Weekend Matinee: SAW

I don't get the Saw movies.

I mean, I get it: Jigsaw puts people through horrible events to make them appreciate life with a renewed vigor. It's a pretty clever motivation, the deaths are pretty elaborate, and it really changed the notion of what a horror movie was. I get all that, and kudos to the franchise for pulling it off. What I don't get, is all the hype.

Until yesterday, I thought the Saw movies were all pretty basic with each new installment telling effectively the same story over again and again. Then I read this article on Overthinking It. Clearly, I'm missing something because what I've seen of these movies, they're horrible. And I mean that in every sense of the word.

As a brief aside, I recently worked on Scream Queens 2, the VH1 reality show where 10 hopeful actress vie for a role in the newest Saw movie: SAW 3D. As expected on a show like that, there was a lot of talk about how revolutionary the Saw movies were. "It's the biggest horror franchise ever," "You never know what Jigsaw's planning until the last frame of the movie," etc, etc.

Unsurprisingly, this level of hype infected my brain and I started wondering if my inclinations on the franchise (based on half watching the first installment) were wrong. Maybe it was the best horror movie ever. Maybe I was just too up my own ass to give it a chance. So I did.

And it was more horrible than I remembered.

The fast cutting, the random sound effects, the over acting... it was just bad.

But now, after reading that article I feel that tickle in the back of my brain about Saw. I'm doubting my convictions again, and I shouldn't.

So to help me remember how bad those movies are, here's a big grisly montage of all the deaths that SAW could muster. Obviously, things might get a little bloody, so be prepared...



Ah... Much better.