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SAW MOVIES TOP MOMENTS
Top Moments from the Saw Horror Movies by The Embalmer
Saw is up to six movies, with Saw VI released on October 23rd. James Wan's brainchild has a new story every year (literally, from 2004 to 2009), and they keep getting better. Unlike the other 5+ sequel horror films (Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan is still the best!), Saw has found a great motif and stuck with it, knowing that it rarely gets old to watch people die in unimaginably gruesome ways. Hello readers, I want to play a game.
Although Saw III is probably the best, every one of them has something to offer. Saw set the stage for its sequels, yet it is the only one in the series to take a dramatic, psychological thriller approach. What a surprise ending! I had to see Saw II.
Let's level with one another. Remember in Saw III when Tim (Mpho Koaho) gets his limbs twisted into submission? That's what watching these movies is like, a sore tooth that you can't stop touching. You know you're sick, you know you're twisted, but you goddamn love it.
Saw IV and Saw V took the game to new, imaginative levels, emulating the twist from the original movie. Jigsaw dies? How does he keep killing people? I've been a Saw fan since 2004 and I've always said that John (Tobin Bell) isn't Jigsaw the killer. Jigsaw the killer is a separate entity; he's not constrained to the concepts of life and death, of moral and immoral, of insanity and genius. Of course his legacy lives on, how could it not?
Which is why I'm so excited for Saw VI. These movies have progressed in a very pleasing way. In fact, I think that Saw will keep getting better and better, just as long as they keep the creativity (both in the murders and the script) flowing!
Saw Movies Top Moments by The Embalmer
Saw VI (2009)
The evidence has been destroyed, the truth buried with the dead. And now, Detective Mark Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) has emerged as the heir to serial killer Jigsaw's bloody legacy. With the FBI closing in, Hoffman must set into motion one last grisly game. And in the end, Jigsaw's grand scheme will finally be revealed. Five-time Saw editor Kevin Greutert helms this shocking installment of the horror franchise.
SAW VI THEATRICAL MOVIE TRAILER
SAW HORROR MOVIE SERIES OVERVIEW
Flashbacks from Saw IV reveal the earliest roots of the series, presenting John Kramer as a successful civil engineer and devoted husband to his wife Jill Tuck, who opened a rehab clinic for drug addicts. Jill lost her baby due to the unwitting actions of a drug addict named Cecil, who fled the scene. John grieved over the loss of his child and distanced himself from his friends and his wife.
John and Jill eventually drifted apart and divorced. After this turn of events, John found himself trapped by his own complacency, until he was diagnosed with inoperable cancer. Extremely bitter over his squandered life, John began observing the lives of others and became even more depressed as he saw those around him squandering the gift of life that he had just been denied. After surviving a suicide attempt where he drove his car off a cliff, John was "reborn", and nurtured the idea that the only way for someone to change is for them to change themselves. He designed a test for Cecil and decided to use the rest of his existence to design more of these "tests" as a form of "rehabilitation" that would change the world "one person at a time". John was soon given the name "Jigsaw Killer" (or "Jigsaw"), so named because he removed a puzzle-piece-shaped chunk of flesh from those who do not escape his traps. John himself states that this name was given to him by the media, and that the cut piece of flesh was meant to represent that these victims were each missing something, what he called the "survival instinct".
Few of Jigsaw's victims are able to survive his brutal tests, which are often ironically symbolic representations of the problems in the victim's life and require them to undergo severe physical or psychological torture to escape.
In Saw V, Lieutenant Mark Hoffman's ties with John are revealed in a series of flashbacks during the film. Hoffman's sister is murdered by her boyfriend, Seth Baxter. Seth is arrested, however, a technicality allowed him to be released, and Hoffman, feeling Seth had not served the full capacity of his sentence, kills him in an inescapable trap designed to look like one of Jigsaw's, laying the blame on him. Jigsaw then kidnaps Hoffman and blackmails him into becoming his apprentice in his "rehabilitation" methods, though eventually Hoffman would become a willing apprentice.
The first surviving victim, Amanda Young, views Jigsaw as a hero who ultimately changed her life for the better. Amanda, upon Jigsaw's request, agrees to become his protege.
In Saw, Jigsaw has chained the man who diagnosed his cancer, Dr. Lawrence Gordon, in a dilapidated industrial washroom with Adam Faulkner, a photographer who has been tailing the doctor to prove he had been cheating on his wife. Lawrence has instructions to kill Adam in six hours, or else his wife and daughter will be killed. Meanwhile, detectives David Tapp and Steven Sing, who suspect Lawrence of being Jigsaw, follow a trail of clues from other Jigsaw traps. Eventually, Lawrence saws his own foot off in order to escape, leaving Adam to die alone. Flashbacks from later films show that Amanda later returned and suffocated Adam as a "mercy killing"; it would be the first time she deliberately intervened during a test and killed someone.
Saw II begins with the police tracking a severely weakened Jigsaw to his latest lair. However, another test is in place, as he and Amanda have kidnapped the son of Detective Eric Matthews and trapped him and a group of seven convicts, previously framed by Matthews, in a house that is slowly being filled with sarin gas, with Amanda Young among them. He will trade Daniel Matthews' life for Detective Matthews' time, conversing with him until the game is concluded. Matthews loses his patience and assaults Jigsaw, forcing Jigsaw to take him to the house, only to discover that the video feed from inside the house had been pre-recorded, the events actually taking place much earlier; Matthews' son was locked in a safe in Jigsaw's warehouse, being kept alive with an oxygen tank. Matthews is knocked unconscious by a masked figure and wakes up imprisoned in the bathroom from Saw, which is part of the foundation of the house. Amanda reveals herself to Eric as Jigsaw's protege before leaving him to die. In the next two movies, Matthews manages to escape the bathroom by breaking his foot. He confronts and beats Amanda, demanding to know where his son is. Amanda fights him off and leaves him for dead. An unknown figure later drags Eric to a prison cell, keeping him for a future game.
The events of Saw III and Saw IV occur concurrently. Saw III begins with Jigsaw, weakened and near death, confined to a makeshift hospital bed. Amanda has taken over his work, designing traps of her own; however, these traps are inescapable, as Amanda is convinced that Jigsaw's traps have no effect and that people don't change. A kidnapped doctor is forced to keep Jigsaw alive while another test is performed on Jeff, a man obsessed with vengeance against the drunk driver who killed his son. Jigsaw, unwilling to allow "a murderer" to continue his legacy, designs a test for Amanda as well; she ultimately fails, and it results in the deaths of both Jigsaw and Amanda. Saw IV, meanwhile, revolves around tests meant for Officer Rigg, which are overseen by Hoffman. Rigg fails his test, resulting in the death of Eric Matthews. Rigg is left to bleed to death by Hoffman, who later discovers the bodies of Jigsaw and Amanda. When an autopsy is performed on Jigsaw, a cassette tape coated in wax is found in his stomach; the tape informs Hoffman that he is wrong to think that it is all over just because Jigsaw is dead, and he should not expect to go untested.
The events of V show one of Hoffman's first solo tests, five people connected together by different roles in a disastrous fire that killed several others are put into four interconnected tests of teamwork, killing off one person in each trap. The two remaining test subjects realize at the final trap that each previous trap was meant to be completed by each of the five people doing a small part, rather than killing one person per trap. With this, the two work together and barely manage to escape from the series of traps, though it is currently unclear as to whether or not they survived afterwards. Meanwhile, Hoffman has set up Peter Strahm to appear to be Jigsaw's accomplice, while Strahm pursues Hoffman and is eventually killed due to the inability to follow Hoffman's rules, leaving Hoffman free to continue Jigsaw's "work".
Saw Horror Movie Series Overview by wikipedia
SAW HORROR MOVIE SERIES REVIEWS
Saw (2004)
Movie Review by The Undertaker
Wasn't sure what to expect going in really. Would it be a gory slasher flick, a serial killer film, a murder mystery? Turns out Saw delivers, sort of along the same lines that Seven did, and really needs to be seen. If you're fan of Seven and similar films, you'll eat this shit up as Saw is a well-crafted film that packs a wallop of an ending! I don't wanna give away any spoilers, but this film excels on just about every level, especially the story and ending. I thought I knew what was up, but shows how much I knew by the time the credits rolled. The movie basically revolves around two people chained in a room, caught seemingly in a madman's game of mousetrap. The game they must play to live or die unravels, as does the back-story, showing a sick sadist who has caused the deaths of several others in various sick ways of life or death scenarios where the victims can either live or die based on the choices they are willing to make. Good shit here folks. I just watched Seven a few days before seeing Saw, so I seem to wanna keep comparing the two, as there are some similarities. Saw is nearly as good in it's own way & there's plenty of room left for a sequel, which would be cool. The movie could have been a bit bloodier I think, but there is something to be said for a well-placed shotgun blast and some cool, self-induced hacksaw fun! If you been worried about seeing this flick, don't be, it's cool and you'll enjoy.
Saw II (2005)
Movie Review by The Gravedigger
I found that the pacing and action moved the movie along much better than the first, though the main character, a cop named Eric Matthews (Donnie Wahlberg) is extremely irritating. He only does two things in the movie-he yells and he cries. In fact, his character remains exactly the same from beginning to end, which I suppose was the point, but it is difficult to endure. He's your ultimate unhappy/corrupt cop stereotype.
There's a new batch of people abducted by the serial killer Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) and they all have something in common with each other. Matthew's teenaged son is also among them. They find themselves in a boarded up, booby-trapped house and are told that they've been exposed to some form of nerve gas. If they don't solve the puzzle and find the antidote in two hours they will die, if they aren't killed off by some other means first.
Amanda (Shawnee Smith of THE BLOB), the only survivor from a previous Jigsaw abduction, returns and finds herself among this group. Emmanuelle Vaugier of HOUSE OF THE DEAD II, CERBERUS, PAINKILLER JANE is type-cast again as a bad girl/prostitute.
Although the "surprise" at the end was not totally unexpected it nevertheless worked and sets up the possibility of many future sequels. Overall, I enjoyed part 2 more than 1.
Saw III (2006)
Movie Review by The Gravedigger
I think this is the best of the SAW movies, as it has some surprising revelations in regard to the first two movies and provides more insight to Jigsaw's motivations for doing what he does. First, there's John/Jigsaw who is still dying of cancer-and a woman doctor is forced to keep him alive until the current game is finished--or else she'll die. The explosive device around her neck is connected to Jigsaw's heart rate. Jigsaw's protegee, Amanda (Shawnee Smith), isn't playing the game fairly and is going against everything her mentor has tried to teach her, which causes a lot of conflict. There's also a side story of a man (Angus McFadden of MIRACLES) who wants to get revenge on everyone who was responsible for setting free the driver who killed his son two years before. However, he soon discovers he has second thoughts...
SAW III is a great sequel, putting everything in place and completing the story of Jigsaw, and I hope the ending to the SAW series so that it ends on a good note.
Saw IV (2007)
Movie Review by The Gravedigger
These SAW movies keep on getting better and better.
Although Jigsaw is dead, he's still very much a presence in this installment of the franchise. In fact, the movie starts off with his graphic autopsy, as they remove his brain and open his stomach. They find a cassette tape in his stomach and when the police detective plays Jigsaw says the games will continue.
The police suspect there is a third person who has been helping Jigsaw, though it's a bit more complicated than that. Through his manipulation, he's able to get a lot of his victims to torture and test themselves. There are lots of flashbacks, particularly of Jigsaw and his wife, which clarifies why he went insane. It wasn't just because he had cancer - it's something even worse.
The tortures are gruesome and the movie is fast moving. I liked the surrealistic transitions between a lot of the scenes. IV is the best SAW yet.
Saw V (2008)
Movie Review by The Gravedigger
This is another interesting installment in the SAW series, which only continues to improve. Through some clever flashbacks, which thread through the previous movies, the story concentrates on Detective Mark Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) and why he's continuing Jigsaw's legacy. Close on his heels is FBI Agent Strahm (Scott Patterson), who is onto Hoffman's secret. Betsey Russell returns as Jill, Jigsaw's ex-wife, and Julie Benz (ANGEL, DEXTER) is in a very different role than she usually is. And the gore/torture effects are appropriately gruesome, particularly the pendulum scene at the beginning.
In the future, it would be interesting to see all the SAW movies re-edited so it tells the story in a linear way. It would be different but cool.
Recommended viewing for the Halloween season.
Saw VI (2009)
Movie Review by The Gravedigger
This installment of the series begins with a suitably nasty scene in which two people have to cut off pieces of themselves and put them on this scale. One is a fat guy who starts slicing off chunks of his stomach, the other a small African American woman who goes for her arm. The one who gets rid of the most flesh wins.
The main crux of the story revolves around Detective Hoffman (Costas Madylor), who is continuing Jigsaw's (Tobin Bell) legacy. He is kidnapping more people who affected his mentor's life--but is he doing exactly what Jigsaw wants? Then there is William (Peter Outerbridge of ReGENESIS), the insurance agent who had denied an experimental cancer treatment to him and who is now suffering the repercussions of that hasty decision. He is put to the test, in an abandoned zoo, and forced to make life and death decisions about others. Hoffman is also tested and the way the movie ends may put future events in an unexpected direction.
What I continue to enjoy about the SAW movies is that they keep on building upon one another and supply new information about the characters. There's much more involvement by Jigsaw's former wife, Jill (Betsy Russell), and we witness the jealously between Amanda (Shawnee Smith of THE BLOB) and Hoffman, which resulted in her death. And of course, there's plenty of screen time , via flashbacks of Jigsaw/John himself (Tobin Bell). The editing is also an important factor to this franchise and this time around it's directed by Kevin Greutert, who has edited all of the previous SAW movies. This, perhaps, makes him the best person to direct the continuing franchise.
If you've enjoyed the previous SAW movies you will not be disappointed by this sixth one. It is, of course, the perfect Halloween movie.
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