film

Saw (2004 – 2010)

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A lot of people got fed up with this franchise after the 4th or 5th outing, but really, how many other franchises had a 6th sequel as good as Saw: The Final Chapter? Hellraiser: Deader? Friday the 13th Part VII? New Nightmare? Halloween: H2O? Saw, as a franchise, will indubitably go down in history with franchises like these and will be remembered for its relative lack of degeneration compared to others.

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I wasn’t all that aware of the first Saw when it came out. In a weird coincidence, I ended up watching the first film just a week or two before Saw II saw its DVD release. I was completely won over by the first film (probably up there among the best horror films ever made) and though I was let down by the reality-show feel of number two, I was more than ready to go see Saw III during Halloween season of that year.

Oh my god…the first 10 to 15 minutes of Saw III are enough to make hardened horror fans cringe uncomfortably…Matthews smashing his foot with the toilet tank lid, Troy ripping chains from his flesh, and Kerry having her rib cage torn open…it was a lot to take in, and Saw III really set the tone for the remainder of the series.  It’s no secret that the series began to decline not long afterwards.  Technically speaking, we still got films with competent acting, lighting, direction, etc., but the writers are who really dropped the ball.

The writers wanted so desperately to weave a complicated movie serial that not only did they alienate potential newcomers, but they also undermined the clever script that made Jigsaw and his “methods” jump off of the page in the first place.  Of course it wasn’t Jigsaw’s place to “play god” and determine that lazy people or drug addicts needed to maim themselves in order to demonstrate their appreciation for life, but he thought it was; that was his character.  It’s established very early on that John/Jigsaw isn’t keen on murder, yet beginning in the 3rd movie there are several victim shown to be a part of other people’s traps, essentially taking the decision to live out of their hands and putting it into the hands of whoever is being tested.

Loads of innocents fall pray to this:  Bobby’s wife Joyce in The Final Chapter (who was completely innocent yet roasted alive…), most of the participants in Easton’s game in Saw VI and eventually Easton himself, Art Blank and Matthews from Saw IV…the list goes on and on.  Many of these people have no ultimate choice in the matter.  This isn’t sawing your foot off to survive; this is hoping some other dumbass will be smart enough to listen to the instructions so that you don’t get killed in order to teach them a lesson.

The other major bummer, especially in the last couple of films, was how multiple plot threads went absolutely nowhere.  So many webs were being spun – and us fans of the series knew to keep our eyes open at this point – but as it turns out, most of them never went anymore.  And I’m not talking about unsatisfactory conclusions, I’m saying they went nowhere at all.  There was Pamela Jenkins from Saw VI, Brent and his mom, all the build up with Erickson and Perez that went nowhere, Heffner the medical examiner….so many unanswered questions.

This isn’t to say that the films weren’t enjoyable enough, but they did lose that edge.  I also thought that the recurring apprentice idea got played to death.  Amanda was the ultimate big reveal, Hoffman was a total dud (well, until he went all extreme warrior at the end of Saw VI), and then we all saw Gordon coming in Final Chapter.  The problem, naturally, was that they killed off the core of franchise in the third film, and while they were able to reasonably stretch out the character of John Kramer/Jigsaw through Saw IV, Hoffman, Jill, and even the late addition of Dr. Gordon weren’t quite enough to replace or replicate John’s demented form of philanthropy.

While the gore in the Saw films is plentiful and appreciable, the emotional torture is what makes these flicks so powerful.  It’s the screaming, the crying, the desperation, the inevitability, the certainty.  To the series’ credit, it never slacks up on the tense situations and the “oh shit what if this was happening to me….” feeling of it all.  As the movies move forward though, suspension of disbelief gets a little harder to reel in, especially when one considers the logistics behind building, transporting, and operating all of this powerful custom machinery.  Then there are all the timing mechanisms to take into account – everything operating perfectly to the second – gears springing to life in perfect sync with stylish videos and freakishly specific yet accurate recordings.  I mean, did nothing ever go wrong?  Didn’t they ever source a faulty timer?  Wasn’t there ever a short in the wire?  Didn’t a rat gnaw through a cable every once in a while? John may have had enough of a genius brain to perfect everything, but what about afterwards with at least 3, maybe even 4 accomplices having to fill in those hard labor gaps?  All those traps and never a single malfunction…

My final major pet peeve was how unwinnable the traps became later in the series.  Or maybe they weren’t even unwinnable, but that’s just how they were written.  Just look at the last film: Bobby pulled that damn fish hook and key out of the girl’s stomach, but she screamed just a little too much as he fiddled with the lock.  And then his friend who was blindfolded on the second level with the torn up floor…Bobby gets the key in time, throws it, but it bounces off of his chest and falls to the lower level.  Back in Saw III, Jeff saves the judge from liquefied pig carcasses only for the judge to get half his face blown off “accidentally” in the next room.  Jeff also got the key for the frozen girl (at the expense of ripping off a chunk of his face) but guess what?  It was too late and she died anyway.  In Saw IV, Riggs saves the prostitute, but then she attacks him with a knife and he presumably kills her during the struggle.  Back to Saw III, Matthews actually mangles his own foot to get out of the bathroom, only to be set up in that elaborate ice cube thing where his head crushed.  In Saw VI, Easton burns himself with hot steam over and over to save that girl, only for her to come charging at him with a circular saw because someone (Gordon, maybe?) sewed the key to her death collar in Easton’s side.  At some point in there, whatever Jigsaw’s message had been is lost and we just have one development after another in the service of gore and death.

Having said all that, there’s still a good bit of entertainment value to be gleaned from the series.  The complicated web of stories is still fun to watch, and while there may not be as much substance in the subsequent installments, it is more interesting and nuanced than your average horror flick.  The big picture may not make as much sense as it once did, though the individual scenes are well acted and directed.

Let’s take a quick look at the individual films themselves.

Saw – 2004

This is where it all started and is by far the strongest film in the series.  While it did help to spur the development of the so-called “torture porn” sub-genre, it also plays out more like a mystery or thriller film.  Jigsaw is brand new to us.  We don’t really know anything about him, and much of the story revolves around his identity.  Detectives Tapp and Sing add to the  mystery-like vibe and we end up with a film that feels a lot like Seven; a psychopath who thinks he’s doing the world a favor with elaborate games and rules where the stakes are life and death.

The concept was fairly novel at the time.  Most of the real-time action takes place in a dingy bathroom for an isolated and claustrophobic experience.  Besides being right there in the character’s shoes for the horror element, we also get plenty of suspense as we get to know about Zep, the connection between Adam and the doctor, and Jigsaw himself mostly through his impact on Tapp.

Watching the movie unfold is a real treat, precisely because the viewer is constantly trying to put all the pieces together, a trait that many of the sequels would struggle with.  There aren’t a lot of contrivances or plot holes to pick at, mostly because Saw keeps  it simple.  The backstory is kept uncluttered and open ended and the film never gets too heavily wrapped up in its own minutiae.  Saw will undoubtedly go down in history as a modern horror classic, mostly because, on a visceral level it is certainly a horror movie, but from a narrative perspective it plays out like some of the best thrillers and suspense films.  The big twist, when John himself rises up off that bathroom floor, is truly chilling and ought to be remembered as not only one of the best horror twist endings of all time, but one of the best twist endings period.  It may not be the next Kaiser Soze, but it beats the pants off “I see dead people.”

Saw II – 2005

Next up: the sequel!  While generally regarded as a stronger entry in the series by fans and critics alike, Saw II ends up near the bottom of the heap for my tastes, mostly because the secondary plotline (the “Nerve Gas House”) feels tacked onto and disconnected from the primary story, Detective Matthews’ interaction with John.  And it’s no wonder – apparently the house setting was lifted from an unrelated script that Lions Gate had lying around and adapted to fit a continuation of the Jigsaw story.  Unfortunately, the disparity shows.

The time we spend with Matthews and Jigsaw is important, but it isn’t really that compelling as feature film material.  We get some excellent backstory which, while enriching the mythos, also sucks out some of the series’ mystery and momentum.  This is also where some of Jigsaw’s raison d’etre starts unraveling, as we see that it’s not always 100% possible to survive one of his traps, depending on the position one is in.

The Nerve Gas House is where all the action happens, and while it isn’t necessarily a bad story, it feels oddly detached from the franchise and the entire sequence is hurried and rushed.  It starts off paced well enough, though suddenly the intensity is cranked up to 11 and the “traps” become a distant focus as the house’s “residents” descend into chaos.

I never cared much for the flimsy plotline about Matthews and his son.  Sure it was great motivation for Matthews, but the story never had much emotional resonance, probably because Matthews was a despicable cop and his son was severely underdeveloped.  We didn’t really have a chance to care much about the other people in the house either.  By the time we started getting glimpses of their personalities, they began dropping like flies.

Saw II’s most memorable contribution was the big reveal of Amanda as John’s accomplice.  Surprising?  Maybe a little, though a mentally unbalanced follower wouldn’t have been my first pick.  And it’s pretty easy to spot the clues after watching it a second time.

Saw III – 2006

This was the first Saw I had the privilege of seeing in theaters, and I was pleasantly blown away.  Saw III is probably my favorite of the sequels, mostly due to its balance of gore, suspense, and enough material to drive the mythos further without bogging down the film.  As part of the fun though, Jigsaw’s “message” becomes less and less clear, and the series definitely takes a turn towards more conventional horror with this installment.  Still, those 3 opening scenes were as raw, brutal, and intense as anything in the entire franchise…especially Matthews smashing his foot.

Saw III also begins the tradition of “trials,” where a single character runs the gauntlet, a formula that would be repeated in Saw IV, VI, and VII.  Jeff is the subject, whom Jigsaw has targeted due to his unending grief over his dead son.  I get that Jeff’s obsession was unhealthy, but I don’t understand him as a target.  He wasn’t basically a bad person, and I don’t think going through the trauma he went through with all of these traps was punishment fit for the crime.  Why wasn’t Jigsaw targeting drug dealers and pedophiles?  Why was he going after regular Joes and freaking cops of all people?  This was really the point where it felt like things had gone too far in terms of his “message” and where the idea of Jigsaw began to feel like just another murderer.

Despite my reservations about who did and didn’t deserve “the Jigsaw treatment,” Saw III does a nice job of embodying what makes the series fun and taking it to the extreme.  The idea of Jeff’s trial was novel at the time, and although he did little more than bumble around indecisively, we sort of had a protagonist worth rooting for.  Concurrently we were able to watch John and Amanda as they dealt with Lynn, Jeff’s wife (one of the big revelations near the end).  Watching Amanda and John was somewhat insightful at first, but this area really started to drag as Amanda became more and more unhinged.  Luckily the film is edited in a way that doesn’t draw too much attention to these repetitive and drawn out “conversations,” but they do slow things down once in a while.

When it comes to the gore, Saw III is top notch.  The liquefied rotten pig corpse trap was and still remains one of the most inventive and gut-wrenching traps of the series.  The Rack was also extremely brutal (and a little difficult to watch) and then of course we have the quick cut of Lynn’s head, or what’s left of it, after being blasted at point blank range with 5 or 6 shotgun shells.  And don’t forget about the opening scenes – Matthews smashing his own foot, Troy ripping the chains from his flesh, and Kerry’s rib cage being torn apart.

The last few minutes is where the story really heats up and would begin the tradition of those ever-quickening montages at the end of films that would do their best to tie events together and throw in a few curve balls.  Saw III provides even more Amanda and John backstory, touches quickly on Matthews’ fate, and of course makes John’s imminent death very, very clear.  We get a few flashbacks to how Amanda helped John with the original Bathroom Trap as well as how she may not be “fixed” after all.  It all comes to a head once Jeff, Lynn, John, and Amanda all end up in the same room: Amanda shoots Lynn, Jeff shoots Amanda, Jeff kills John, and Lynn’s head looks like a red meat explosion.

During this climax we’re treated to one of the most amazing scenes of the series:  Jeff calmly forgives John before powering up that circular saw, and then John gives him that creepily demented half smile before having his throat slit.  As far as the world of film in general goes, Saw III might not be much of a standout, but when we look at the horror genre alone, it’s extremely well done.

Saw IV – 2007

Saw IV may have seemed a little weak after the superb Saw III, but alongside the rest of the sequels, it’s not so bad.  Oddly enough, the filmmakers chose to copy the formula for Saw III almost exactly.  In lieu of Jeff, we now follow Rigg, another member of the police department.  Although his actual trial is far less interesting than that of Jeff, we do get a competent and engaging surrounding narrative.

Rigg was a really bizarre choice as a Jigsaw victim.  I don’t understand why in the world wanting to save his friends and being hung up on all of his co-workers and friends dying was such a mortal sin, but apparently it was enough to earn him this grisly series of tests.  The “unwinnable” vibe really starts to settle in as well – despite Rigg completing most of his tests correctly, he still manages to get himself, Matthews, and Art Blank killed.

Saw IV isn’t chock full of memorable moments, however, I think that the Mausoleum Trap (right near the beginning, after the autopsy proving without a doubt that John is dead) is, cinematically, one of the best looking scenes of the series.  Not only was the set beautiful, but the decision to sew the eyes shut of one and the mouth shut of the other was brilliant.  I’ll also be the first to admit that the 2 giant ice cubes crushing Matthews’ head was pretty amazing (and unexpected) as well.

Really though, the important pieces of Saw IV don’t reach the audience until a flurry of twists near the end.  Biggest of all we learn that Mark Hoffman, a fairly generic detective guy who’s been in and out of the background scenes with the police for a couple of films, is now the “second accomplice” of Jigsaw and the one responsible for much of the heavy lifting after John’s sickness.  We don’t get much more from him than a “Game Over.”

Most of “the big stuff” is given to us via the newly introduced Jill Tuck (we got a glimpse of her in Saw III, but nothing more), John’s ex-wife.  Previously it would’ve seemed that John’s “inspiration” came from his suicide attempt, though we’re now given a much more elaborate story about Jill, her pregnancy, and the couple’s miscarriage at the hands of Cecil, a drug addict who ends up being John’s first victim.

All this gave us some fun backstory, but that’s where it ends.  Rigg’s test in “real time” doesn’t do much to further the present day story except to kill more of the police department for inane reasons, and the real meat of the film could’ve been summed up by a flashback in another film, or maybe even not at all.  For this reason Saw IV feels somewhat non-essential to me, though as a piece of entertainment within the series it gets the job done.

Saw V – 2008

Moving on, we get to the fifth installment and what is easily my least favorite of the franchise.  I once read a critique about Saw V that described it almost exactly how I had described it to someone not long after seeing it – we watch Strahm say the plot aloud to himself.  Strahm, an FBI agent introduced in Saw IV, is tasked with finding who’s helping Jigsaw within the police force.  They’ve figured out that Amanda couldn’t be helping the bedridden John with all the heavy lifting, and with his partner Perez “murdered” in Saw IV, Strahm is on both a personal and professional mission to find out who the accomplice is.

It doesn’t take him long to peg Hoffman as the helper, but before throwing such an accusation around, he begins collecting proof.  As he revisits old murder scenes (some going back to events before Saw’s original Bathroom Trap), we’re treated to flashbacks of Hoffman with John, including the eventual introduction of Amanda, meaning that Hoffman came first.  Strahm then runs through these points out loud, making for an almost comical way of storytelling.

As for the traps, we have a huge disconnect this time around, sort of like Saw II but even more unrelated to the main story.  The “Fatal Five” as they’ve come to be known have no relation to Strahm (correction: there is a throwaway line in Saw VI establishing that Strahm and Perez investigated the house fire that all of the Fatal Five were connected to) or Hoffman, or even Jigsaw, Amanda, or other relevant members of the police department.  They’ve been chosen for their wrong doings, but it feels tacked on just to pad out Saw V’s running time.  The scenes featuring these five are the most entertaining of the film, but that’s not saying much.  The quintet and their various trials are given comparatively little screen time and their tests feel rushed.  We aren’t even really given a proper opportunity to care about any of these characters.

We do have a couple of the series’ gorier moments here, though overall the blood and guts are scaled back.  Highlights include the Pendulum Trap flinging Seth’s innards all over the walls, Mallick’s split forearm, and Strahm getting flattened into a pancake.

So yeah, Saw V was one big mess inside and out.  And it hardly even drives the story forward since Strahm, for all his hard work, ends up dead as hell and never having told anyone; Hoffman just frames his ass and goes about his work.

Saw VI – 2009

Originally (or at least after the franchise was established as a success), 8 Saw movies were planned, but due to the declining box office sales for Saw VI, the planned eighth film was cancelled and story elements from the 8th film were folded into the upcoming 7th.  I’m sort of surprised that this sixth installment is what sunk the series, though I tend to believe that since moviegoers were so dissatisfied with Saw V, many of them had dismissed the series by Saw VI.  Saw VI is fairly decent for a film this late in the game, and for inspiration, the filmmakers went back to the “trials” of Saw III and IV for inspiration.  This time the subject is a William Easton, the head of a health insurance company.  Early on he’s revealed to be less than scrupulous, though the commentary on America’s healthcare system that the writers tried to inject into the story was a little too obvious.

As if the point that insurance companies are all about the money wasn’t hammered home enough (the “Dog Pen” where his associates looked for errors and technicalities in order to reject claims, the blatant refusal to help the sick man, Easton bragging about his clever little formula), there’s a particularly cringe-worthy scene between John and Easton where John ends up pointing out that “it’s the fuckin’ insurance companies” who make healthcare decisions….OK, I get it, a bunch of liberals are making this – you dig the ideas behind Obamacare (remember when that was all anyone could talk about?) and you think privatized healthcare is evil.  The problem is that we’re presented with such a one-sided view of the whole thing, with Easton outright saying ridiculous shit like, “no, I don’t decide who lives or dies, I just decide who gets to live a long and healthy life.”  What the fuck?  Who says that?  He’s presented as such an evil man that it’s hard to take the social commentary seriously, and I really wish the movie hadn’t decided to go there.

We’re treated to more of this proselytizing early on in the film with the opening trap involving Eddie and Simone, 2 “predatory lenders” who must literally cut off more of their own flesh than the other to survive.  I guess this was an attempt to stay relevant, but now, even after only a few years and with “the Great Recession” and Obamacare fresh in our minds, it tends to feel dated and induce eye-rolls.

Trap-wise the movie is somewhat unremarkable.  We don’t see a whole of new stuff, and although Easton’s trial is entertaining enough, the unwinnability of the traps seems to be fully confirmed.  The Carousel Trap was a nice piece of psychological torment, though like many of the these later writers and directors, the makers of Saw VI don’t seem to understand how to properly build suspense and as a result, the Carousel Trap feels not only a little rushed, but also a little drawn out.  (I know, weird description, but it’s true.)

Saw VI closes out with some rather pointless revelations and twists, though it is notable for finally turning Hoffman into a character worth watching as he kills 3 people with the aid of a cup of coffee and a small knife.  The last few minutes are also refreshing as Jill straps the Reverse Bear Trap onto Hoffman with only 60 seconds on the timer and without hesitation he breaks his hand to escape his restraints, buys himself a few seconds by catching the opening trap in the metal bars on the door, and then frees himself at the expense of tearing through much of his cheek.  It’s a brutal scene, and it probably would’ve resonated more if the writers had done a better job building up Hoffman.  What I enjoy most is his decisive action.  For so many traps and movies we see the panicked pleas of nearly everyone involved and it’s a real treat seeing Hoffman do what needs to be done with unwavering conviction.

Saw 3D / Saw: The Final Chapter / Saw VII – 2010

And now we’re at the end of the road.  Compared to the others, where does Saw VII stand?  Although I appreciate it for trying to bring some real closure to the series, there’s a lot wrong with this flick.  It’s the most B-movie-ish of them all for starters – the film feels incredibly rushed, and the story seems to be borrowed from past Saws.  It’s about the best fans could realistically expect at this point in the series; I guess I just wish that films like this would be taken a little more seriously.

This time we follow a fake Jigsaw survivor, Bobby Dagen, through his own trial.  At this point the device is wearing a little thin and it feels like the filmmakers are doing little more than going through the motions.  Sure, Dagen encounters some clever/gruesome machinations, but it’s more of the same.  I wish the writers would’ve come up with a way to really push the envelope with this aspect of the story, or hell, abandon it completely for a new formula.  Who says that a trial has to run concurrently with the more mythos-driven plot thread?  Change it up, kick it into high gear – after all, they knew this would be the last theatrical release, at least for the time being.

Dagen’s portion of the story may have too much of the “been there, done that” feel, but at least it fits together competently and moves along at a reasonable pace.  The other half of Saw VII bounces and jumps around like a jigsaw puzzle where you can tell what the picture is supposed to be, but some of the pieces are turned the wrong way or forced into the wrong spot.  The overarching narrative isn’t hard to put together, but that doesn’t mean it’s presented particularly well.  In fact, it’s largely the editing that gives the film its B-movie vibe.

We do have a few fun moments in this somewhat lackluster affair.  The trap at the beginning is a great Jigsaw-style translation of a love triangle, and Hoffman goes all First Blood yet again with a breathtaking sweep of what’s left of the police department.  Rather than prattle on about Jigsaw’s legacy, this installment prefers to focus on the rivalry between Jill and Hoffman.  Although I still don’t think the role of “Hoffman” was ever properly defined and furthermore I don’t think that Costas Mandylor was the best choice for the part, he begins to blossom even more in this film and it’s mildly admirable to see just how much of a survivor he really is.

In the end, Hoffman catches up with Jill, and after waiting 7 years to see the Reverse Bear Trap in action, we finally get a moment worth the wait as Jill’s head and face are torn apart.  But what we really came to see was of course the return of Dr. Gordon.  Was it a cool development?  Eh, maybe if they’d pulled it off 3 or 4 years ago.  The creators will tell you that around the 3rd entry they intended to insert a short sequence detailing the fate of Dr. Gordon.  Why was Gordon’s fate such a big deal?  Simply because it hadn’t been shown.  It wasn’t some great plot twist that drove the mystery, it was nothing more than a salary dispute with Elwes, the actor who portrayed Gordon.  Eager to maintain continuity, those involved with the Saw films sought not to recast the role of Dr. Gordon and instead left the issue a mystery.

Finally, after what must’ve been one hell of a salary dispute, Elwes was able to come back for the seventh film.  In all honesty, the series was lucky to get an actor like Elwes back for such a niche film.  He wasn’t exactly the star of Saw VII, but hey, he was in it and served his purpose.

Of course the big reveal was that Gordon had been working with Jigsaw ever since his ordeal in the bathroom with Adam.  This was an awesome development…back when it started popping up all over the internet 3 or 4 years prior to the film.  The filmmakers gave the fans what they wanted – which was good – but they also took the lazy way out, basically slapping up the simplest version of the distillation of dozens of fan theories about Gordon.  I feel like the fans who had the potential to enjoy Saw VII the most were also the most let down.  From the very beginning – and if not then, when Gordon appears at the support group – it became a little too obvious what direction the story was headed in and I think The Final Chapter lost a lot of steam because Gordon’s path was obvious.  Establishing Gordon as a third accomplice (perhaps fourth? does Jill count?) was fine, but I wish the writers had really taken the concept and made it their own.  Instead, they lifted everything straight from the ramblings that had sat on the IMDb message boards for years.  Remember the Venus Flytrap Trap (does that make sense?) from Saw II?  For years fans had speculated that Gordon was the only one with enough surgical knowledge to implant the key behind the victim’s eye.

I could keep bitching about Gordon and his protracted appearance in the film, but I suppose that when all is said and done the story is wrapped up fairly neatly.  Most (but not all) loose ends are tied up, and the series ends almost where it started – Dr. Gordon and that god awful bathroom.  Saw VII may not have been a particularly strong film, but it was a fitting narrative conclusion to the story.

I still often wonder what an 8th Saw film would’ve looked like; was the aim to take more time in re-introducing Gordon?  Addressing more of the seemingly important notes from the last few films?  Although I highly doubt that Elwes would’ve reprised his role for an 8th and even 9th film (maybe we could get a quick cameo), I like to believe that had Saw’s “third trilogy” really gotten off the ground the right writers could’ve pushed the series in a fresh direction.  I get that the focus should stay on Jigsaw/John as long as possible, but at some point there’s nothing left to learn, and focusing on Gordon’s whole-hearted inheritance could’ve made for some interesting new stories (especially since everyone else directly connected to Jigsaw’s test – Amanda, Hoffman, and Jill – are all dead).  If we think of the first 3 movies as “the Amanda trilogy,” the 4th, 5th, and 6th as “the Hoffman trilogy,” then we have the perfect setup for 3 more films to center around Gordon.

Saw VIII – ???

A lot of rumors have flown around about a potential 8th installment.  And really, the franchise is still too financially viable to completely ignore.  It may not be theater material anymore and we may not get the likes of Bell or Peet or Mandylor involved, but I have a hard time believing that Saw is dead forever.

Over the last few years Lions Gate has expressed varying sentiments regarding the future of the franchise.  At first it seemed that a reboot was the preferred direction, though nothing more was mentioned, and personally, I’m glad.  We don’t need a reboot of Saw so soon, and really, we don’t need a reboot at all.  Fans want the serialized, interconnected nature of the series to continue, and I’m sure most fans would be happy to give a little leeway as the series transitioned from theatrical to Direct-to-DVD (well, that’s where I see the future of Saw being most profitable).

Here and there we got more vague musings from both Lions Gate and the creators behind the first film, and now it seems that many of the original produces – Heffner, Burg, and Koules – are perhaps actively developing a seventh sequel.  Where does it go from here?  Who knows.  There are too many possibilities to even think too seriously about it.  One thing’s for sure though, I’ll definitely keep my eyes open.  Even if it isn’t great, I imagine it has to be better than other seventh sequel counterparts like Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan or Hellrasier: Hellworld…right?

Saw: Best to Worst

1. Saw (the first film, obviously)
2. Saw III (the one with Jeff and Lynn, and where John dies)
3. Saw IV (the one with Rigg and Hoffman’s reveal)
4. Saw VI (insurance company, Hoffman escapes trap at the end)
5. Saw VII (Dr. Gordon’s return)
6. Saw II (Nerve Gas House, Amanda’s reveal)
7. Saw V (Strahm, Strahm, the “Fatal Five,” Strahm, and Strahm)

Well that’s it!  Oh and one more thing: while I love to have the “Ultimate Deluxe Special Extended Edition” of movies whenever possible (even though I rarely make it through the special features), I recently opted for a cheaper way to have all 7 Saw movies at hand (in lieu of digging through my storage unit to find flicks 1 through 6).  For the time being, Walmart is carrying a small set with all 7 Saw films and they’re unrated, and it’s only $7.50!  So if you want to keep up and drop some comments, go grab the set for less than a buck ten per movie!

Written by The Cubist