Truly sick, demented, and awesome

Rating: 9/10 (23 June 2009)

I have to preface this review by admitting that I have not seen any of the 5 sequels (to date) that have turned this truly thrilling and original horror ditty into a ballyhooed franchise. Though I'm sure I will get through them all someday, I'm fairly convinced going in that none of them will do anything for me but detract from the power and mystery that surrounds the macabre events that unfold within this film's 100 minutes.
Watching how expertly each piece of Jigsaw's puzzle falls into place, it's truly amazing to imagine that a first time film-maker is responsible for this modern classic. Both the premise and its execution are startlingly original, and the brilliant performances by all the actors involved here are especially great when you consider that this cast of largely seasoned pros were taking their cues from a rookie.
The first time I watched Saw was a couple of years after its release, and I had managed to avoid learning anything about the plot or its intricacies. Going in cold made this film all the more horrifying, thus I'm not going to ruin that same rush here for those reading this who have remained insulated from clues to the movie's happenings by including anything resembling a spoiler in this write-up. All I knew going in was that Saw was a new type of horror film that sparked legions of would-be film-makers to crib its elements for a series of diminished clones, and that the ending was a real doozy. That assessment turned out to be absolutely right; this can arguably be called the first film of the modern horror era, much the way Scream kick-started the genre in the 90's.
Without giving anything about the film away, it's hard to identify exactly why Saw deserves every bit of praise thrown its way. In a general sense, much of the genius here derives not only from the shocking and brutal horror contained herein, but in the way that horror is not the sole impulse driving the film. Horror films are not pornography, and too many film-makers (especially in the modern era that Saw helped spawn) seem convinced that a series of money shots are enough to build a movie around. Yes, you can make a good horror film by simply delivering the horror. But making a great horror film requires a bit more. A captivating and solid story surrounding the grotesque elements, which Saw definitely has, certainly helps. In fact, that seems to be the main ingredient that separates Saw from its inferior homages. We are immersed in the mystery here just as our characters are, and since we then identify with them, it lends even more weight to the gruesome fate that may or may not be in store for them.
Certainly, other films since have outdone Saw in the gross-out department (probably even the other Saw installments... I'll let you know when I see them), but gore for gore's sake is sometimes not as potent as the shocks generated by the glimpses of carnage we see here. In fact, compared to what has come since, Saw is almost restrained in what it reveals. But, smart film-makers know that a viewer's imagination can conjure much worse than a film can show. That discipline is well-applied here.
Many of Saw's copycats have utilized a strong sexual element to augment their violence, thus birthing the "torture porn" phenomenon. Though Saw is often pointed to as the flagship of that movement, such a comparison is both unfair and completely erroneous. There is absolutely no sexual component to Jigsaw's psychotic mind-benders, and that actually makes them more horrifying. After all, if there were sexual undertones in the equation here, that might give some motive to the wickedness. Not clearly knowing why a deranged killer does what they do makes them that much more unpredictable and frightening. We're given a vague idea of Jigsaw's motivation in the film, but ultimately the conclusion we come to is that the killer does what he does because the dude is just completely twacked in the head.
Twist endings only work when they, well, work. In Saw, the final "gotcha" is so masterfully played that most viewers are going to want to start the disc over again to see how the film snuck up on them. The sense of dread and unease that this film left me with is one of the main reasons I haven't been clamoring to see any of the follow-ups. The story is so precisely crafted on its own, that the idea of adding anything else to it seems like it would detract rather than add anything substantial to the minor mythos explored here.
I'll reserve my final judgement on those until I see them, but Saw stands on its own as one of the best horror film thus far this century, and the previous one too, for that matter.