'Saw' is an innovative horror film that all fans of the genre should witness

Rating: 9/10 (11 June 2015)

In 2003, up and coming filmmakers James Wan and Leigh Whannell created a 9-minute short film (now dubbed Saw 0.5) to try and market their idea for the film that would start a cultural phenomenon. They optioned the script and short around until they finally gained the attention of producer Gregg Hoffman, who later showed it to some partners and created the film label entitled Twisted Pictures. Given 18 days and a $1 mil production budget, the two filmmakers set to work on creating one of the best horror films in the last 15 years. Let's see how good of a job they did.
Saw follows two men chained to pipes in a bathroom, with no recollection of how they got there or who brought them there. As the two slowly figure out the game they're apart of, a detective obsessed with finding out who the person responsible is attempts to close in on his suspected killer.
Until yesterday, I had never seen the original Saw film in it's entirety. Sure, I had seen some of the traps and I had actually seen a lot of the movie through clips and such. But, this was the first time I had sat down and watched the film. How does it hold up, especially nearly eleven years after it's release? Well, let's see.
The acting is really great. Cary Elwes and Leigh Whannell both do great jobs at portraying people from completely different backgrounds but who are both left, stuck in a situation they can relate to. Tobin Bell, even in his very limited role in this film, is still bone-chilling as the diabolical Jigsaw (or, his real name, John Kramer), and delivers a performance that many should remember for years to come. Danny Glover is fantastic as Detective Tapp, a figure with a dark past, who is obsesssed with finding out Jigsaw's identity. Monica Potter also does a great job as Elwes's wife. I won't explain her role in the story because I suppose it's a spoiler, but she does great in the role.
The music, from Charlie Clouser, is just brilliant. It has that sort of dark, rough edge to it that you would expect in a film like this. The unofficial theme song to the film, entitled "Hello Zepp," is probably one of the best themes to a horror movie, ever, especially when you think about the climatic ending that accompanies the song. In my opinion, the music to the film really elevated it above a standard horror movie.
I really enjoyed the script and the story. It really deserved it's R rating, with all the "fucks," "shits," and such in the film. The story was pretty tight, even if there were a few small plot holes that I noticed, but it's probably because I'm such a good person at noticing things like that. The script was great, giving us dialogue you would reasonably expect in a time like this.
The cinematography and direction was spot on. James Wan, or perhaps the editor, liked to use a lot of shots that lingered or would like pan over to a spot and fade into another scene or location. That gimmick worked very well in some scenes (one I can remember the best is when the camera pans down and into the bathroom from the ceiling).
The only thing I really didn't like about the film was a bit of the gore. I'm okay with gore and blood in films, but the film took it to extremes a bit. Perhaps that's why people didn't like the film, because there's so much of it in there. Now that I think about it, it doesn't really bother me, but still.
Overall, Saw is a fantastic horror film. The acting, music, script, story and cinematography are all completely on point. While I do have a few issues with some elements of the story and a bit of the shots with gore, Saw is a film that any horror buff needs to check out.
9/10. Grade: A-