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SAW
6/10
USA
2004 : James WAN : 100 mins
Two men wake
up to find themselves trapped in a cavernous, dilapidated, disused public
toilet. Photographer Adam (Leigh Whannell) and surgeon-oncologist Lawrence
(Cary Elwes) and soon realise they've been kidnapped by a notorious psychopath
known as the 'Jigsaw Killer,' whose places his victims in perilous scenarios
which invariably lead to messy death. Shackled to the wall by strong chains,
the only way out for Adam and Lawrence is to cut off their feet with the
hacksaws which their captor has provided. When Lawrence's wife (Monica
Potter) and young daughter (Mackenzie Vega) are kidnapped, he realises
that time is running out. Meanwhile ex-cop Tap (Danny Glover) is on the
murderer's trail, desperate to avenge the killing of his partner...
While the
movie itself won't win many prizes outside of horror festivals, whoever
dreamed up the UK poster campaign for this enjoyably nasty American B-horror
deserves some kind of special BAFTA. On a black background, the title's
three letters appear in vast red capitals. Along the top, in white, there's
a teasing, taunting, punning quote from Empire magazine : "Dare
you see 'Saw'?" In much smaller writing, there are credits and certification
details along the bottom - and that's it. No photo, no fancy graphics,
no indication of what the picture might be about. The implication being
that the subject-matter is too horrific, too harrowing, too disturbing
to be even hinted at.
Eyecatching
stuff, sufficiently so to spread considerable word of mouth: "Have
you seen the SAW posters?" I was asked by a good half-dozen people
during late September. They were also keen to find out whether or not
I'd seen the film - the answer to which was no, as I hadn't been at any
of the horror-film festivals where it had been shown, and there had been
no press shows organised due to a supposed administration cockup. Galvanised
by a very enthusiastic review from Radio 5 critic - and renowned horrror
aficionado - Mark Kermode, I bought my ticket for my local cinema's second
public showing on release-day, Friday 1st October.
I expected
perhaps a couple of dozen patrons for the 6.20 screening - but the auditorium
was packed, and there was a definite atmosphere of anticipation that increased
when the '18 certificate' card came up (so unusual is it these days to
find an adults-only title in our multiplexes.) Two hours later we filed
out, to be greeted by cinema staff eagerly checking our reactions. These
were, as far as I could tell, largely positive - but not wildly so. This
was perhaps something of a Blair Witch effect, whereby a hyped-up
horror movie feels disappointing if it doesn't reach the top of the shock/suspense
Richter scale.
My own reactions
were mixed. Saw is clearly an impressive calling-card for its director
- first-timer James Wan - and co-writer (/co-star) Whannell. And as a
longtime horror fan it's always good to see an injection of talented new
blood into the genre: there hasn't been such a promising writer-director
combo arriving on the scene since Final
Destination's James Wong and Glen Morgan (fingers crossed the
similarity of the directors' names doesn't hamper their Hollywood careers.)
But Saw
is often frustratingly far away from being a satisfactory finished
article. At its best, the film is what Dario Argento* might have come
up with if he'd been asked to combine David Fincher's Se7en and
Vincenzo Natali's Cube - admirers of the giallo maestro
will have a field day ticking off the references to his giallo classics,
of which Deep Red (cackling
white-faced doll wheels into room) and Suspiria
(character must escape from barbed-wire-filled chamber) are only the
most immediately "gettable." At other times, however, Saw
feels like incoherent out-takes from a bad Marilyn Manson video -
hyperkinetic camerawork, lurid gothic-industrial imagery, cacophonic score
(by an ex-Nine Inch Nails duo). Loose ends abound, virtually everything
involving the Danny Glover character is messily handled and perplexingly
unclear, while, crucially, Elwes isn't quite up to the escalating extremis
endured by his character (as has happened so often in this Brit's
bizarre career, his posh-Yank accent crumbles under pressure). Though
never less than watchable, the picture distractingly fluctuates between
the two extremes. It's only the strength of the mightily audacious - and
disturbing - final twist that manages to tip the see-sawing balance the
right way.
4th October,
2004
[seen 1st October : UGC, Boldon : public show]
by Neil
Young
*
from
'Arrow
in the Head' interviews with James Wan and Leigh Whannell:
Arrow:
What’s your favorite horror movie?
James:
Jaws, Lost Highway, Black Christmas, Roger
Corman’s The Fall of the House of Usher, Carnival of Souls,
and of course, Argento’s earlier films, are some of them. My two
all-time favorite films are Jean Cocteau’s Beauty and the Beast
and Spielberg’s Duel.
Leigh:
I had to choose my one favorite horror film, I would probably say The
Shining. I would have to add, though, that the first half of Lost
Highway is one of the scariest things ever committed to celluloid,
and I think if David Lynch ever made a straight-out horror film, it would
be the number one. The Eye, Poltergeist, Pin, Twin
Peaks, Suspiria, The Others and Ringu
also help me lose sleep.
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