine a nearly surrealistic vengeance in such an unlikely form of vigilanteism still holds a fascination for the average viewer with a typically human blood lust. What Jigsaw does to his victims is a vengeance that we all wish at some point that we could take....and as Jigsaw says, "I never kill people, I merely gives them the means by which they either kill themselves or survive." Of course, you should never try any of these stunts at home, kids...but there is a brutal realism, in the human emotions displayed by Jigsaw, and his victims. His dream of 'helping people to appreciate the life that they too often take for granted' is taken too far to the extreme in this movie, and people should never go this far in real life, but in the fantasy of cinema, the sense of victimization of everyone involved is truly felt by the audience, even while watching someone inadvertantly slicing themselves open or hacking off a limb. There is gruesome violence here. There are blatant real emotions, self-preservation and testing of the human spirit in the extreme. As always, this first movie opens and explains a premise, and all subsequent sequels destroy the beauty and carnage of the original...because with the explanations out of the way, parts 2-4 can focus on more special effects, violence and even less plausable violence scenarios. This movie stands alone as a work of art...violent, bloody, grotesque art...but art none the less! Parts 2-4 are good movies and a fun viewing experience, but this first movie keeps the human traps simple, more believable and less complex...leaving the complexities in the thin, flimsy study and testing of the fragile human spirit. Sure, you can break a person emotionally, but if someone's going to kill him or hack off a limb, it's better to let him do it to himself! This is a great movie! An inspired, gruesome work of grotesque art! Make a point to see it, but not if you have to chop off an arm or something!
Score: 5 - Posted on 2008-05-01
great movie
This was a great performence, shocking, thrilling, touture, enjoyment i really enjoyed it. I liked all the saws but part3 was not that good but theothers were, so this was a great movie.
Score: 5 - Posted on 2008-03-12
orignal was much better....
I saw this in distribution. I actually had to turn my head at certain points. This, along with Trent Reznor's soundtrack made for a great splatter flick. I thought the uncut version could only be better.....WRONG. It is not nearly as tense and nerve-racking as the theater version. Plus, they have replaced Reznor's soundtrack with something else. In this case, the orginal was much better. Be warned!
Score: 2
- Posted on 2008-03-10
Slightly hacked off
I've managed to miss this one over the last four years. Doesn't deserve four stars in my view. For a film that was obviously made on a reletively low budget it mostly works well though.
The story reminded me of the sort of thing Clive Barker might have written in his Books of Blood (a series of short stories). OK there are a few inconsistencies in the plot but I thought it was pretty well acted and the twist at the end is well done. There are some genuinely creepy, not to mention grisly, moments scattered throughout the film.
However do not be mislead by the hype and the advertising blurb. This isn't a touch on 'Seven', which is better written, acted and in a totally different class. I have watched 'Seven' many many times, but having just finished watching 'Saw' I really have no desire to see it again.
Score: 3