So I've been having this debate for some time now with my friends about the "saw" trilogy. Many of my friends believe that these movies do nothing but further desensitize the youth of the world. I, however, a HUGE fan of horror films, think that it is one of the few horror series left that actually has a purpose.
Perhaps you, like my friends, disagree. I wouldn't doubt it. How can I possibly argue that watching people die in sick twisted ways has any value? I can't. I cannot honestly tell you that you would benefit from watching these movies but I can PROMISE you that they WILL make you think. What would you do to live? How much would you really fight to survive? These are the questions that the graphic movies ask. Maybe there is an excess of blood and gore but what other horror film in the last two decades has had ANY substance? Most of them have been remakes (The texas chainsaw massacre, The Fog, When a stranger calls, the grudge, dark water, the ring, the omen, amityville horror, house of wax) or have suffered horrible writing mixed with a severe lack of plot (hostel, wolf creek, wrong turn, cry wolf, dead end, jeepers creepers, the hills have eyes, silent hill, darkness falls, boogeyman, darkness). Finally there stands a proper horror film equal to the exorcist or the blair witch project in its unique ideas and plot that does more than flash breasts.
I simply have to respect these movies for bringing a little credibility back to a struggling genre. Maybe they do have an excess of gore but they make up for it in plot and in giving something else to the horror genre that hasn't been seen in a long time...a moral.
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Interesting take on the matter.
I for one really enjoyed Saw, and Saw 2 was alright. What I want to know is why are they trying to turn every movie that does well into a trilogy? While I want to see Saw 3 and I do like Saw 2, I think they help devalue the original Saw. Part of what made Saw good was how original it was - now it's no longer one of a kind, but part of a trio.
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"Dream as though you'll live forever, but live as though there's no tomorrow" --James Dean
http://www.progressiveu.org/user/fanaile-drupal-org
As much as I love the movies and would love to see more I do agree that the film-makers these days tend to get a little greedy. I HATE that they have to re-do an idea until it's played out to death! Sometimes it would be better to leave the original to have its own legacy. Like with horror classics like Halloween, Friday the 13th, and Nightmare on Elm Street. All of them would have done great if left by themselves instead of reproduced with countless sequels!
Interesting that you see the Saw movies like that.
I have actually not watched all 3, but I really have no desire to.
I felt that the movies just further desensitized people, as your friends have said. Why is there a need to saw your arm off or obtain a key from behind your eye with a scalpel?
I think it's just sick and twisted and doesn't add anything to the movie scene.
♥, Dana
Interesting that you see the Saw movies like that.
I have actually not watched all 3, but I really have no desire to.
I felt that the movies just further desensitized people, as your friends have said. Why is there a need to saw your arm off or obtain a key from behind your eye with a scalpel?
I think it's just sick and twisted and doesn't add anything to the movie scene.
♥, Dana
A ladyfriend and I watched Saw 3 Monday evening. Not only did we have a lengthy discussion about the movie afterwards, she also woke up the next morning still thinking about the movie. The movie was gory, for sure. However, it didn't take long for my mind to refocus on more substantive themes like love, vengeance, forgiveness, the will to live, human nature, and the ethics and effectiveness of using punishment to attempt to reform people. The manner in which Saw 3 seems to touch on the latter motif, in particular, makes me wonder whether the trilogy (at this point) is an incendiary indictment of personal payback, penal systems, corporeal punishment, and all other forms punitive retribution. In my opinion, the Saw trilogy is philosophical entertainment AND senseless gore.