From the movie poster and the hype it generated, I expected unneccesary gore and a real slasher movie so I wasn't really looking forward to watching it. I'd already put it down as a "nonsense horror movie" but I was pleasantly surprised. Clever story, creepiness all around and a brilliant twist near the end. I really liked it! Here's me hoping the sequels won't ruin it ...
Excellent horror, sadly with absolutely horrible sequels that purely play on shock value and revolting gory murder traps. Watch only this one and do yourself a favor, forget the others.
A great movie, very interesting at the time. Definitely the best movie by James Wan, who would say he was to become one of the worst filmakers of the genre.
All the sequels are absolute trash, but this movie is worth watching.
This and maybe the second are the only good Saw films. The rest are just a bunch of blood and guts spilled for free, without that psychological thing I found and liked in this one
First is great in a movie sense
2nd is entertaining to me
3rd is just..terrible
4th feels like an episode of CSI
5th I can hardly remember...if I even saw it I'm not sure
Is there 6 or 7? Fuck if I know
The only film in this series that might actually be worth something. Mostly psychological terror with little to no gore, and it works pretty well. Too bad the sequels have gone to the crap.
The popularity of this film franchise bewilders me. The film seems quaint, with terrible acting from some actors that have done good stuff in the past like Cary Elwes and Danny Glover. It’s also just ugly and cheap looking, with no good-looking shots in the film. It also isn’t scary and the plot and motivations driving the plot were inane. I have watched this thing at least three times over the years, trying to figure out what I’m missing that other were seeing and it just isn’t there. The only points during the film that I wasn’t completely bored was when I was laughing at Elwes unnaturally yelling “You bastard!” into the phone, or when Danny Glover was talking to himself after he “went crazy” or whatever. It was just so badly interpreted.
There were other horror phenomenons from this era that really made sense to me and I could see why they were popular, like The Blair Witch Project, The Ring or The Sixth Sense. I’d watch any of those again. Hell, I would even watch the Dawn of the Dead remake again before this.
What to say about Saw, except that I finally Saw it? The movie that launched a thousand torture porn flicks can't be ignored, and as with James Wan's other works, it has a strong premise. Saw could have been a great claustrophobic horror thriller if it hadn't strayed from the two men set against each other in a cell, an unknown entity psychologically torturing them until the final ironies are unleashed. But Wan has a thing for the investigator archetype, so we need some cops in sequences that confused the timeline a bit and created a murder mystery element that overly relies on crazy twists. At the same time, the two guys in a cell, while better able to sustain a movie-length narrative, is the least memorable of the Jigsaw Killer's crimes, the more iconic tortures relegated to the flashbacks. An intense proposition, but ultimately let down by a deflating structure and what I find is a rather silly twist.
awful movie full of MTV-styled dick-directing, absurd and idiotic set pieces, terrible acting, terrible writing, and just mind-numbingly stupid fandom.
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Comments 1 - 15 of 23
danisanna
From the movie poster and the hype it generated, I expected unneccesary gore and a real slasher movie so I wasn't really looking forward to watching it. I'd already put it down as a "nonsense horror movie" but I was pleasantly surprised. Clever story, creepiness all around and a brilliant twist near the end. I really liked it! Here's me hoping the sequels won't ruin it ...KenShiRo-Sama
Please, do not discuss the sequels here.dpanter
Excellent horror, sadly with absolutely horrible sequels that purely play on shock value and revolting gory murder traps. Watch only this one and do yourself a favor, forget the others.Scratch47
Pretty good with a twist I didn't see coming. Mostly mindgames. Doesn't have the psychological pretentions or gratuitous gore of any of the sequels.AtomicSquid
Watching the acting was as painful as the tortures on screen....Shidan
A great movie, very interesting at the time. Definitely the best movie by James Wan, who would say he was to become one of the worst filmakers of the genre.All the sequels are absolute trash, but this movie is worth watching.
Shingwauk
I don't like being scared so I don't usually watch these types of movies. But I lived through it and it held my attention to the end.YerAWizard
This and maybe the second are the only good Saw films. The rest are just a bunch of blood and guts spilled for free, without that psychological thing I found and liked in this oneBlade22
awesome movie...& the ending is just mind blowing...Malfumax
First is great in a movie sense2nd is entertaining to me
3rd is just..terrible
4th feels like an episode of CSI
5th I can hardly remember...if I even saw it I'm not sure
Is there 6 or 7? Fuck if I know
Thief
The only film in this series that might actually be worth something. Mostly psychological terror with little to no gore, and it works pretty well. Too bad the sequels have gone to the crap.essaywhu
The popularity of this film franchise bewilders me. The film seems quaint, with terrible acting from some actors that have done good stuff in the past like Cary Elwes and Danny Glover. It’s also just ugly and cheap looking, with no good-looking shots in the film. It also isn’t scary and the plot and motivations driving the plot were inane. I have watched this thing at least three times over the years, trying to figure out what I’m missing that other were seeing and it just isn’t there. The only points during the film that I wasn’t completely bored was when I was laughing at Elwes unnaturally yelling “You bastard!” into the phone, or when Danny Glover was talking to himself after he “went crazy” or whatever. It was just so badly interpreted.There were other horror phenomenons from this era that really made sense to me and I could see why they were popular, like The Blair Witch Project, The Ring or The Sixth Sense. I’d watch any of those again. Hell, I would even watch the Dawn of the Dead remake again before this.
justinedelson
Good ending.Siskoid
What to say about Saw, except that I finally Saw it? The movie that launched a thousand torture porn flicks can't be ignored, and as with James Wan's other works, it has a strong premise. Saw could have been a great claustrophobic horror thriller if it hadn't strayed from the two men set against each other in a cell, an unknown entity psychologically torturing them until the final ironies are unleashed. But Wan has a thing for the investigator archetype, so we need some cops in sequences that confused the timeline a bit and created a murder mystery element that overly relies on crazy twists. At the same time, the two guys in a cell, while better able to sustain a movie-length narrative, is the least memorable of the Jigsaw Killer's crimes, the more iconic tortures relegated to the flashbacks. An intense proposition, but ultimately let down by a deflating structure and what I find is a rather silly twist.nosex
awful movie full of MTV-styled dick-directing, absurd and idiotic set pieces, terrible acting, terrible writing, and just mind-numbingly stupid fandom.Showing items 1 – 15 of 23