Special Thanks

I would like to thank Seth Tenenbaum and Kari Washak, they have been helping me out with some editing. I promise the review will get better with practice and I have been working on my syntax to make my reviews more entertaining and aesthetically pleasing for all you. With that said these two individuals have given me a great deal of help.

Saw V

Do you want to play a game? In this case, no I really don’t. In the fifth installment of the Saw series, the Jigsaw Killer is finally dead, but his legacy of brutality continues due to the work of a protégé. Like its predecessors, Saw V is unforgiving in its exploitation of torture as a means of pushing a sub par plot. The good news is that if you are a fan of the series you should expect much of the same and you likely won’t be disappointed; the bad news is that this is the fifth installment of a case study on the most appalling way to execute a human being. Oh and by the way, there is no sign of it stopping anytime soon.

 

I have always found the idea behind these films to be interesting, worth pursuing, and, dare I say, noble. The sentiment that people have lost their respect for life and that many would give anything to get a few more days on this earth is a very righteous moral argument to make. However, the Saw series has always fallen short of presenting this argument effectively and Saw V is no exception. This film is even more disappointing because the argument is starting to shift from respecting life, to simply torturing those who have been unjust. The moral and noble argument has been eliminated in favor of rogue justice.

 

Whatever happened to the Hitchcock method of filmmaking? The first time I saw Psycho I didn’t sleep for a week; the first time I saw Saw I reached for the vomit bag. The difference: Saw relies on distasteful torment of its main characters to move an average plot, weak dialogue, and below average acting; while Psycho shows limited on screen violence and the thrills come from suspense-building, masterful direction, and superb acting. There is no need for intense, graphic violence if you are a skillful writer and filmmaker – the thrill will come from the suspense, crafty camera work, and mis en scene. The only thing that scares me about Saw is that there are five such bloodbaths thus far and the ending leaves it wide open for number six.

 

There is little to like about this fifth installment. The plot of the series appears to be going in a circular fashion and trying to find new ways to continue pumping out atrocious excuses for horror films that care little about substance and sell solely on shock factor. Like the disease that killed the Jigsaw Killer, the Saw series has become a cancer to the movie industry.  Similar to the character in earlier films you can go ahead and put this one on life support because the shock factor is starting to wear off and the dreadful production and lack of believability won’t carry this series much further. Overall I give it 1 and ½ “R’s” out of 5.