Horrorshow: Saw

Here's a movie that I never expected to watch...

Judging from its reputation, I expected Saw to be the most violent, goriest movie I've ever seen. That's about what I got - I don't think I've ever seen a movie that actually compelled me to close my eyes while watching it unless it was putting me to sleep.

I was surprised, though, to find a movie with an overall compelling psychological plot. The movie doesn't really focus on the blood and violence as much as it does the riddle of getting out of the deathtrap. It was the focus on the characters and their situation that really caught my attention, more than any of the implied (or explicit) violence.

By far, my favorite parts of the movie are less about death and more about terror. There's a scene focusing on a woman caught in a "reverse bear trap" attached to her head (featured in the movie poster above). Now, in the movie, this scene is related to us in flashback, so we KNOW she survives. What caught my attention here was the cinematography: the woman's efforts to break out of the trap are shown in fast-forward, adding a frantic, desperate energy to an already chilling scene.

The other scene - which may be one of my favorite horror scenes of all time - takes place almost completely in the dark. A man is being stalked by a home invader, but all the lights in his apartment have gone out. The only source of light comes from the flash on his camera. It's pretty well-executed - I jumped every time the camera went off. The scene was intense, frightening, and completely bloodless.

The plot gets worn a bit thin at points - there are certain events that simply don't hold well under close analysis. Some of the intense moments are a bit derivative (a character has to reach his hand into a filthy toilet right at the beginning in a scene almost directly pulled from Silent Hill 2). Oh, and make no mistake, this is a VIOLENT film - one I'll probably never watch again.

But I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy Saw at least this once.