Jogos Mortais

Since "Nattevagten" I have not seen a thriller that has kept me on the edge of my seat as well as "Saw". Right from the beginning this original story sucks you in and doesn't let you go until the very end. Thrillers as gripping as this one have become extremely rare in times like these, where people have seen almost everything and can guess any twist during the first half of the movie. With "Saw" James Wan and Leigh Whannell, the creative heads behind this project, set new standards. Think you're hard-boiled? Think again and watch "Saw", a movie that will creep you out and surprise you beyond your expectations.

"Saw" has been advertised as the new "Se7en" and while both movies are definitely in the same tradition, "Saw" does a much better job at actually being creepy. Jigsaw is the most gruesome killer the cinema has seen in a loooong time. Wan and Whannel really came up with a monster that has no peer. Where many movies drift into ridiculousness trying to establish the villain as an almost superhuman evil being, "Saw" does never get anywhere near that trap. Sure, the cops are depicted way too stupid and the killer is unrealistically smart, outshining each and every opponent with his perfect plans, but hey, "Se7en" and "Silence Of The Lambs" didn't care too much about realism, either, did they?

"Saw" does have some flaws. Those sped-up tracking shots have just been used too many times by now, the structure of the script is weird and jumps from one period of time to another, some characters' lines are a bit clichéd. However, considering that this movie was made in only 18 days by two independent filmmakers with literally no budget at all, it's really inappropriate to be petty about technical subtleties, when Wan and Whannel came up with such an original and stirring movie.

I can't remember the last time I've been surprised by a movie's final twist, but "Saw" has an ending that I didn't see coming at all. This thriller is the most original piece of independent film-making since "Cube". I'm really looking forward to seeing how Wan and Whannell's career develops after this fine sleeper.

One of the best movies I've watched. I didn't get any spoilers while watching this movie and the ending was devastating.

The tension was perfect and you are looking forward to the end.

Soundtrack is one of the best. I always watch it, even if the series gets worse as it goes.

Not since Se7en's John Doe has there been a serial killer with such a bizarre philosophy behind his actions (not that Jigsaw actually kills anyone; more on that later). Sure, in light of the increasingly deteriorating sequels it's hard to think of Saw as little more than a franchise- starter (something the writer and director never planned), but viewed on its own, astonishing merits, it's a good, nasty thriller, filled with solid scares and (especially compared to the follow-ups) quite well written.

According to the film's notorious back-story, it took only 28 days to shoot it. Not that strange, given most of the action takes place in just two locations: one is a bathroom where Adam (Leigh Whannell) and Dr. Lawrence Gordon (Cary Elwes) fins themselves with their feet chained to the wall, with no recollection whatsoever of how the hell they got there; the other is the lair of the mysterious Jigsaw, a serial killer whom Detectives Sing (Ken Leung) and Trapp (Danny Glover) have been tracking down for weeks.

The two facts are linked in a most ingenious way: Jigsaw doesn't really kill anyone, but "plays a game" with his victims. In the case of Adam and Dr. Gordon, as the tape recorder found in a dead man's hand tells them, each of them has two hours to free himself and kill the other, or they will both die. Problem is, the only way to get rid of the chains is to saw your foot off. And so, while the two unfortunate cell-mates have to choose who gets to live (that's Jigsaw's perverse logic: he offers you a choice), the police close in on the elusive psycho, whose previous deeds and MO are shown in flashbacks.

Whereas the subsequent Saw films use the messy chronology just for the hell of it (though they do get away with some neat narrative tweaks thanks to it), the first installment takes advantage of its non-linear storytelling to increase the suspense and provide some valuable clues to how everything fits together. It is to James Wan and co-writer Whannell's eternal credit that they, like Se7en writer Andrew Kevin Walker, went beyond slasher clichés and came up with something more. Okay, so Saw's philosophical undertones aren't entirely original, but what the heck, they do manage to keep the audience interested in what's going on. In addition, adding a little more depth to the killer ensures that the movie's more gruesome parts (and there are a lot of them) don't come off as gratuitous bloodletting (for an example of the latter, look no further than the countless sequels to A Nightmare on Elm Street or Friday 13th).

Furthermore, the intelligence behind the film's structure might also have had a positive effect on the performances, given the acting is more convincing here than in most post-2000 shockers: Elwes and Whannell's desperation is conveyed with an intensity that's almost too painful to behold, Glover plays the aging cop role resisting the temptation to do a Lethal Weapon in-joke (you know, the "too old for this sh*t" gag) and when Jigsaw himself appears... well, it's the horror equivalent of Keyser Soze - chilling and impossible to forget (and, for once, not played by Kevin Spacey). Just like the movie.

A sicko movie whose nastiness is almost topped by its weirdness...so obviously any true horror fan worth their salt needs to seek it out! The story is about a surgeon and a photographer who wake up and to find themselves shackled at opposite ends of a nasty-looking toilet. Don't want to say too much but plenty of ugliness ensues. This movie has the perfect mix of scares and a really bizarre plot. The movie's got a decent budget for an indie horror (a little over a million, i think) but it's pretty small for a film that got such a big release. I hear it made a "killing" at the box office, so TAKE NOTICE Hollywood! People want to see this stuff. Go!

The Saw movies tend to get a pretty bad rap. Most people think of them as senselessly violent and overly gory torture fests with no actual interesting plots or characters. Granted, some of the movies are like that. But, when you watch this 2004 original, leave those expectations at the door, because this movie is just a genuinely good thriller and mystery.

This movie has an intriguing premise of two strangers waking up in a room, handcuffed to pipes. As the move progresses, this mystery unfolds as we learn more and more about these two characters and about the situation that they are in. There are many twists and turns as the movie unfolds, but they never feel forced. These twists feel organic and are truly shocking. Because of this, I don't think of this movie really as a horror movie. It feels more like a mystery thriller, and it draws you into its premise. However, it is a very tense movie and there are some frightening scenes, so it does succeed as a horror movie as well.

If gore is the main thing keeping you from watching this movie, I would give it a try. Granted, there is gore in this movie, but it's not nearly as much as you would expect from a movie these days with Saw in the name. The gore is never intrusive or over-the-top, and it certainly is never meant to be the point of the movie. If you cannot watch gore at all, there may be a couple of scenes where you'll want to close your eyes, but there is still so much to enjoy from this movie outside of those moments.