October 31, 2006
Saw III
The franchise that gave us a renaissance of the "torture porn" genre is back, with another cringe inducing feast of pain and horror.
Starring: Tobin Bell, Shawnee Smith, Angus Macfadyen
Rating: 7/10
Directed By: Darren Lynn Bousman
Runtime: 107 minutes
Starring: Tobin Bell, Shawnee Smith, Angus Macfadyen
Rating: 7/10
Directed By: Darren Lynn Bousman
Runtime: 107 minutes
When Saw burst upon the scene in 2004, remakes of Asian horror movies were prevalent in the market while the torture movie genre was nonexistent. With that film's success, though, the torture movie genre (or torture porn as it has so accurately been nicknamed) was reborn and in the two years that followed we've seen a slew of films that copied Saw's cringe inducing tactics. Everything from Hostel to The Devil's Rejects owe a debt of gratitude to Saw for bringing viscera back to the visceral pleasures of modern horror.
Whereas those other films dedicated most of their running time to uncomfortable scenes of torture and dismemberment, though, the Saw franchise has grown better and more complex with each installment by treating its characters as actual people instead of props.
Saw III picks up where the last film left off - the imprisonment of the that film's protagonist, Detective Eric Matthews (Donnie Wahlberg). Although it picks up where the last film left off, this film is in no way a direct continuation of that film's narrative. As the Saw films are prone to do, the narrative quickly begins to move around in time with a new puzzle being established early on and a new character at its center. This time around, Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) and his psychotic assistant (Shawnee Smith) have trapped a grieving father (Angus Macfadyen) in a large scale puzzle that will force him to confront all of the people involved in the death of his young son. The father's quest for revenge/redemption is at the center of the film but the plot itself jumps back and forth in time amongst its myriad list of characters to explain back stories and to carefully combine the plots of the three films into one cohesive narrative. This structure is one of the series more commendable attributes. Never can I remember a horror movie franchise utilizing its disparate parts to create a much larger storyline. The careful viewer can probably find numerous holes in the ways the plots of each film are linked but the fact remains that the series attempts something never before seen in horror cinema.
In addition to its structure and ever growing mythology, the series has another huge advantage in one of horror's more fascinating villains. Had someone told me that a bed-ridden, terminally-ill 50-year-old would one day find his place amongst the likes of Freddy and Jason in the annals of horror movie iconography, I probably would have laughed at them. As it stands, though, Jigsaw is much more fascinating than either of those villains ever were due in no small part to his motivations and some wonderful character work from Tobin Bell. Bell's performance is Shakespearean when compared to that of Robert Englund's manic Freddy or Kane Hodder's silent, lumbering Jason.
I am a horror movie geek at heart and I grew up on a healthy diet of Friday The 13th's and Nightmare On Elm Street's. I refuse to denigrate either franchise but, truth is, the Saw franchise is quickly shaping up to be a much better one with its insistence on putting good plots and characterization before mass slaughter and dumb puns. However, for anyone that thinks I'm painting Saw III as a tame affair, be forewarned - Saw III contains some of the most disgusting moments of gore ever committed to film and I dare anyone going to see this movie not to look away just once in disgust.
WOW!!! OK, you little cyber-beasts - before I get started, let me advise you to read Beaux's review of this film first. That cybernetic SOB can write circles around me, and his review is by far the better one.
But I just can't stop myself from commenting on this film. The first Saw was a great horror movie hampered by some painfully bad performances . . . Cary Elwes in particular should get an award for the biggest piece of ham in a movie this decade. Saw II was by far the better movie - pretty rare for any sequel, let alone a horror sequel - and really upped the ante for performances, storyline, AND it was a much better mind-fuck.
Saw III? All I can say is - this movie will FUCK YOU UP! Ignore the bad reviews you will inevitably see on from every "mainstream" critic. On second thought, don't ignore them. Read them. And then ask yourself - why did they not like this film? I'll tell you why . . . because they walked out of this movie feeling emotionally raped. And that's exactly why you WANT to see it. It's a shame they can't get past the "torture-porn" aspect of the visuals, because the acting and storyline of this movie rival anything coming out of the studio system today. Tobin Bell manages to make Jigsaw, a villian who we rarely see move, seem more frightening and more interesting than 10 Freddy's, Jason's, and Michael Myers' combined.
WARNING!!! I can not stress enough that you need to be careful who you take to this film. If you take a child under the age of 14, you're a bad bad person. One more time - this movie will FUCK THEM UP!
My new favorite scary line? "I want to play a game . . .
Whereas those other films dedicated most of their running time to uncomfortable scenes of torture and dismemberment, though, the Saw franchise has grown better and more complex with each installment by treating its characters as actual people instead of props.
Saw III picks up where the last film left off - the imprisonment of the that film's protagonist, Detective Eric Matthews (Donnie Wahlberg). Although it picks up where the last film left off, this film is in no way a direct continuation of that film's narrative. As the Saw films are prone to do, the narrative quickly begins to move around in time with a new puzzle being established early on and a new character at its center. This time around, Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) and his psychotic assistant (Shawnee Smith) have trapped a grieving father (Angus Macfadyen) in a large scale puzzle that will force him to confront all of the people involved in the death of his young son. The father's quest for revenge/redemption is at the center of the film but the plot itself jumps back and forth in time amongst its myriad list of characters to explain back stories and to carefully combine the plots of the three films into one cohesive narrative. This structure is one of the series more commendable attributes. Never can I remember a horror movie franchise utilizing its disparate parts to create a much larger storyline. The careful viewer can probably find numerous holes in the ways the plots of each film are linked but the fact remains that the series attempts something never before seen in horror cinema.
In addition to its structure and ever growing mythology, the series has another huge advantage in one of horror's more fascinating villains. Had someone told me that a bed-ridden, terminally-ill 50-year-old would one day find his place amongst the likes of Freddy and Jason in the annals of horror movie iconography, I probably would have laughed at them. As it stands, though, Jigsaw is much more fascinating than either of those villains ever were due in no small part to his motivations and some wonderful character work from Tobin Bell. Bell's performance is Shakespearean when compared to that of Robert Englund's manic Freddy or Kane Hodder's silent, lumbering Jason.
I am a horror movie geek at heart and I grew up on a healthy diet of Friday The 13th's and Nightmare On Elm Street's. I refuse to denigrate either franchise but, truth is, the Saw franchise is quickly shaping up to be a much better one with its insistence on putting good plots and characterization before mass slaughter and dumb puns. However, for anyone that thinks I'm painting Saw III as a tame affair, be forewarned - Saw III contains some of the most disgusting moments of gore ever committed to film and I dare anyone going to see this movie not to look away just once in disgust.
WOW!!! OK, you little cyber-beasts - before I get started, let me advise you to read Beaux's review of this film first. That cybernetic SOB can write circles around me, and his review is by far the better one.But I just can't stop myself from commenting on this film. The first Saw was a great horror movie hampered by some painfully bad performances . . . Cary Elwes in particular should get an award for the biggest piece of ham in a movie this decade. Saw II was by far the better movie - pretty rare for any sequel, let alone a horror sequel - and really upped the ante for performances, storyline, AND it was a much better mind-fuck.
Saw III? All I can say is - this movie will FUCK YOU UP! Ignore the bad reviews you will inevitably see on from every "mainstream" critic. On second thought, don't ignore them. Read them. And then ask yourself - why did they not like this film? I'll tell you why . . . because they walked out of this movie feeling emotionally raped. And that's exactly why you WANT to see it. It's a shame they can't get past the "torture-porn" aspect of the visuals, because the acting and storyline of this movie rival anything coming out of the studio system today. Tobin Bell manages to make Jigsaw, a villian who we rarely see move, seem more frightening and more interesting than 10 Freddy's, Jason's, and Michael Myers' combined.
WARNING!!! I can not stress enough that you need to be careful who you take to this film. If you take a child under the age of 14, you're a bad bad person. One more time - this movie will FUCK THEM UP!
My new favorite scary line? "I want to play a game . . .