Tom, the Monk thing doesn't really work for people who think bloody messes and gore are kinky. @Mali: Yeah, maybe Full Metal Jacket is better but I like horror movies too because of the blood. I might rent The Descent some time soon.
Warning: Fanatic alert! The SAW movies are about much more than just "gore" like Hostel was. Hostel's initial purpose was to depict senseless acts of violence and countless promiscuous sexual encounters (well, I believe that was Ross' vision from the start since that seems to be an ulterior motive of backpackers anyways). The SAW movies are more of a psychological thriller with gore thrown in to make the fear factor present. The basis of the flicks (at least the first) was not to portray the same tired "blood and guts" act, rather the gore showed people's weaknesses, or what made them "not deserve their lives," as it's put. It adds importance and reason. The difference between SAW and the average hack-n-slash movies, or even the grotesque mindless killing flicks is that SAW challenges you the entire time. The twists that the movies have brought us so far have been mind boggling (can anyone tell me you actually expected the twist in SAW 1? ), which is what sets it apart from the rest of the (if I can say) mundane formula average horror flicks have been producing as of late. I'm a huge horror fanatic, so I can say with confidence that a horror movie does not need to have gore to be scary. Ambience is what makes horror movies horror movies. Gore is basically the cheap way to make people feel uneasy but if used properly can set tones for the overall feel of a horror movie. However, nowadays even in movies like The Descent (which was pretty good in general), the gore is used as disgusting transitional phases just to kill people off. To me, death scenes should be painful (Reservoir Dogs, anyone?) where the person is feeling it and not just falling to the ground and automatically is just dead. It adds personality (oddly enough) for me. Sadly, hack-n-slash movies and majority of flicks today show no suffering thus making them characters that "die" nothing more than victims in which we do not sympathize for. SAW II shied away from the psychological edge for a more acceptable idea of a "horror" movie, with tons of traps with no real reason behind each, given shallow characters with little-to-no back story. The concept of SAW didn't feel right for me in SAW II because people were getting caught in each other's traps, thus pretty much making the concept of "risking life to appreciate life" pretty redundant as it slowly became mindless deaths scene after scene, as I've stated. It was a good movie, but doesn't beat the whole concept of "two guys in a bathroom trying to free themselves." Less is more, if you ask me... But I'm hoping that since Wan, Whannell and Bousman are back working on this one, and they promised that "this one is for the fans," we get something closer to the first SAW movie than the second. Also, a little bit for those who don't know: SAW II wasn't actually written by the original SAW writers (James Wan/Leigh Whannell). Darren Bousman wrote a screenplay that was picked up by the studio and thought it was very "SAW-ish" and therefore Bousman's script was changed with help of Whannell to tie in with the first SAW movie. If you check the writing credits of SAW II, James Wan (original writer of the SAW story) is absent. This is because his story was not the basis of SAW II... Bousman's screenplay was, lol. Btw, didn't mean to type so much, and by no means am I saying this is the best movie ever, but I say give at least the first one a try. The gore factor is actually pretty light given a few scenes, but I'm sure that those who have seen the movie will agree that the gore in the first SAW was tastefully done and not too over the top to make it senseless as Hostel.
I agree, Keaton but the gore in the movies is definetely something that attracts people to the theatres. For some reason Hostel got away with the fact that it's only gore and no story. Cool movie, though.
Actually, if you think about it... Hostel was more story/sex than gore, lol. The gore only lasts like, the last twenty minutes or so of the movie (if I recall correctly... haven't seen it in awhile). But yeah, I know where you're coming from.
OMG! Awesome... i'm so happy right now! I just can't wait 'til comes out in Portugal to go see it with my friends! It's just great i saw the first one last year the second this year and now i'm going to see the third this year!!! Shibby!!!!!!
PUMPED. SO pumped. WICKED pumped. but seriously. i completely agree with keaton on this gore vs substance thing. oh man. OH man. the trap i heard about BETTER be in this, or im going to cry. its so viciously delicious. :]
I only just noticed this thread, buti was pumped for this movie before, but now.. i NEED to see it I just hope they bring back the mystery and excitment that Saw had, but Saw 2 lost. Rather than turning it into a film about John and Amanda and some cops.
Ha, if you'd like to debate horror movies, be my guest. I don't know how much of a horror fan you are yourself or if you're just talking for the hell of it to sound "cool", but I'll be more than glad to back up my opinions one hundred percent. I have not seen a horror franchise to date that has been on the level of SAW in terms of psychological thrillers/horror and a level of originality that the original creators have brought to the genre. Hell, take a look at the indie horror scene (or just take a look at Lionsgate's recent pick ups), they all seem to ring a sense of SAW-like material. Recently I saw a straight-to-DVD movie called Are You Afraid? that tried so hard to be the next SAW, but was obvious a movie of it's own caliber cannot be duplicated. I challenge you to show me another movie franchise to date that can stand in its own light and be better than those that have come out after it. Show me a movie with a twist that slaps you like SAW does and without mentioning M. Night's flicks. The Grudge/Juon? Ring/Ringu? What movie franchises nowadays don't originate in Asia? I'll be happy to debate why SAW shines in a different light than all these movies.
I had to post this simply because of what they did. Apparently the red you see on the cloak there was actually made by Tobin Bell's (that would be the dude who does Jigsaw) real blood mixed in with red paint of course. Awesome poster though.
They're auctioning the original off with the proceeds going to the Red Cross...I guess because the dudes are paying back the Red Cross for them not being able to use the logos on the Blood Drive posters, haha.
only 15 more days til it's out, woohoo! here is one of the scenes mentioned, the classroom chain scene, it's taken from the spike scream awards or whatever that show was, it's kind of crap quality how they recorded it ,but made me cringe nonetheless: http://www.sawtrilogy.com/2006/10/11/classroom-chain-scene-video-from-saw-3/