Caught the last half of "Saw" this evening on Sci-Fi......

[Tuzenbach]

Yes, I'm WAY outta the loop for not having seen the stupid thing until now. But I have to say...........what gives?


This movie suffers from the same affliction that utterly ruins "The Usual Suspects": You can only really watch it once.


Seriously, why was "Saw" hyped so much?

 

[The Grumpy Celt]

It was the first decent and novel horror flick in a while, enough so it got Danny and Carey in it as stars.

 

[Tetsubo]

I'm curious as to why the new batch of "torture porn" films has been so popular. I have read history, I don't need to watch humans being inhumane to each other...

 

[The Grumpy Celt]

I'm curious as to why the new batch of "torture porn" films has been so popular...

People are just no damned good.

I've not watched SAW all the way through, or seen any of SAW II & III, TCSM The Prequel to the Remake or Hostel. The last suspense/thriller I watched as Pan's Labyrinth. Many people like to watch as other people are hurt, tortured, degraded and humiliated, especially if the victims have been getting more fun out of their lives than the viewers have been getting out of their own.

 

[Cthulhudrew]

Seriously, why was "Saw" hyped so much?

I asked myself the same question when I finally "saw" it. My friend and I were both like, huh?

If you saw only the ending, then you saw the best part of the whole movie. Really. Don't even bother to go back and watch the rest, you'll be wanting to cut off your own leg.

The movie itself was pretty interesting as a concept, and personally I think the twist at the end is great. But like I said, it's the only real good part of the movie. The acting and dialogue in the rest of the movie is so incredibly horrendous (honestly, outside of The Princess Bride I can't think of anything Cary Elwes has done that shows a modicum of talent). It shouldn't come as any great shock that one of the horrible actors (the guy in the room with Elwes), is also one of the writers. I'm guessing he did the dialogue. (*snark*)

Tobin Bell is the only one in the movie that was worth anything, and he does an excellent job, particularly considering- well- what he does do in the movie.

Anyway, I never saw any of the sequels (had no desire, after the first one), but I saw the "twist" in the second one coming from the trailer (and had it confirmed later by a friend).

In my opinion, it was a great concept with flawed execution. And the requisite oversaturation after the fact. That, plus they are tapping into the rejuvenated horror feature market, and are probably relatively inexpensive to make, I think accounts for Saw's popularity.

There are some threads here on the boards about it. You might do a search to see what others thought.

 

[WayneLigon]

I really liked the first one, found the second one a little less interesting. Haven't seen the third one yet. I get on and off horror kicks; right now I'm sort of 'on', especially since I'm GMing now and always on the lookout for visual or plot tidbits to lift and change, or drop directly into a game.

 

[trancejeremy]

I'm curious as to why the new batch of "torture porn" films has been so popular. I have read history, I don't need to watch humans being inhumane to each other...

It baffles me , too. Some (apparently a lot) just really love that stuff. I used to date a girl like that. Otherwise really nice, but seemed to really, really enjoy movies with people being tortured or degraded.

 

[frankthedm]

I'm curious as to why the new batch of "torture porn" films has been so popular. I have read history, I don't need to watch humans being inhumane to each other...

I don't care for it much. Human suffering does not bother me, but few torture porns have supernatural / fantastic elements to them. A requirement for me to enjoy any movie.

 

[DonTadow]

Yes, I'm WAY outta the loop for not having seen the stupid thing until now. But I have to say...........what gives?


This movie suffers from the same affliction that utterly ruins "The Usual Suspects": You can only really watch it once.


Seriously, why was "Saw" hyped so much?

I'd say the oppositte. Those are the only movies I watch more than once. The first time you watch it, you have no idea whats coming. The second, third, and fourth time you're trying to find all the clues you didn't pick up on.

Cant tell you how many times I've seen Usual suspects.

 

[Simplicity]

The horror genre in general is looking for a niche lately, I think. With Saw's popularity, a lot of other similar films are making it to the screens that normally wouldn't.

I personally, liked the original Saw. It was a interesting concept for a villain, and a good twist ending (which was also in vogue at the time it came out).

It's not like this is really a new thing (see the Hellraiser series, for example). You can even track it back to old writing like the Pit and the Pendulum or Kafka's Penal Colony. Torture evokes strong emotions, which makes for easy drama.