"Let The Game Begin!"...

Rating: 9/10 (12 November 2019)

Waking up in what appears to be a bathroom in hell's sub-basement, two men (Leigh Whannell and Cary Elwes) must figure out how they got there and, more importantly, why. As the story unfolds, diabolical clues begin to surface, and unforeseen revelations lead to one of the best "twist" denouements ever filmed! SAW secured Director, James Wan's future as an innovative horror / thriller genius. It also launched a mega-successful series of films, while simultaneously revitalizing the genre of its day, in the same way that THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS and SE7EN did in theirs. While fault can be found w/ some of the acting and dialogue, it's the story itself that is so captivating and airtight! The killer in SAW is not some mindless, murdering automaton. He's sending a message and, in his own special way, giving a chance for redemption. Gruesome, audacious, and utterly terrifying, this movie has the intelligence that most of the so-called "torture porn" productions lack. The violence and gore are, as Hannibal Lecter might have described them, "Incidental"...