Saw (2004)

Now that I finally have every Saw film (so far) on dvd it was time for me to watch all those 7 films full of gore, puppets and creepyness again. Starting of course with the wideley praised original.

Two men wake up at opposite sides of a dirty, disused bathroom, chained by their ankles to pipes. Between them lies a dead man loosely clutching a hand-held tape player and a handgun. Each finds a tape the perfect fit for the player in their back pocket. They play the tapes. One is threatened, the other isn't. But they have a task: One must kill the other by 6:00, or his wife and daughter will die. They find hacksaws in a toilet, and try to cut the chains, but it doesn't work. They are the two newest victims of the Jigsaw Killer. In a flashback, we learn of Amanda, a girl who falls victim to the Jigsaw Killer. On her head is a mask, which is hooked into her lower jaw. There is a timer on it. Only one key will unlock it, and that key is in the digestive tract of her cell mate who lies paralyzed on the opposite side of the room. If she doesn't unlock the mask in time, her lower jaw will be ripped wide open...

The film starts right away. Two guys wake up in an old bathroom with chains around the ankles tied to an old, rusty, with shit covered pipe. What's going on and Who did this to them are the questions that immediately rise your mind. 

The acting from the two chained guys starts off a bit stiff but while the film moves on and situation gets worse and worse the acting gets better and better. They really manage to take you with them in the madness that they are facing. The cop duo Ken Leung and Danny Glover is a very nice addition to the cast and especially Glover is pretty awesome as detective Taps.

2 Dudes tied up in a bathroom. How long does that stay interesting? The answer is very long. Because although the film does spend a lot of time in the bathroom director James Wan manages to create a perfect combination between drama, terrifying horror and grusome horror. You also keep wondering who's doing this to them and who is in the set-up.

In the mean while there are some other nice things that will definitely keep a horror-fan interested. For example Wan puts some very Giallo like things, like creepy phone calls and some first person shots of a person wearing black leather gloves, like giallo master Dario Argento did in his films.

At the peak of the film you'll be definitely biting your nails. The extreme crazyness that hits doctor Gordon when he hears through the phone that his family is being attacked and the reaction of Adam in the same scene a piece of very, very, very good acting. The twist in the end supported by the amazing soundtrack is also great.

Saw doesn't have the gore that his sequels do but it doens't need it. Without the gore it's still gruesome and horrifying.