I'm shocked--a GOOD horror film sequel!

Rating: 8/10 (1 November 2005)

"Saw" was one of last year's best horror films--grim, brutal, no stupid jokes and VERY dark. I expected the worst when I heard a sequel was coming. I was shocked to find it just as disturbing as the original.
The film opens right up with a young guy trapped in a mask-like creation. There are spikes all over it--but he has the key. Problem is it's embedded BEHIND his eye and he has to cut his eye to get it out! He's been put here by Jigsaw--a serial killer who punishes people for things they do wrong.
It involves a bunch of people that Jigsaw has trapped in a house together. There seems to be no way out--and a deadly poison is being pumped through the air vents. If they don't get out in two hours they'll die. But Jigsaw tells them there IS a way out--they just have to find it for themselves with obscure clues he gives...and there are multiple, gory booby traps they have to watch for...Meanwhile the police HAVE Jigsaw and try to get him to reveal where the house is...
Sounds like another stupid horror film but, like the first film, there's no humor and the killings are brutal and bloody. It also tells us the back story of Jigsaw and why he's doing all this. It brings up questions of morality--Jigsaw is doing this for a reason--but what gives him the right to torture people? It makes you think and, at the same time, you're trying to figure out the clues Jigsaw keeps giving the people to get out. It all comes together at the end and throws in multiple clever plot twists that I didn't see coming.
Be warned--this is a bloody, brutal film but VERY well-made and disturbing. I walked out of the theatre shaken and thinking about the questions the film brought up. There are no easy answers. I hope there's a third movie as good as this! I give it an 8 only because it's not really a movie you enjoy...