almost made me puke, in a good way...

Rating: 6/10 (27 October 2006)

managed to check out a free screening of Saw III tonight with some friends.
to tell u the truth it made me dry heave at least 2 or 3 times, it was really, really disgusting. i'm probably as big a gore-hound as the next horror fan, but i really haven't seen a horror movie that's made me want to actually puke in quite awhile so i was quite impressed. i'm not a huge fan of the Saw series by any means, in fact i thought Saw II was garbage to tell u the truth, and the fact that they'd keep pumping out sequels like that in such a short time frame showed they were incredibly eager to cash off on the basic concept/premise that made the first one so successful. however, at least they did it in a very excessive, over the top manner that pretty much pays off. this was definitely the most brutal and intense of the series...and while they sort of have to push the envelope in that regard since it's probably the last, it also ties in a lot character-wise with Jigsaw's new protégé we learn of in Saw 2, whose methods/death traps contrast (they're much more brutal and harder to escape) with that of her teachers in a very important way that...well, i don't want to give too much away.
a few flaws in the film of course, one downright terrible actress who plays a lead role as this Doctor, but the stylistic low grade tool music video-esquire look of the film masks most of the bad acting, although i guess the most important aspect of acting in a film like Saw is selling the pain and torture that's being delivered and at least that much is achieved. the pacing was a bit unbalanced at times...they go from like death trap to death trap to death trap without anything juxtaposed between those scenes until about midway through the movie when they slowly set up the roster of characters and back story etc.
a pretty effective horror film, if something like Hostel disappointed you as it did me, and you're looking for something that pushes the bar, in mainstream American horror at least, a tad bit more than u thought that film would, you might get what you're looking for here.