Saw V Exists, And We Are Worse For It

I thought there was no reason to watch that terrible series anymore after they offed Shawnee Smith's character.

Then they cast Costas Mandylor.

Funny write up, sir.

These really are the most bullshit horror movies in existance right now. At least Freddy and Jason could cop to being ridiculous gore fests; Saw fans like to pretend their franchise is "deep" and that Jigsaw's "choice" he gives his victims makes for some kind of intriguing morality play. Of course, it's all freshmen level psychology horseshit, but that's neither here nor there. Doesn't change the fact that a) these movies suck, and b) the droves of assholes who flock to them year after year somehow suck even more.

Oh, no one thinks they're deep.

They're ridiculous gore fests, just like Freddy and Jason. I get not liking Saw (cause they're stupid), but they are exactly the same kind of movies as those. A whole bunch of young little geeks are gonna enjoy them, grow up, and realize they're shit. Harmless! I say!

Although the franchise did deteriorate realy, really quickly, I kinda liked the first one. It was just different enough to be cool. If only they'd left it at that. . . . We might remember "Saw" more fondly in the coming years.

Mr. Riviello, your news item was right on the money. Why this series has gone on for so long I haven't a clue.

The first movie was a good idea, but it was just poorly executed.

Also, you can't forget they got a fucking Saw video game coming out.

I sort of like the first movie.

I haven't seen the fourth one, but I really hated the second and third installments. My brother loves this series, but he has the worst taste in movies ever, so that doesn't really surprise me.

Jesus Christ, this series really has become an annual pestilence like lovebug season.

Come on guys, this is Lionsgate's one guaranteed money maker. They're gonna milk this for every ounce they can. I wouldn't be surprised if they got into double digits before audience got bored.

I was supportive of the first one, but couldn't really deal with it the second time around, I never saw the second one, was reasonably surprised by the (director's cut) third one (I didn't hate it), and thought the fourth one was embarassingly bad.

Part of me still roots for these movies in hopes that the money will make Lionsgate take some chances, like perhaps releasing one NC-17? Imagine how great a successful NC-17 film would be for not only horror cinema, but all cinema.

Yeah, when I heard the plot for the first one I was intrigued. Then I saw the movie and wondered how it could go so wrong. The whole series is just the concept, with some added twists. Can not take much to make, so if they keep making money they will keep making them. What I wonder is how many it will take for people to realize how stupid they are. Then how long they will live in direct to DVD.

Ok, so I'm the one jackass that still goes every year.

Somebody up above said it: this is absolutely the modern Jason or Freddy. The movies fall apart the second you take any of it seriously, but they are gory fun right around Halloween.

Although I can't justify the fourth one. That one wasn't even so bad it's good, that was just awful.

I do agree there the new generations Friday series. It seems the high school kids hit them up every year. What is frustrating is that the Saw 'fans' are the same people that called the Mist stupid. When you see a great horror movie bashed because over being 'stupid' (mainly the ending) and then this crap that truly is stupid gets a pass.

Stopped watching after 2 as well, but hatred aside, I kind of like that poster. At least they tried something else besides the "body part in the shape of a roman numeral" poster.

I do find it kind of funny that rather than release a Saw film on Halloween itself they're going the week before and instead I'll be skipping trick or treating to see Zack and Miri Make a Porno.

There's probably a viable reason for making it the week before, but it still surprises me.

I agree with those above- The series is the modern version of F13 or NOES, with another sequel arriving nearly every year. The films ARE making a profit, and are also undoubtedly drawing a new audience to horror films. I'm finding that the younger crowd are discovering the classics(say, any stuff pre- late 80's) as such- films that are the forefathers of their own "modern classics"- for good or ill. The Saw films have woven themselves into this fabric and regardless of my own personal disdain for the series, they have made an impact. Another chapter in the proverbial "Horror Film History".

In the end, it's all cyclical. Someday, those who love the Saw series deeply will curse the day another, presumably more horrible franchise than their beloved series(at that point up to "SAW PART I I"- complete with Jigsaw's eyes in a cyborg body in space inflicting self-deprecating traps upon the caricatures of the characters in the original film) overtakes it as the "new, hip" horror series.

Actually, I can't wait for SAW I I.

Look Alex, one man's gory guilty pleasure is another man's steaming bowl of shit, I don't know what else to tell you other than I promise to put on a shitty Nightmare on Elm Street sequel instead of Saw III the next time I feel the urge to laugh at something taking itself too seriously.

Then... How do you know?

III & IV were pretty clever. Only after seeing the 4th one, you'll know what I'm talking about. III & IV make up for the 2nd one, IMHO. And I'm a pretty big horror fan, being a kid growing up in the 80's and all.

One of the biggest problems with the Saw series is how clever they believe they are. I always imagine the writers and producers sitting in a room brainstorming the next sequel's "surprise" ending. M. Night can't hold a candle to the Saw creators and their love for crappy twist endings.

BTW...people complain all the time about the old slasher trick of always managing to catch the running teen even though they're walking. We're witnessing a new form of this with these flicks. No matter what the person does, Jigsaw always is one step ahead with another trap.

Actually I felt that SAW IV was a little better than SAW III. The traps in IV were more ingenious.

I agree that this is a series that has gone much too long. But I wouldn't call them terrible or anything. I can think of at least a dozen DTV Horror films (Venom, Hatchet) that are a lot worse.

At least we'll be able to count our calender seeing that each SAW comes out yearly at around the same time.

I gave up after Saw III. Jigsaw was dead, Shawnee Smith was dead, there was one last twist/trap, that was it. Story over. No real reason to continue it with someone else aping Jigsaw, and any way to bring the original Jigsaw back from the dead was going to be ludicrous anyway, so why bother?

I can see why people consider these the modern F13 and NOES, but i still don't like them. Maybe because F13 was there for me as a kid, whereas these...not so much. Never been able to get into them. i've only seen 1 -3

In fact, i have a friend who, bless her heart, loves them. Each time one comes out, she tells me how fantastic it was and that she loves them because they are "psychological thrillers." I feel bad laughing at her, but we're close enough that i can still do it...thank fucking christ.

I can't tell you how wrong you are without spoiling the twist at the end of IV.

Note: I'm not in any way saying these movies are premium quality. They're just not the celluloid holocaust everybody makes them out to be.

I'm with Arjen. In the 80's hardcore horror fans were wringing their hands over how Jason and Freddy were destroying the genre with their lame, repetitive crap. But these are all just carnival sideshows. A night of cheap fun.
Years from now some slick remakes will happen and fans will be bleating on about what an affront it is to the artistic integrity of the originals.

But still, Alex's article was right on the money.

No one thinks they're deep, but I remember having a few discussions with a bunch of mouth-breathers that roll-out that lame chesnut: "Well, Jigsaw's not a killer cause, technically, he's never murdered anyone." These jackasses thought this was a deep point, and I've seen it repeated quite a few times.

A friend told me the ending for Saw IV - I won't ruin it for anyone here, but I am glad I missed it.

There comes a time when you have to wrap this stuff up. You can only do these things so often before you retread the same old ground again, and again, and again.

The man makes a good point. I support After Dark's Horrorfest every year for pretty much the same reason. Gotta keep that hope alive.

This, too is a good point. As has been pointed out, F13 & NOES & their seemingly endless sequels, got to be parodies of themselves after awhile. BUt I don't think anyone who's a real fan of the genre can deny there were some great horror moments in each series, particularly the first installments. They only became a joke after the sequels started screwing things up and getting silly. Personally, I kind of got tired of them pretty early on (F13 in particular), but to many they were teenage escape fests and will be remebered fondly in a nostalgic sort of way. Most of these folks probably wouldn't call the sequels "classics", but recognize them for the brain candy sort of fun they were; a good way to while away a Saturday night, and if you're lucky get your girlfriend to snuggle a little closer in the theatre at the "scary" parts. Today's youngsters will probably think the same thing about the Saw franchise. If enough people like them for whatever reason, they're almost certain to someday be considered part of the fabric of horror history, as DC says above.

He & Gabe would both have been repped for their posts.

Death Sentence did kind of make me revise my stance on James Wan, but still- they guy doesn't seem to have as much talent as the minds that originated and inspired the earlier Friday and Nightmare series'. Those horror series' started with meager to viable promise- SAW never had such origins.

From what I understand Wan got out after the first one. The one thing I liked about part 4 was the fact that the director used the entire movie as an excuse to practice moving between characters without cutting, which he did by having the sets made right next to eachother. He also spends the entire commentary track talking up Repo! rather then bothering with Saw 4, which he apparently had zero interest in making.

I had to review it, that's why I watched the commentary, before you ask.

Was Dead Silence any good? I heard it had the patented Saw twist and theme at the ending.

In my horror world, SLITHER would have done great business at the BO with a sequel on the way, and TRICK R TREAT would have already debuted and scared SAW 4 away from a Halloween release.

Seriously, screw this franchise.

Death Sentence is very fun. The parking garage scene is pretty fucking great.

You know the one thing I have liked from the Saw movies has been the end theme. I got "Zepp Overture" on my computer.

My brother finally convinced me to watch these- at the time there was only three of them- after years of harping. Eh, not impressed.

The thing about comparing them to F13 and NOES, those flicks were a rite of passage, and despite being about kiddie diddler child murderers and retarded backwoods killing machines, they were quite fun.

I didn't get the fun vibe from Saw. I wouldn't pass it on to my offspring or nieces and nephews. Of course, I could be an old fuddy duddy. Maybe this is a great party movie for the kids, I'm sure there's a great drinking game every time somebody's chest is ripped open or somebody is forced to put there hands in a box of something really sharp and cutty.

This isn't hard to figure out at all. Cheap to produce + great opening weekends + huge DVD business = Happy Lionsgate Executives. Helps when the biggest stars you're dealing with are the aforementioned Costas Mandylor and some guy that was in Braveheart.

Don't like the franchise, but it's only a matter of time before Saw gets its very own Jason Takes Manhattan or Freddy's Dead - The only thing that'll stop the series is one or two sequels tanking hard at the box office.

At least the old Friday/Nightmare movies had their own campy charm, which is probably why they're still very endearing to me as guilty pleasure material in my adult years.

The Saw movies? Not so much.

Normally, that guarantees direct to dvd. How they avoided that trap (ha!) is beyond me. Even Elwes and Glover (in #1) don't always mean theatrical release.

I haven't seen any of the Saw movies, but I doubt seriously that the series is objectively so much worse than the Jason and Freddie movies. The third Freddie movie was fucking Dream Warriors (think about that) and they were steadily worse from there until (briefly) New Nightmare.

Remember the F13 where he fought the telekinetic chick?

Crappy "horror" that caters to teens is nothing new.

Jason Goes To Hell was pretty fun though.

I feel the same way about Jason X. I honestly don't know why. . . .

Nothing wrong with enjoying the Saw films. They're not for me, but there's definetly an audience for them.

But trick or treating?!? You're close to 20 aren't you? At that age, if you want halloween candy, you hit up Walmart on November 1st and buy as much of that shit as you want at half price.

I refuse to give candy to people that are obviously too old. Yeah, I've gotten an egg on my window because of this, but I stand by it dammit.

Maybe no one around these parts think they're deep, but I've had conversations with friends in the real world who love these films for that very reason. They praise the series for being so psychological, and having more to say than the average horror movie. All I can do is grit my teeth, shake my head, and walk away.

I see what you did there!

And I agree with Keith that there was something more fun (not silly all the time, but fun) about some of the slasher flicks of yore like F13 & NOES & their progeny that's missing from some of today's films, such as Saw & its sequels. Whether this is a good thing or not is open to debate, I think. Some may think the current trend is toward what I've heard described as mean spirited torture porn type stuff, and that watching such films is not enjoyable. Others probably think this is a good thing, because horror is supposed to be scary &/or disturbng & not "fun", & that this is the right track for them to be on.

Personally, I usually enjoy watching horror movies in general. I wouldn't have any more of a problem sharing these w/ a younger crowd (assuming they were mature enough to handle it) than I would any other gory, violent horror flick. In the right context & company, even Hostel can be its own kind of "fun".

But then again, my wife thinks my whole infatuation w/ horror is weird, so I may not be the best judge of these things.

Come to think of it, I might be confusing "fun" with "had more tits."

As to whoever was asking why they don't release these flicks on actual Halloween, have you ever been to a theater on Halloween? It's a party night. But it's also like releasing a Christmas themed movie on Christmas day, by then the anticipation is deflated. The buildup to Halloween is greater than the actual day itself, well, not for me, it's my birthday and as we all know that's a viable excuse to get way too fucked up and act like a jackass. Like I said, party night.

I find nothing confusing about it.