Summing Up Saw

I often get funny looks from friends and family when I say that I genuinely enjoyed the first Saw film and appreciated the twist and cast in the second. Because of my overall distaste for 'torture porn', which seems to be the preference of horror fans of today, I went into each Saw film expecting it to be my last. I made a decision that each time I sat down to watch one of these things, if it tweaked me the wrong way, I was done with the series. And so, the third entry would be my last foray into the house that Leigh Wannell and James Wan built. By that point the whole idea seemed to get subverted by the sheer pleasure of showing people tortured and ripped to pieces in the most sadistic ways possible. The morality that Jigsaw seemed to be enforcing was no longer a concern to the new writers and directors.

I never expected to be posting on the Saw movies, especially so long after I've seen and given up on them, but this blog post on Secure Immaturity conjured up some residual feelings on the subject when the writer echoed my feelings on the franchise with this comment:

The Jigsaw Killer kind of has a point in the first film and maybe at the end of two but. . .by Saw VI the dude is just a pure sadist and we, as an audience, have to admit we have a little sadism in us to enjoy something so sick. I only like the third Saw because of this fact: it pushes my buttons and brings me to the line where I say ‘okay, enough is enough’.

Granted, he liked Saw III, but it's still nice to see that I'm not alone in my feelings.

Now, I will say that I'm mildly curious (and I stress mildly) to see the last installment because of Sean Patrick Flannery's involvement, but after seeing Boondock Saints II, I think even the fanboy pull I once had for SPF's stuff won't get me over the hump for this one.

Later!

mike