Insanely stupid

Rating: 3/10 (31 May 2007)

The "torture porn" horror films of the latest decade, leave me (a lifetime horror buff) divided. One the one hand, it's nice that young filmmakers who've grown up with good old hardcore horror films from the 70's and 80's, such as EVIL DEAD and Texas CHAINSAW MASSACRE, get to make films in that vein after a 90's of slasher-yawners. But also, new and fresh films have to feel fresh and new. Films like THE DESCEND and HOSTEL - for instance - are stealing the ideas, rather than just letting them be elegant homage elements. Another strange thing is that these filmmakers seem to have bought the hype that throughout the years have grown in the following of these cult classics. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre simply had a point and an idea, and wasn't nearly as gruesome as the scandalously bad 2003 remake.
The SAW franchise is probably the most popular example of torture porn, and in the second film the concept reaches a peak: This really is a porno film. The gore comes off in violence and not sex, but it follows the rules of a porno, first and foremost: Don't mind the story. I was no big fan of the first Saw. I liked the first 20 minutes, but the cop story was laughably amateur (the script was obviously written by two kids who desperately wanted to be cops, but had nothing but their juvenile imagination to go on) and the ending was disturbing...ly crappy. So it's safe to say, I didn't expect much from SAW II. But come on, I didn't expect it to be surpassed by SCARY MOVIE 4.
This film is money-hungry crap. Everything (I mean EVERYTHING) that happens in this film is either totally unlikely, or at best merely questionable when it comes to realism. The "Jigsaw" killer, the actual hero of these films (the only one who succeeds in them, anyway), is in this one brought out in broad daylight - and turns out to be this gray old Hannibal Lecter wannabe. The idea, I guess, is that his intellectual cool will be scary but honestly, this guy is full of it! In comparison, Hannibal Lecter was frightening due to the logic in his reasoning. This guy have no real arguments for doing what he does, the ones presented are incoherent and stupid, and comes off like a phony character without substance, only done for cheap scares. Meanwhile, the kids in the house make one unlikely move after another, and make sure to do their best to become butchered. The film is unlikely, therefore impossible to be engaged in - it's just a bunch of so-so actors running around killing each other off, following an insanely stupid screenplay. The reasoning must have been: Who cares about logic, if people simply want their money's worth in blood?
This is a film so geekily eager to chop up "chock"-violence, it never takes the time to even try to be a good film. It is sad and it is pathetic. Oh yes, there will be blood - just don't expect ANYTHING else.
PS.
About the guys imagining cop life while writing the screenplay, the same goes in Saw II for SWAT-teams. This is the kind of film where a SWAT-unit sees an elaborate trap and, without one moment of afterthought, walk right into it. Just one of many laughable examples.