However, I have said that I prefer psychological horror to physical torture and pain, so it probably seems weird that I like a series whose defining feature is “torture porn”. Well, that’s what I want to talk about today . . .
This series began with a short film in 2003, which was called “Saw” until they were hired by Twisted Pictures to create a full-length movie based on the concept which they also called "Saw", so they renamed the short Saw 0.5.
Then in 2004, they released Saw, a low-budget horror film about the victims of a twisted serial killer. What makes this film so good, to me, is the writing. Wan & Whannell based the themes and style off their own fears and nightmares. They had a few gore effects, some props, and a small number of shooting locations. But, dialogue is cheap, so this film focussed on characters, mystery and twists. The characters themselves were flawed, but realistic. Best of all, I love the way they characterized the killer.
The villain, the serial killer, justifies his crimes to himself by placing people in elaborate, deadly traps which they technically can survive, albeit after some medical treatment and permanent scars. So, he doesn't think of himself as a killer, but rather a kind of teacher. He sees this torment as having a positive influence, as he believes that people value their life more, “cherish” their life, if they witness firsthand their own fragile mortality.
As a writer, I adore this kind of character. Jigsaw is the villain, he's a sick and cruel monster, but he sees himself as the hero. He even has his own twisted sense of morality, based around giving everyone a chance, forgiveness and proactivity.
I like it because, although twisted, it's realistic. Most people think they are good, or doing the right thing - or the best they can, even bad people - it makes sense that the Jigsaw killer would find some way to justify his actions.
As well, although his methods are cruel, he isn't exactly “wrong”. Some people who have gone through a traumatic experience, say afterwards that they feel “lucky”, and that their life has greater meaning to them. It's not just hearsay, it's a phenomenon known as “Post-traumatic Growth”, and the Jigsaw Killer is essentially trying to induce post-traumatic growth in his victims.
It is a contrivance for the sake of the plot, but it's a clever contrivance since Jigsaw tends to select victims who he feels aren't living their life to the fullest, or living an honest life. This means that every character that is a victim of Jigsaw has to come with a flaw pre-baked into their backstory just to appear in the movie.
As well, some of the traps were designed to be somewhat “ironic”. Two men who were never supposed to meet are forced into a room together; A man who cut his wrists is forced to crawl through sharp razor wire; a man who faked an illness must find an antidote locked in a safe, by finding the right combination, despite several fake combinations written on the walls.
It meant that, as well as being cruel and gruesome, which is a big part of the horror, there was also a kind of sick “punishment” going on, making people reflect on exactly what lead them to their trap.
So, when the second movie started, and the major setpiece is a house full of criminals, all struggling to survive, I was intrigued.
Apparently this film was based on a prior script, called The Desperate, which was failing to find a studio as it was too similar to Saw. So, writer Leigh Whannell fixed the script to make it fit in the Saw franchise, and they filmed it. This film, like the last, had some traps designed for specific victims, like a pit full of hypodermic needles, designed to punish a drug dealer; a spy who is forced to cut into his eye to retrieve a key & a kidnapper who is trapped in a furnace and can only be let go by his victims.
It was a fun… but, this is where the trouble starts. Yes, Wan and Whannell did have a big idea on their hands, they wanted to explore the Saw Universe they had created. But, by turning “The Desperate” into a Saw movie, they created some issues. Some of the plot elements, especially the twist, relied on contrived preparations, and chance elements that would have been impossible to predict, and I feel like it was caused by them trying to end with a twist, but also whilst working with the plot machinations from the original script. But, it's okay, because although there were one or two contrivances, the story was still interesting and had a similar feel to the first one.
Then, we had the third film, Saw III and it was clear that the series was coming to an end. This was created by Wan and Whannell once again, but only as tribute to Gregg Hoffman, the Producer of Saw & Saw II. They had originally turned down the offer to work on the Saw franchise again, but Hoffman died shortly after the sequel was released, so they made it in dedication to him.
So, this film really was the swansong of the franchise. Not only was Jigsaw on his deathbed, but his supposed “killer apprentice” was under threat as well. Also, some of the traps had been changed to make them unsurvivable - a classroom trap had the escape door welded shut, and an angel trap was changed so that the key to escape couldn't fit in the padlock.
It was exciting, at first, that they were adding a new twist, but as a watcher it really bothered me. The whole idea of the traps is that you can escape them, so even if it was “part of the story”, by including traps you couldn't escape from, the film series really was turning into torture porn - bloody murder for bloody murder’s sake. But, I think that this film knew this, which is why doing so is portrayed as despicable by every single character.
Now, you may be saying, “But, Absurd Word Nerd, there are eight movies in this franchise.”
To which I would respond, “actually, there are only seven, the short film doesn't count.”
And so you may reply, “actually, I was referring to ‘Jigsaw’, the twenty-seventeen film that continues the story.”
So, I would heartily respond, “that's a soft reboot, I don't think that really counts. Number seven is called the final chapter’, for goodness sake, I don't need to accept Jigsaw as canon.”
Therefore you might say, “whatever, look, this rhetorical device has been hijacked by your complaints about the new film. I just want to know how can you say this was the swansong when four more movies followed, and this film clearly hinted at a second killer apprentice!”
Okay, that is a fair point. But, the reason why is because this was the last time that, in my eyes, the series was unquestionably good. It had that same style as the first film, just with a higher budget. And, it was the last time that either Wan or Whannell took part in the franchise. Yes they added in elements hinting at more films down the line, probably because they either knew or were told that the films would carry on without them. But, little did they know that the films would just go downhill from there…
I like Saw IV, I freely admit that it's not perfect and there are many more issues with this film than with any previous. In particular, the traps are more contrived, as are the coincidences. Certain people in the film needed to behave in a certain way, or have certain skills in order for the whole setup to work, but the chances of that happening in real life are so slim that it's ridiculous. As well, some of the traps and tests were more contrived, such as a chair that scalps you, and a bed with arms which supposedly generated enough force to rip your limbs off.
But, this was still heavily a character piece all about both the methodologies of Jigsaw, and the mindset of the detectives chasing him down. It was a fun ride, and I still really enjoyed it, even though I could see the flaws. This new writer was actually doing a good job at recreating the series… or so I thought.
It was while watching Saw V, the one and only instalment of this franchise that I saw in theatres, that I started to feel like it was running out. I was excited for it, because the twist at the end of Saw IV had promised a new Jigsaw Killer, that's why I saw it in the cinemas. But, I left feeling kind of disappointed.
To begin with, the big “twist”, was pretty obvious. I assume I'm not alone in this, but when I watch a film like this I tend to wonder how I would attempt to solve the trap myself. So, because the twist was based around alternate solutions to the traps, it was pretty obvious how it would end since I'd already considered those solutions, especially given how each trap was constructed.
And there were more contrivances. Five people had to go through four traps, and although all five of them were at risk every time, exactly one person dies in each room, to make sure the story can continue. Maybe this was more obvious because this wasn't the first time the series had done something like this (Saw III liked killing off extra characters one-by-one as well), but the twist forces you to reconsider how everyone died, which brings these flaws front and centre.
This film also has two more unsurvivable traps, a drowning cube, and a blade pendulum, and I won't waste time explaining, again, why that sucks.
Plus, this film in particular added a new element to the series which I despise… the victims of the traps were now not only incredibly keen to “play” these games - ready to cut, maim & murder with very little influence - but also, all of them became murderous arseholes. Several characters in Saw V put their fellow man in imminent danger, often nearly killing them, just to attempt to survive.
I'm writing this all in a new paragraph because this is a major aspect which made me hate the next two films in this series.
Consider this, for a moment: In the first film, it was about character and psychological horror. Two characters are locked in a room trying to find a way out, and each is given a saw that can cut through their feet. How do they respond? Both of them reject this option, as it is blatantly horrifying, and work together to try to escape; but more and more complicated things happen, as they learn more about their predicament and each other, and they are forced to make choices they wouldn't otherwise have made.
Now, consider the opening trap of Saw VI…
Two people are locked in a room, and given several sharp tools and a scale in the middle, and told that to survive they must cut off the most flesh from their own body, and drop it in the scales. How do they respond?
The fat guy says: “I'm not dying for you, bitch” and immediately starts cutting into his stomach.
This is bad writing. People don't act like this.
Okay, yes, maybe some people… I'd consider them sociopaths, but it's possible.
However, not only does almost EVERY character act like this from here on out (except the protagonist), but certain traps only work because of it.
Saw VI is infamously “the political one”. It is pretty obvious that this is meant to be a message movie, since the main character is the CEO of a health insurance provider. He is punished for the crime of being part of America's corrupt healthcare system, and is forced to see what it is like to decide who lives and who dies, face-to-face. The whole message is pretty on-the-nose, and when they include flashbacks showing Jigsaw reprimanding him for his actions, it starts to feel like a Very Special Episode.
But it's also very well acted, and although some of these traps felt a bit contrived, more about the spectacle than any kind of irony, I still enjoyed this story… for the most part.
What I didn't enjoy was the “Jigsaw Killer” framing story. I will try to be vague, so this isn't too spoilery, but as the cops close in on the new killer, and tension is rising as you wonder how he could possibly escape… he just kills the witnesses. Not in a clever way, or with a jigsaw trap, he just stabs them in the throat.
I'm sorry, but that just isn't Jigsaw. Jigsaw himself hated murder, he never saw himself as a killer and he despised murderers. And although this person isn't the same person as Jigsaw, the reason this bothers me is because it's boring. Killing people to get away with your crime is something you do when you've done something bad and you're about to get caught. Jigsaw never thought he was doing the wrong thing, which is why he never tried to stop the police from catching him, but rather he would trap them and try to teach them to think like he did. That was the whole premise of Saw IV after all. So, now everyone is a psycho killer. Great… I wonder what the last movie has in store.
In Australia, the movie was called Saw: The Final Chapter, although I usually just refer to it was Saw VII. But, when it was released, the film was called Saw 3D, and a lot of the film was shot in a way that put the gore front and centre, so that people could see it fly at them through their stereoscopic glasses. See, 3D glasses are really good at making things jump out of the screen at you, but one thing they can’t do is make the movie any better.
In my experience, 3D always makes movies worse, because if something jumps out at you too quickly, you won’t see it, so movies often linger on the biggest 3D effects to make sure you see how impressive the effect is. Also, if you move the camera too much, it can make the viewer feel sick This is really distracting because if, like me, you watch the two-dimensional versions of 3D movies, then the long, lingering shots of things flying towards the screen just feels awkward.
It doesn’t improve the plot, but I wish it had because this movie is really bad. One of the traps is not only inescapable, but it’s a dream sequence. Who wrote this movie? R.L. Stine?
Then, there was the garage trap, which is when I knew this movie had devolved into nothing more than torture porn. One person must rip his skin off in order to save himself and his three racist friends, and based on the way the trap is composed - so that the fates of four people are resting on one person’s ability to mutilate himself - it is obvious that this is going to end with blood. They’re racists, for goodness sake. Remember what I was talking about yesterday, with “Acceptable Targets”? It was obvious as soon as the word ‘racist’ was mentioned that these people were all going to die, horribly. But not only do they die, but when they do, the music flares as their bodies are crushed, splattered, ripped apart and thrown around. It is pretty blatantly just splattergore for its own sake.
The main story is about a small-time celebrity who is famous for having written a self-help book called "S.U.R.V.I.V.E. - My Story of Overcoming Jigsaw" all about how he survived a Jigsaw Killer trap, but it turns out that this is all a lie. He made up the whole story, to get money and fame. That alone would be an interesting story, but they wreck it by not focussing on that aspect for the majority of the traps. The main traps start by being based around the “three wise monkeys”: The “Speak No Evil” trap would stab you in the neck if you screamed whilst the main character tries to pull the key out of your throat. The “See No Evil” trap would stab you in the eyes unless the main character . . . lifted weights that also stabbed him in the side of his stomach? Look, just go with it. Then the “Hear No Evil” trap blinded you, and wrapped a noose around your neck, and you escape by listening to the main character guide you across. Huh . . . it seems like maybe they should have called this one “see no evil” and had the other one stab you in the ears, since this isn’t about “not hearing”, but whatever.
Then it abandons this entirely, forcing him to rip his wisdom teeth out with pliers, because we’ve given up on metaphors at this point. Sure, there is a “code” written on his teeth for the door, but they just dropped the “X No Evil” thing entirely. And finally, he has to recreate the trap he “claims” to have done in his stories, in order to save his wife, by piercing his chest with hooks, and winching himself up the chains, and of course that fails because of course it does, it’s about time this movie decided to accept physics.
But this isn’t the majority of the movie. We spend most of the movie with more framing story regarding the new Jigsaw killer as he taunts the police, and Jigsaw’s old wife as she tries and fails to act convincingly, and finally there is a big twist at the end that the original Jigsaw Killer . . . had an accomplice. Now, if you’re keeping track, this is the third time that they’ve used this exact same twist. To top it all off, the story ends with the accomplice locking the new guy in a room, then throwing a handsaw at the camera in slow-motion in a way that would have looked just as awkward, even if you added another dimension, and saying the iconic line of the movie: “Game Over”.
Look these movies had been slowly sinking in quality ever since the first one. And, I mean really slowly, because although I still like the first few, I accept that they were getting progressively worse. In fact, if I were to review them, I would give the first movie maybe an 8 out of 10, then remove 0.5 for every progressive movie.
So, what ruined these movies? Well, it started out with a low budget, mild gore, a few twists and high-quality writing, and later it turned into a high-budget, splattergore, over-complicated story with low-quality writing. But the reason why, as far as I can tell, is because they kept switching directors and writers around, and when they ran out of ideas, they decided to rely on special effects and spectacle to draw in viewers, eventually scraping the bottom of the barrel and picking up a pair of 3D glasses.
This was a series that began with torture being used as a tool to tell a particular story about a deranged serial killer, which played on the minds of viewers by making us think about these horrific acts and wondering how far the characters would go to survive. It ended with torture being used as a way of spraying blood across the screen, smearing our eyes with gore to try to hide the fact that the writers didn’t know how to recapture the essence of the first few films.
For this reason, I have decided not to watch the Jigsaw reboot movie up until now. I have no interest in returning to a series that I have watched slowly die - somewhat ironically, like an old cancer patient. By the seventh film, it almost feels like they were torturing the story by forcing it to continue. But then, seven years after the fact, they’re going to try to revive it?
Sounds like a bad idea . . .
But, since this year my theme is “torture”, I figured that I might punish myself by watching the new movie, and seeing if it is anywhere near as bad as I think it will be. If it is, well, I’ll keep you posted.
I’m the Absurd Word, and until next time . . . I’m going to go watch a movie.
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