Boo, Hiss etc.
I'd never seen any of these films, always avoided the likes of them and the plethora of torture films that followed. I decided to give them a spin after I realised everyone at work is anticipating Saw 5 and were having insanely hilarious conversations about self mutilation, head trauma and exploding collars. I just managed to watch the first three of them and to be honest I feel the world is a darker place for it.
They're an odd bunch of movies in that I really don't understand the mass appeal. The first one in particular is particularly terrible and isn't even that nasty compared to the likes of Hostel. It's really dumb psychological horror which is completely undermined by the directorial style and some chronic bad acting. The two main guys are fine, despite Elwe's onset of Britishness as he gets more desperate, and if the film was shorter and focused on the room then it wouldn't be so bad. But every excursion away from the initial area is utterly terrible. The crappy fast-slow motion stuff just looks awful, the soundtrack (aside from the surprisingly effective main theme) is laughable and Glover is just utterly laughable. I had to pause the TV because I was laughing so much at the 'high speed' car chase which consists of Ben Linus and Glover rocking backwards and forwards in stationary cars as the camera spazzes out to give a sense of urgency.
2 and 3 are massive improvements, largely because despite still being utterly earnest the films are far more focused and understand they're essentially unpleasantfests. Saw 3 in particular could probably be quite diverting if it wasn't nearly two hours long and some of the kills are quite impressive (the twisting machine and the chains are great). The film also has a moment which is utterly unpleasant (the breaking of the foot early on) and surprisingly effective.
What kills the film is the retarded way the plot reminds you of its salient points every 10 minutes or so and then wraps everything up at the end in a groovy montage. Saw 3 actually has two groovy montages within about 5 minutes of each other.
So the question I have to ask is what the fuck do the public see in the film? Are they inured by the gore or the soap opera storytelling (admittedly the continuity is impressively convoluted).
And yet I'm already looking for a copy of Saw 4, because despite being vaguely terrible they are also kind of watchable....so yeah...got to hand my nerd badge in on this one.
I'd never seen any of these films, always avoided the likes of them and the plethora of torture films that followed. I decided to give them a spin after I realised everyone at work is anticipating Saw 5 and were having insanely hilarious conversations about self mutilation, head trauma and exploding collars. I just managed to watch the first three of them and to be honest I feel the world is a darker place for it.
They're an odd bunch of movies in that I really don't understand the mass appeal. The first one in particular is particularly terrible and isn't even that nasty compared to the likes of Hostel. It's really dumb psychological horror which is completely undermined by the directorial style and some chronic bad acting. The two main guys are fine, despite Elwe's onset of Britishness as he gets more desperate, and if the film was shorter and focused on the room then it wouldn't be so bad. But every excursion away from the initial area is utterly terrible. The crappy fast-slow motion stuff just looks awful, the soundtrack (aside from the surprisingly effective main theme) is laughable and Glover is just utterly laughable. I had to pause the TV because I was laughing so much at the 'high speed' car chase which consists of Ben Linus and Glover rocking backwards and forwards in stationary cars as the camera spazzes out to give a sense of urgency.
2 and 3 are massive improvements, largely because despite still being utterly earnest the films are far more focused and understand they're essentially unpleasantfests. Saw 3 in particular could probably be quite diverting if it wasn't nearly two hours long and some of the kills are quite impressive (the twisting machine and the chains are great). The film also has a moment which is utterly unpleasant (the breaking of the foot early on) and surprisingly effective.
What kills the film is the retarded way the plot reminds you of its salient points every 10 minutes or so and then wraps everything up at the end in a groovy montage. Saw 3 actually has two groovy montages within about 5 minutes of each other.
So the question I have to ask is what the fuck do the public see in the film? Are they inured by the gore or the soap opera storytelling (admittedly the continuity is impressively convoluted).
And yet I'm already looking for a copy of Saw 4, because despite being vaguely terrible they are also kind of watchable....so yeah...got to hand my nerd badge in on this one.
