“How much blood would you be willing to spill in order to survive?”

“I wanna play a game.”  This is the unmistakable quote that started a franchise and horror culture phenomenon!  When you think “torture porn,” one movie rises above them all….2004’s psychological gore-fest Saw.  The feature film debut of the great horror director James Wan, and co-written by Leigh Whannell, it has become one of the most successful horror franchises of all time.  Filmed in just 18 days and on a relatively small budget, it was first screened at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2004 and quickly made its festival rounds before hitting theaters nationwide.

THE PLOT

In an old, seemingly abandoned bathroom, two men find themselves trapped with no recollection of how they got there.  A photographer named Adam (Leigh Whannel) and Dr. Lawrence Gordon (Cary Elwes) are both shackled and chained to pipes on opposite sides of the room, with a dead body lying in the center of the room holding a revolver in one hand and a small tape player in the other.  Soon the two men discover they each have a small tape, and after retrieving the player from the corpse, they play the tapes.  The voice they hear is of the notorious serial killer known by the authorities as “Jigsaw”.  He has been given this name due to his “calling card” left on the victims…a puzzle piece shaped section of skin cut away from their body.  He is a different kind of killer, though.  Never actually killing them himself, rather he puts his victims in terrible situations or “games” in order to test their willingness to survive.  Adam’s test:  watch himself die or do what it takes to survive.  Lawrence’s test:  kill Adam before the clock runs out in order to save his wife and daughter.  The only catch seems to be that they both must be willing to use the hacksaws found in one of the toilets in order to escape their shackles!  As time and options begin running out, both men start to come to terms with their fates and must make serious and life changing decisions in order to survive.  Let the game begin!

SHOULD YOU SEE IT?

I was a little late on jumping on this bandwagon, as I didn’t watch it until a friend recommended it upon its DVD release.  I didn’t know much about it at the time, and I’m actually glad for that.  Not only was it a great flick, but it also contains an awesome twist that I never saw coming!  After viewing this movie, it became a yearly tradition for my wife and me to head to the theaters with some friends to watch each sequel.  Not only do the sequels get gorier, but they also expand on the story which in turn becomes one huge psychological mystery with unexpected twists at every turn!  Not all games are fun, and in this case…no one wins!