The Culture of Morbidity. (spoilers)

Rating: 7/10 (2 April 2006)

If there is one thing that American filmmakers seem to possess little talent with these days, it's horror films, sometimes trying to replicate the unmatched genius of Japanese cohorts (although in this case, the reverse has happened with one segment of 'The Three Extremes' trying to copy 'Saw'). The result of which is often an abundance of amazingly bad remakes and other failed efforts, plenty of which were produced in the past five years alone.
But 'Saw,' although not it's sequel (which refuses to experiment further in novel elements), actually manages to accomplish an effective amount of suspense. It may be the instincts of young Malaysian director, James Wan (who hails from Australia), who may have immersed himself in Asian horror film-making and therefore, fine-tuned his own craft accordingly.
True, the story of a rather vigilante dying man who is "playing god" by personally endowing punishment on those who he believe is worthy of it is nothing new. Several of the psychopath tales, especially of psychopaths with sophisticated torture trials, has been done in the past quite a few number of times.
Here, the Jigsaw (aka, the psychopath) has imprisoned two men (among others) and forces upon them an elaborate game whereby one must kill the other by a particular time or risk the death of his family. Despite the extremely grotesque show (made more acute by green tinting and Cary Elwes increasingly pale and almost zombie-like complexion), the undying suspense does not come from cheap scare tactics trying to reinvigorate bored audiences as say, films like The Ring does. Rather, it is all authentic suspense that continues with the never-ending action and uncertainty on-screen. The audio elements provide much of the thrill as well, particularly in the climax of the film where the men's screams are coupled with pounding overdrive chords and other arrangements intended to churn your stomach and get your heart racing just a little more.
If you are in the mood for a good, American horror film, but are skeptical based on so many laughable and embarrassing productions to have come out in recent years, I would suggest giving this one a chance.