First Saw is a smart horror/thriller. Sequels just torture porn.

Rating: 7/10 (18 June 2017)

The quality of this series seriously declined as time went on, but this first film really does stand apart as being smarter and not simply a torture porn gore-fest. Similar to "The Cube," this film has a can't resist premise of two men (Cary Elwes and Leigh Whannell) waking up in a dank disgusting basement, chained to the wall, with a dead body between them, and no idea how they got there or how to get out. This film, unlike the others, unfolds much more like a mystery, as the two men flashback to the events leading up to their imprisonment, while at the same time a team of police detectives (Danny Glover and Ken Leung) are hot on the trail of the madman who put them there. Even without the elaborate head-smashing traps and terrible choices, this would have been an exciting thriller. In some ways, the sensationalistic traps and terrible choices detract from the film, although I think it was those elements that really hooked audiences (that was the focus the the film's marketing at the time), but this entire film could have worked fine without that. However, the sequels seemed to almost exclusively focus on those extreme elements and the mystery and thriller elements took a backseat, which is why the subsequent films are nowhere as good as the first. This first film also stands out because it has a stronger cast than any of the sequels, which also includes Dina Meyer, Michael Emerson, Shawnee Smith, Monica Potter, and Tobin Bell as Jigsaw. Although this film is clearly going to be repellent for most audiences, it's undeniably compelling if you are a horror fan and can stomach the many stomach churning moments in the film. Overall, this film isn't a classic, but it is something of a cultural touchstone for when torture porn had it's short lived and ignominious run ("Hostel" is still the best American film of this disreputable genre).