Thursday Minute
No. 190 | October 28, 2010

Crooked Numbers

Our theme this week
Horror film franchises from the 1970s to today

Featured this week (theme introduction)
Monday         —   The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (6 films, 1974–2006)
Tuesday         —   Friday the 13th (12 films, 1980–2009)
Wednesday    —   A Nightmare on Elm Street (9 films, 1984–2009)

Saw

The franchise films
(short) Saw (2003), James Wan, director (sometimes referred to as “Saw 0.5″)
1.  Saw (2004), James Wan, director
2.  Saw II (2005), Darren Lynn Bousman, director
3.  Saw III (2006), Darren Lynn Bousman, director
4.  Saw IV (2007), Darren Lynn Bousman, director
5.  Saw V (2008), David Hackl, director
6.  Saw VI (2009), Kevin Greutert, director
7.  Saw 3D:  The Final Chapter (2010), Kevin Greutert, director (opens in the U.S. tomorrow)

The villain
Jigsaw/John Kramer, portrayed by Tobin Bell (1–7)

Overview
I suppose every decade gets the horror it deserves.   The 1970s had its slasher films, the past decade torture porn.  There’s an argument to be made that the Saw films are not, strictly speaking, torture porn.  It’s about as convincing as the argument that waterboarding isn’t torture.  Remember that one?

That’s not to say that the Saw franchise is quite the same thing as Hostel and its sequel.  Distinctions can be made—there’s an ongoing debate, actually—but however you want to slice it, the horror films of today go a lot further, and darker, than those slasher films of the ’70s that were then the cutting edge, so to speak.

The conceit of Saw is a diabolical killer named John Kramer, a.k.a. Jigsaw, who does not kill his victims directly.  He captures people, then tests them in a series of games—death traps, really—in which the victims have to maim, or kill, themselves or each other to achieve some macabre objective.  The so-called games are elaborately constructed, with each device intented to teach a lesson to its victims.  There’s a cold calculation to the Saw franchise that puts it far beyond horror films of the past.  It almost makes the vengeance of a Jason Voorhees seem understandable, if not sympathetic.  Like Jason, and most of the killers this week, the Jigsaw character is often seen wearing a mask, a pig mask, in fact.  Every killer needs a prop.

The good news, if you’re a Saw fan, the newest installment, in 3D, opens in theaters this weekend.  The good news, if you’re not a fan, it’s called The Final Chapter.  You can hope, but by now you should know nothing’s ever ”final” in the world of horror.

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Saw (2004)
James Wan, director
Leigh Wannell, writer
David A. Armstrong, cinematographer
Trailer

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Quote of note
“Hello, Mr. Hindle, or as they called you around the hospital, Zep.  I want you to make a choice.  There’s a slow-acting poison coursing through your system, which only I have the antidote for.  Will you murder a mother and her child to save yourself?  Listen carefully, if you will.  There are rules.”
—Jigsaw/John Kramer (Tobin Bell), Saw (2004) 

…58…59…60.