tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34993991.post6443088379450744345..comments2023-10-05T07:46:44.392-04:00Comments on And Now the Screaming Starts: Movies: I seen what I saw.CRwMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07896615209770501945noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34993991.post-92192143937218175132008-11-03T08:48:00.000-05:002008-11-03T08:48:00.000-05:00Screamin' Spacey,While I'm a literalist who thinks...Screamin' Spacey,<BR/><BR/>While I'm a literalist who thinks that the fear Jigsaw represents is the fear of getting all sorts of mangled in one of his machines, you're theory has got some interesting support in the films. There's the Amanda and Jigsaw Jr. relationship (which ultimately sours in 3 and ends in Amanda's death). And in 4 we learn that the death of Jigsaw's unborn child was what drove him to become the trap-maker. Plus, films 2 and 3 revolve around Jigsaw attacking messed up families.<BR/><BR/>I don't know if it all adds up to something, but there's definitely a good parent/bad parent theme in several series installments.CRwMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07896615209770501945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34993991.post-814000169896272722008-11-02T11:04:00.000-05:002008-11-02T11:04:00.000-05:00I don't know why I'm going to try and defend it, a...I don't know why I'm going to try and defend it, and only having seen the first two (the second I can't even really remember - that's how much I thought of it) I can only speak to the initial two entries.<BR/><BR/>Anyway I was thinking about Jigsaw, and what sort of fear he represents. He's just a regular human. He's got no omniscient view of the world, so we find his judgements suspect.<BR/><BR/>So maybe he represents an exaggerated parent figure. Someone that feels they need to make judgement calls, even if they've got imperfect information to work from. That person we hate and fear because sometimes they're right. Not because they've got evidence, but somehow have an intuition about our failings. Or will invade our privacy to find evidence. And the punishment is rarely considered fair either.<BR/><BR/>As for Jigsaw's converts, maybe they represent traitorous siblings who've sided with the parents.<BR/><BR/>That could go a long way to explain Saw's popularity with kids. And perhaps why older folks, who would <I>really</I> hate being parented, can hardly stand watching the films.<BR/><BR/>But not having seen 3-5 and with fading memories of 1 & 2, it's just a wild theory.spacejackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14902182763527176185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34993991.post-83883236378146216112008-11-01T14:54:00.000-04:002008-11-01T14:54:00.000-04:00Anon,The idea that people take Jigsaw seriously wo...Anon,<BR/><BR/>The idea that people take Jigsaw seriously would sadden me to virtually no end. You are definitely right that the filmmakers have grown increasingly interested in making him a dark messiah figure of some sort, most of the fans I talk to feel that the Jigsaw speech scenes are a sort of tedious tax you have to pay in order to get to the good parts. If you're right, then <I>Saw</I> fans deserve the increasingly uninteresting amount of time given to his ramblings.<BR/><BR/>As for the importance of the series, I hope my comment to Sean made it clear that all that number crunching was mostly in jest. First, if ticket sales determined a film's importance, than <I>High School Musical 3</I> would be the most important film of the season. Second, head counts and ticket sales really shouldn't be considered the same thing. Who knows how many people really watched <I>Saw</I>?<BR/><BR/>That said, there is a lot I do think it important about the series. I think you nailed an important issue. I'd also say that <I>Saw</I>'s important because it seems to mark a generational divide between horror fans. Like slashers before them, <I>Saw</I> seems to be a young persons thing and make older fans and critics hold their noses.CRwMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07896615209770501945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34993991.post-59264936925016189242008-11-01T09:07:00.000-04:002008-11-01T09:07:00.000-04:00Interesting review (and I haven't bothered to see ...Interesting review (and I haven't bothered to see anything but the first one either), but I'm not sure if the backstory really isn't that unimportant to the audience - at least judging from the talk on the message boards etc. it seems that most Saw fans take the whole backstory really seriously and I've actually seen plenty of praise forSaw's "incessant twisting of character backgrounds" (also the main reason why I didn't bother to watch the other movies - seems to me the filmmakers are at least flirting with the idea that Jigsaw is some sort of (anti-)hero and there's been a depressingly large number of Saw fans that seem to think Jigsaw is somehow a deep thinker and "justified" in his actions).<BR/>I also slightly disagree about what makes Saw so important as a horror franchise - I don't think it's the fact that a majority of the audience for horror is watching these films (I'd argue the same could be said about Quarantine which did remarkablyw well given that it's a remake, had a comparatively small advertising campaign, and came out two weeks too early), it's that Saw somehow manages to cross over into the mainstream (without sacrificing its appeal to the horror fanbase by toning down the content) that makes the franchise so remarkable.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34993991.post-7176318834551899812008-10-31T07:39:00.000-04:002008-10-31T07:39:00.000-04:00Screamin' Sassy,I assume, in 20 years, theaters wi...Screamin' Sassy,<BR/><BR/>I assume, in 20 years, theaters will have to suffer "reimaginings" of stuff like <I>Saw</I>.<BR/><BR/>I don't see many monster-mash style team ups in it's future simply because there are no contemporaries that really match it in terms of scope and form - <I>Hostel</I>, for example, seems a match but doesn't really have an important central villain to team up with - plus it takes place in such a self-contained little world, especially as the series turns in on itself in these last installments, that mixing characters from elsewhere would seem jarring.CRwMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07896615209770501945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34993991.post-72403954321774430992008-10-31T07:32:00.000-04:002008-10-31T07:32:00.000-04:00Sean,"To those critics I say, what's the point of ...Sean,<BR/><BR/>"To those critics I say, what's the point of a self-aggrandizing delusion meant to shield one's fragile ego if you're expected to be rational about it. I've said my story and I'm sticking to it."<BR/><BR/>I thought that punchline was clear enough, but maybe I let the joke go on to long.CRwMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07896615209770501945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34993991.post-17528000325412309912008-10-30T20:41:00.000-04:002008-10-30T20:41:00.000-04:00"The franchise's genre-specific critics who have a..."The franchise's genre-specific critics who have avoided the series on principle and can’t speak to the pictures are – from a statistical point of view – basically irrelevant."<BR/><BR/>But they're critics, not statisticians. I'm not making value judgments, I'm simply running down what's at the top of the charts right now: I'm fine reading comics critics who don't read Secret Invasion, I'm fine reading music critics who haven't listened to the new AC/DC record, I'm fine reading film critics who haven't seen High School Musical 3, and I'm just as fine reading horror critics who haven't seen Saw. It's not a principled thing with me--i just haven't gotten around to it, same as I haven't gotten around to seeing any of the Friday the 13th movies--but I still respect myself when I look in the mirror.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34993991.post-58055439997286950742008-10-30T20:29:00.000-04:002008-10-30T20:29:00.000-04:00So when do we get SAW: Jigsaw vs Predator or Saw H...So when do we get SAW: Jigsaw vs Predator or Saw H2K (cross overs or retro-remakes) ? Do you see that in 10-20 years ?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34993991.post-26915728173519349582008-10-30T20:19:00.000-04:002008-10-30T20:19:00.000-04:00Ladies and Gentlemen - Mr. Screamin' Spacey.He'll ...Ladies and Gentlemen - Mr. Screamin' Spacey.<BR/><BR/>He'll be here all week. Please remember to tip your wait staff!<BR/><BR/>In this case, I'd say if you've seen one and two, you've seen 'em all.CRwMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07896615209770501945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34993991.post-77675772171248719772008-10-30T19:53:00.000-04:002008-10-30T19:53:00.000-04:00Bah! If you've seen one, you saw them all.I'm like...Bah! If you've seen one, you saw them all.<BR/><BR/>I'm like the Jigsaw of bad jokes and limericks.spacejackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14902182763527176185noreply@blogger.com