Calmly Chaotic

Clash181 - No problem. Yeah, you're right, he was the servant, the prince was an ass. Men in Tights rocks.

So, back to Saw. I'm gonna try to drag all my friends to go see it. Yesterday while I was at the theatre with one of my friends, I was telling her all about it. She seemed interested.

I wanna know how they piece all the freaky stuff together. Do the guys get hallucinations of the pig dude and others? Or is it real? I dunno.....

(Btw...I saw the Princess Diaries 2. It was good. )

Calmly Chaotic

Heh, thought I would share a couple reviews I'm reading.


Date: 27 January 2004
Summary: IF you're dissapointed with recent thrillers, this is what you're looking for!

For years now i've been a fan of the horror/thriller genre but have been extremly dissapointed with any and all of the releases this genre has offered in the last half decade. I had the great fortune of catching a screening of "SAW" recently at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival and must say it has fully restored my confidance that the ability to create a movie with the ability to make people lose sleep is still alive and well. James Wan has done a masterful job at keeping any and all viewers on the edge of their seats from begining to end and if you're easily scared or even the slightest bit jumpy you definatly won't be able to handle "SAW"!!! Definate 10 out of 10!!!


Of course, on the other hand, we have this review:


Date: 24 July 2004
Summary: Great SHOCKING premise, but overacting dulls SAW's affects...

Just saw this film at SDCC screening. Well worth watching, SAW take a premise done before (psycho trying to teach people life lessons) and turns it upside down. Though I was impressed with the script and the directing style (camera work and use of lighting), the directing specifically of the actors (and their OVERacting) makes the film suffer. Though I loved the SHOCK effect this movie gave me, I did not find it that "scary." The premise is terrifying in and of itself, but the film does not convince me enough to put me over the edge. It did, however, keep me on the edge of my seat for the entire film and the multiple plot twists and turns are so numerous, I really didn't expect or predict the film's ending. Great for fans of SHOCK films and an above average thriller, the film is sure to become a cult hit years from now. If not for it sometimes cheesy acting, then for the pure psychotic plot and madness of the script!

Clash181

Cheesy acting? They looked good in the trailers I saw.

Well, I've decided to ignore that last review, Calmly Chaotic, and post this one instead.

"This film clobbered my skull into ashes, rolled me into a joint, smoked me up, banged my girlfriend and then squashed me into an ashtray. Let's all cheer for Lions Gate who seem to know a thing or three about acquiring SOLID and BALLSY horror films. Coupled with "Haute Tension", Lions Gate has launched a fatal right/left genre combo my way and I thank them for it. Now, ask yourself this: what would happen if "Seven" and "Cube" would do the dirty deed? Well, if nobody put a “jimmy” on their pecker, a bastard child named "Saw" would pop out of the rabbit hole nine months later to wreck some havoc. And wreck havoc it did. YEEHAW!

From frame one onward, this genre bully threw me into a corner and didn’t let me out 'till the end credits rolled. Although the tight characterization at play was one of the key reasons that I was so into this psychotic ride, where “Saw" stroked me the most was in the way that it conveyed its toxic narrative. Much like the nickname of its loony, this tale ingeniously worked like a jigsaw puzzle, going back and forth in time, illustrating the players’ everyday lives, the killer’s gruesome work while revealing information i.e. clues for us to latch on. The “audience participation” nature of the flick tagged with its army of “knock you over the head” twists, its engaging investigation subplot (go Glover go!) and its sweet mean streak (look out for those shotguns) had me on the edge of the edge. I felt trapped within Saw’s deadly grasp and was zealously piecing the shards of info together, yearning to see the big picture. But to be honest, I never wanted to escape this bleak web! I was having too much a hoot-nanny with all the unpleasantness!

Moreover, this horror party’s grim and stylized allure warmed me up like a “Pizza Pocket” getting the zap treatment. The arresting directorial style at hand was comparable to a blend of Italian Giallos, Asian films, some gritty David Fincher-like vibe with a pinch of rock video aesthetics sprinkled about for good measure. This sicko (yes, director James Wan...I mean you!) even went as far as visually echoing "Black Christmas" (eye-ball shot) and slapping some "Deep Red" (cackling dummy) in there! Good stuff! Add to all that yumminess, a heartwarming tendency to delve into cruel scenarios fearlessly, creatively and quite graphically (gore baby….gore) and you get a horror heavyweight that pulverized me repeatedly throughout to then knock my block out with its visceral finale! Man, I love rude little movies like this!

On the slight downside, some of the directing and editing choices where a little too MTV for my taste in certain spots (camera going round and round and assault of quick cuts). EASSSY MAN! Just say NO to drugs and say yes to illegal substances! I also got confused once due to the non-linear storyline. Either it was badly communicated or I’m an imbecile! My biggest peeve had to do with one harsh choice made by one of the leads though. I found it somewhat trivial since there seemed to be at least two other options available before making that play. It had me yelling at the big screen and I perceived it as solely there to force the storyline to its pre-destined conclusion. Then again, taking into account the intense circumstances, the dude’s psychological state, maybe…ummm….arrrggg....I don’t know anymore! You’ll take that “move” or leave it. I’m not sure about it yet…sue me!

All things considered, “Saw" was a mostly well-acted, definitely captivating and hands-down vicious little horror thug that took me for quite the gruesome outing. This bad boy fought me with gloves off…and won! I respect that! PLAY THIS GAME!"



He's quite descriptive isn't he?

Calmly Chaotic

Thanks for that review, Clash181. That was great.

Clash181

You're welcome and you don't have to write the 181. Just Clash is fine.

AutumnColorsღ

Interesting articles, thanks for posting them

Hopefully I can get some money soon and see it in theater. Being poor really does suck

Clash181

Heres another review and also a bump to my thread. Post away.




If I told you this one was "Seven" meets "Cube" by way of a Nine Inch Nails video (with a sprinkling of "The Silence of the Lambs" thrown in for flavor), you'd probably dismiss the movie as something less than unique or original, let alone brain-crackingly cool. In which case you might overlook "Saw", which is easily one of the most deliciously gruesome and addictively entertaining horror movies I've seen in years. Yes, I said years.
Two complete strangers awaken in a disgusting bathroom in the middle of god-knows-where. They're both chained by the ankles and escape seems quite impossible; but a handful of disturbing clues are left behind (not the least of which is a dead man with his brains blown out), and the pair quickly find themselves unraveling a collection of mysteries that are probably better left unmolested.

This is the opening scene of Saw, the brilliant new horror flick from first-time filmmakers James Wan (director) and Leigh Whannell (screenwriter), and one that will fascinate anyone with even a passing interest in the horror genre. To divulge much more of the deliciously twisted storylines would be a grave disservice to those who wish to be so wholly blown away by the nasty twists that Saw provides...

...but suffice to say that the flick's about one serial killer, two desperate cops, three or four skin-wrenchingly slick sequences of terrorizing torture, and five or six well-earned scares that will have even the most jaded Gorehound squirming happily in their seats.

If you're even half of a true blue movie nut, then you certainly harbor some admiration for actor Cary Elwes. This is the guy who stole scenes whole in Glory, The Chase, Shadow of the Vampire, Liar Liar, Hot Shots!, Twister and Kiss the Girls. Heck, he's the Dread Pirate Roberts! (If you don't know The Princess Bride by now, you're officially banished from reading my reviews. Sorry.) When Cary's name pops up in the opening credits (usually 4th or 5th), we think "Hey, cool. At the very least I get another visit with a character actor I dig."

Anyway, Cary plays Dr. Gordon, one of the chained and detained, Whannell himself snags the role of the also confused & captured Adam, Monica Potter is the doctor's wife, Danny Glover and Ken Leung are the detectives on the case, and heck - even the adorable Dina Meyer pops up as a criminologist with a few horrific tales to tell.

Saw boasts one of those fractured narratives, one that doubles back on itself a few times to divulge the creepiness in the most shocking doses, and it's great to see a movie that uses this technique because it actually works. Most filmmakers that attempt this gimmick do so for one reason: if they told their story in A-B-C fashion...you'd fall asleep. Not so here, as Wan and Whannell tip their cards craftily and quite confidently. As the surprises unfold, you feel satisfied and not cheated. That's good stuff.

Visually, Saw is gritty, grungy, pallid and stark. It's gross, grimy bathrooms and dark, dreary dungeons. Some may opt to dismiss many of Wan's directorial flourishes as those overtly inspired by David Fincher or David Lynch or Clive Barker, to which another could respond "And? The kid's got good taste!"

It would be a stunning disservice to Charlie Clouser and his brutally effective musical score were I not to mention how blisteringly cool it is, so I just did. Clouser's strains (not at all unlike the work he's done for Nine Inch Nails as a producer, songwriter and drummer) deliver rough-edged icing onto Saw's cold, rusty cake.

Shot, cut, finished and ready for its film festival debut in just under five full months, and clearly conceived by two young filmmakers who have just as much love for the Horror Genre as they do talent to pull it off, SAW is the absolute highlight of the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, a potential goldmine for the fine folks at Lion's Gate Films, and a cult classic waiting to happen for those who like their Horror Movies dark, smart, twisted and hard.



Who's seen Cube by the way?

Calmly Chaotic

That's a great review. One of the best I've read.

I've never even heard of Cube, I think.

Sick Boy

Yeah i got a copy of like 10 trailers for it and it looks like a B movie with a pulse. No big name stars in it really but am sure it will get the young crowd in the movies to see it.

Calmly Chaotic

What's Cube about?

Clash181

Theres a poster I found and heres a short synopsis:
Six people are inexplicably imprisoned in a booby-trapped system of boxes, with no hope and fewer means of escape. A high-tech masochist's "Lifeboat."


Anyone seen "LifeBoat"?

Sindaanca

I like Cube That was really really strange but that was the point I guess But that's also true that the plot of saw sounds like 'a bit' like the one of cube.

spent cigarette

Hmm. I haven't seen Cube. Is it any good?

UnsilentMajorty

You would not do well in Hollywood, my friend

Everything is described as something else (because everyone in the biz is as clueless and cultureless as the guy or gal next to them, but no one wants to admit it ).

Life Boat is an Alfred Hitchcock film about survivors of a ship wreck who manage to escape in a life boat... And one of them is a murderer.

Showtime did a Sci-Fi retelling a few years ago with Ron Silver under the same name, except the life boat is now a "Life Pod" floating is space after the ship Ron Silver and his fellow astronauts mysteriously gets destroyed... And of course, one of the astronauts is to blame and why he did it is the mystery.

Clash181

{{sigh sadly}}

I am aware...

Every review I've read has compared this movie to other movies and I've just been too lazy to look them up.