SAW (2004)

When SAW first came out, we were a few years out past the 90’s teen renaissance and we thought we had seen the last of most of the iconic major horror villains. We were past Freddy vs Jason, Halloween: Busta Rhymes, I mean, Halloween: Resurrection, and Pinhead had long gone straight to DVD. Enter the world of the ‘torture porn’ genre as it came to be known. This was a genre that some say started with Saw, but really kicked off full swing a year later with Hostel. However, Saw was a low-budget neat little thriller concerning the OG Robin Hood in Tights Cary Elwes waking up in a grungy bathroom floor in some mysterious basement with no memory how he got there, along with another stranger. The idea is they only have so much time to escape from chains attached to their legs...with little clues along the way. Their get-out-of-bathroom-free card seems to be a rusty saw that isn’t strong enough for chains…but is strong enough for…legs. It seems the notorious Jigsaw killer is behind this as we learn from flashbacks and narration…but we don’t know why these two are involved until the very end. Before the countless sequels, before the convoluted flashbacks of future entries, this was a tightly wrapped script that focused on folks seemingly ungrateful to be alive and put to the ultimate test to survive. It was seen as Seven-ish when it came out and still has those vibes. This is the type of flick that all comes full circle in the end with plenty of gore and creep out moments along the way. Always worth a watch for the OG Jigsaw caper. Probably the most straightforward, but entertaining, of the franchise. Check it out.

SLASH SCENE: Amanda’s flashback

SLASH SCORE: 9/10