The Next Level???

Rating: 9/10 (13 October 2006)

THE NEXT LEVEL???
Is it just me or do you find that all the horror movies we have coming out these days, are pretty much the same as each other. You've got the typical bad guy costume with the long black cloak and the freaky looking mask. Most of them tend to prey on dim-witted teenagers which you could convince to do anything, who are usually on summer vacation or some other American holiday. Then would you believe it, they either all end up dead, miraculously find themselves able to escape the evil villain, or at some point during the film they manage to produce some sought of intelligence and come up with a plan to defeat the wicked killing machine. So you find yourself not bothering with the new movies and sticking to the old classics, for instance, The Shining. Those two simple words "here's Johnny", some how find a way of gluing themselves permanently into the head of every Jack Nicholson fan out there. My theory is .. No one will ever be able to create a movie that could even be compared, to The Shining.
But guess what.have we finally reached the next level? My theory has just been cut into tiny pieces, with an extremely well crafted  SAW!
Two men (Leigh Whannell + Cary Elwes) wake up and find themselves in a dirty, disused bathroom, Chained to pipes at opposite sides of the room. Between them lies a slaughtered man with a tape player in one hand, and a gun in the other. It's not to long before each of them finds a tape in their pocket, and they soon come to realise that they are the latest victims of 'The Jigsaw Killer'. With only a certain amount of time and clues, the two men are hurled into a game of lies, deceit and murder. 'Let The Game Begin!'
My first attempt of watching this film was some time ago, as soon as it was released on DVD I knew I had to watch it. Luckily, my sister had brought it a week after its release date (getting a film to scare her is like getting a man to get in touch with his feminine side). As I recall, I think I watched about 10 to 15 minutes of the movie before it had freaked me out so badly I ended up running away with my tail in between my legs, so to speak. By the second night I had told myself that was going to watch the movie from beginning to end. Well, let's just say it got my adrenalin going extraordinarily well.
James Wan, director and writer of the horror, I believe to be one of the best film creators out there. As James has only directed 5 movies in his lifetime so far, I think we would all be right in saying that he's definitely got a natural talent in the movie business. James has also made other masterpieces such as, 'Stygian' and 'Dead Silence'. Look out for his latest movie 'Death Silence', which I believe is due to be released in 2007. Although I am a fan of James's work, I've always felt the need to state my opinion, even when the matter in hand has absolutely none of my business. But, I do recommend that James seek some serious sociological help, because he did create an intensely disturbing and extremely graphical movie. But, maybe we can overlook that?
I personally enjoyed watching the horror movie (once I plucked up the courage to watch it). The story line kept me gripped from beginning to end, and the film definitely has the element of surprise. I would recommend it to anyone who wanted to be mentally disturbed for the rest their life.
Although the film is certified as 18 for a reason, I strongly advise that people take notice of this. This film also contains a lot of gore, so it might be a good idea to let your dinner go down before slipping it into the DVD player.
'Game Over!'
Review by Wendy Tomsett