And the game continues indefinitely...kinda like Monopoly!

OK, so, the Saw sequels. I'm gonna go ahead and say straight away that I don't think any of them have come close to matching the first and they are gradually getting worse in my opinion but they still have things going for them.

Saw II doesn't feel totally like a Saw film to be honest. It is more like a House of Horrors but with characters we know and the theme of Jigsaw's game. And this was pretty much the case as the director had intended this to be a separate film but producers felt they could market it better as a Saw movie so Leigh Whannell was brought in to help with a rewrite to make it better suited. It's a good film overall, it's nice to see the character of Amanda back and the new arrival of Donnie Whalberg as Eric Matthews, one of the most popular characters of the series. The twist at the end is another good one and I liked how it linked up with the first one by ending in the same room. What I failed to mention in the last blog was the absolutely fantastic theme, written by Charlie Clouser. I only really noticed it in this film but going back and watching the end of Saw again, I'm convinced that added a substantial amount to the creepy factor.

Saw III was a bit of a drag for me. I liked seeing the relationship between John Kramer and Amanda as well as the flashbacks of Adam. It was all the other elements featuring Jeff that I just couldn't get on with, I just really didn't care where that was going and even when it all came together at the end, I was still a little underwhelmed.

Saw IV just left you with more questions than answers, definitely not recommended if you haven't seen the other movies. There's so much going on and it leaves you with such a confusing twist that you don't really know what to make of it. I think it was trying to be too clever and leave too many clues that it just felt overly bogged down. I know people say how good the scene transitions were but I found them to be a bit irritating and took you out of the film.

The traps continue to be inventive and disturbing, it really makes you think: what would you do? If I had to dig my eye out for a key or have a load of spikes clamp on my face, I'm sorry but I'd go for the spikes any day! I'll probably see Saw V when it comes out on DVD as I want to see if anything gets solved but I do hope they wrap things up sooner rather than later, and hopefully by finally telling us what happened to poor old Dr Gordon.

"I want to play a game..."

Seeing as it is not quite 2009, I may be a bit premature in my blogging. But it is never to early to start watching movies! Does a marathon runner just get up in the morning and run 26 miles? Hell no. So I have decided to do some training in preparation for this mammoth task. I decided to start with a film that people had been nagging me to watch for a few years now, a little horror film called Saw.

Now, over the last couple of years, I have really gotten into horror films. I like them with a bit of humour like American Werewolf in London or Shaun of the Dead, some with a more psychological effect like The Shining and sometimes the occasional gore fest like Re-Animator and Evil Dead. But what I have never liked is violence. Violence and gore to me is totally different. I don't really like intense peril where there seems to be no hope of escape and to me, that was what Saw always seemed to be like to me.

But I was wrong.

In a sense at least. It was intense peril and it had a very down ending but it was just absolutely fantastic, edge-of-your-seat filmmaking. It was far less gory than I expected, it focused more on the trauma of the situation and the confusion and distrust rather than the shock tactics of sawing limbs off. Even in the climactic scene, you barely see much more than the initial laceration. The acting is great from both leading men (Leigh Whannell, also the writer, is particularly convincing whereas Cary Elwes goes a little OTT near the end) as well as the supporting cast. The whole idea is very original, one of the most inventive and disturbing concepts of a horror film in a long while. Maybe because it's so real, it could happen to you. It's clever how the serial killer, never actually murders anyone and he himself wants his 'victims' to live. The twist at the end was magnificent, I don't care about all the people that apparently saw it coming, I could barely get my head round it when he was standing up! I remembered people saying they couldn't believe who Jigsaw was and there was me, thinking I was so clever that I figured it was Zepp when I first laid eyes on him. More fool me. And finally, the direction is very effective, erratic in once scene then hauntingly static in another. It's an outstanding breakout film for the young Aussie filmmakers.

I won't deny the fact that there are several plot holes in the movie, things that just don't really make sense. The one that irks me the most is the key. If Adam was supposed to have the key to be able to undo his chain, why was he chained up in the first place? Why were there two saws? How the hell would Dr Gordon have ever shot him if he could freely move around? That doesn't make sense to me. I'm still very curious to know if Dr Gordon survived. Sure, he probably bled to death or Jigsaw got him on the way out but you never know. I'm sure they will probably acknowledge it sometime in the near future.

The next day, I decided to watch Saw II but ended up watching III and IV as well. But I will do that in another blog so as not to clutter it up.

Overall: A very well done horror film and one that I would happily watch again and again. If that makes me sick then so be it!

I also want to get the special edition DVD as I have heard that the commentary is very entertaining.