A Masterpiece in Suspense, Details & Emotional Horror

Rating: 10/10 (10 October 2015)

Saw is a horror thriller based around the premise of two people being stuck together in a room for unknown reasons, and with the help of clues laid out to them, their own memories and their willingness to trust each other they have to figure out why they were put there, who did it and what their kidnapper wants from them to ultimately be able to escape alive.
It starts off wisely with a slow pace for the first 15 minutes or so. The whole time during this scene we get to know the two main characters, Adam and Gordon, and how they interact with each other. Adam is at first the most nervous and afraid of them and have a hard time trusting Gordon for whatever reason, while Gordon seems almost unnaturally calm to begin with but his temper become more and more apparent as more details about their situation is known.
Their characters are both brought to life by incredibly well done performances, nearly all of their lines being delivered with an almost perfect level of realism, and the two actors play off each other brilliantly, really showing their relationship of forced trust play out and evolve in a way to keep you invested in their thoughts for the whole film.
After the introduction to the main characters, the pace starts gradually increasing as we start receiving pieces of the puzzle of what have happened here via the help of flashbacks, creating a cinematic jigsaw puzzle where more and more pieces are filled in as time goes by.
We find out a serial killer dubbed the Jigsaw killer might be behind their kidnapping, a person of unknown identity who abduct their victims and have them go through lethal games to test their will to live based on their sins in life. The killer's character is intentionally left vague for this film, but is explored more in depth in the second movie.
We are also introduced to a large and diverse cast of characters tied into the case in various ways, them also brought to life by excellent performances. The only acting I had any problem with was the somewhat cheesy acting of one particular character that I can't mention in fear of spoiling anything, but they are thankfully given rather few lines and other than that this movie really achieves to blend the line between someone just pretending and somebody really being there.
This is part of why the horror elements of this movie works so incredibly well. When eventually terrible things start happening to people we are emotionally invested in and care about due to their realistic and sympathetic portrayals, the horror of seeing them in danger is escalated to levels well beyond what is usually seen in mainstream horror films. Their reactions to their suffering as thus also manages to creep under your skin and make you feel genuinely afraid for them, which is where I think the accusations of this being "torture porn" comes from.
Because the movie is not really very gory. There is a couple of shots of some gore, some police case photos of earlier victims, but the real visual punch from the movie is how they mostly hide the visuals involving such body horror and instead focus on visualizing their fear. Camera techniques such as speeding up footage, sporadic editing, experimental use of camera framing and other techniques are applied to moments of horror to give the visual idea of fear, panic and suffering without trying to just gross out the audience with it, and instead disturb you at a deep emotional level.
The score also helps a lot, being held up by great industrial pieces that range from ambient electronic during down moments of character interaction to full out noise rock to accompany scenes of panicking, helping create an atmosphere of dirty grim locales far away from any helping hands while not giving the impression of there being no hope at all. And of course the now iconic theme song that plays once all the pieces of the puzzle is put together and we are revealed the big secret behind this will send chills down your spine.
The film is also filled to the brim with small details all around, being a movie that rewards re-watching it by suddenly catching a small detail you didn't notice before, or something you were confused by suddenly making sense when you see it from a different angle when coming back to it. This I think is a testament to how much love and care is put into this film by its creators, and all of this is incredibly done on a very tight budget and shooting period without ever feeling rushed or half done.
All in all it's hard to describe this film in a way that gives it justice without actually giving away too much, so I will end with saying that you should give this film a try. Clear your brain of the hype, don't go in expecting gore and excess, and instead try to look past the marketing and look for the core of the film itself. If you are anything like me, chances are you might be pleasantly surprised by the genuinely effective thriller you can find there that never gets old to watch.